About how long can I expect to enjoy lying in bed jacked up on painkillers? What are the odds I can convince the dentist to give me something in the way of a hallucinogenic? After all, I figure if I’m going to be lying around zonked out and in pain, I might as well be entertained by the dancing mice.
I plan to quit smoking (again) at the same time, mainly because I’ve heard enough horror stories about dry socket to clue me in that I probably don’t want it, and second because I’ll be away from work (where we all smoke like chimneys) for a week, and thus away from temptation; I’ve never smoked inside my house and I have a sneaking suspicion I’ll be feeling too crappy to drag my swollen gums out to the deck for a coffin nail.
So. Anybody want to share any painkiller stories, dentist stories, or dancing mice stories?
I have none, but I just want to say that I admire your bravery - I have cowardly convinced myself that I can get along with my wisdom teeth, rather than face the dentist’s chair.
As far as lying in bed jacked up on painkillers goes, maybe one evening if you’re lucky. All I got was stronger doses of over-the-counter painkillers, after I woke up from the operation itself.
They’ll give you a syringe with a curved plastic tip instead of a needle, which you’ll use to clean the empty sockets. This will get you funny looks if you use it in a public school bathroom.
I had no problems when my wisdom teeth were extracted. I didn’t have much pain afterwards, either. If you want the heavy-duty painkillers, generally you have to get a hysterectomy or something.
Make sure you follow the aftercare instructions, especially the warm salt water rinse. And congratulations for taking this opportunity to quit smoking. You’ll heal up quicker if you don’t smoke. Oh, and don’t drink through a straw, either…that can loosen or pull out the clot, and that’s a Very Bad Thing.
Not trying to scare you or anything, Marlitharn. Most people I know recovered within a day or two. Not so for myself. But my wisdom teeth were all impacted and I was also a little older than normal when I got it done.
Just don’t crush up your pain meds into chocolate pudding. Bad Things happen.
chocolate and blood everywhere…still can’t eat the stuff. shudder
My husband had just 1 pulled a few months ago and was down for a week; the first night I ended up taking him to the emergency room around midnight because it wouldn’t stop bleeding. The E.R. doc got hold of the dentist through his answering service; I heard him whisper fearfully, “I’ve never seen so much blood come from such a tiny incision!” My poor husband half-filled a trash can with blood, and this was after he’d already thoroughly soaked 3 bath towels at home.
So, yeah, I’m hoping I have an easier time of it. IIRC, they gave my husband Vicodin. I’ve taken Vicodin before and after about 2 days they made me nauseous, so I’m hoping I can get something different. And I’m hoping I don’t bleed like a stuck pig for 12 hours like he did.
I had all four removed at once when I was 25. Apparently three came out normally the fourth either broke or had to be broken and pulled out in pieces. The put me under with general via IV.
As far as drugs went I had three days worth of vicoden. But I didn’t take it past the first evening. I didn’t like how it made me feel. I got by just fine on Motrin. 800mg 4 times a day for 3 days. My loving fiancé made me mashed potatoes with bacon gravy. Yum. I was back to normal in 7 days with the small exception of a piece of tooth about the size of a grain of rice. Which I couldn’t quite wiggle loose with my tongue. After about a week, I reached in with a pair of pliers and pulled it out myself. Not wise but it worked and I suffered no ill effects.
I was jacked up on painkillers for a few days after I had my 4 pulled. They were all impacted and I ended up with two dry sockets- that’s when the blood clot breaks and the nerves at the bottom of the socket are exposed, roughly the pain equivalent of someone sandpapering your brain stem. Or so I imagine.
To make matters worse, the dry sockets occurred over the labor day weekend, so trying to find a doctor to pack the sockets with clove oil & gauze was a chore. The clove oil is supposed to numb the nerve endings and promote the formation of clots, but it makes everything taste like cloves for a while. I can still taste it, and my procedure was about 3 years ago.
It helps to have a SO to wait on you hand & foot. I admire your goal of quitting smoking at the same time- best of luck!
Exactly two weeks ago to the minute I had all four of my wisdom teeth taken out. Some qualifiers on my experience: They weren’t impacted or infected. They came out because they were below the level of the other teeth and so to avoid many many cavities. That said, they put me under with nitrous for the operation, and I didn’t come out of that fully until several hours afterwards. With that came the wearing off of the local anaesthesia they used. I had been given percocet, and I took one, and it did nothing. However, the ibuprofen I took a little while later did help, a lot.
In fact, ibuprofen will definitely be your best friend throughout your recovery. As for the holes, it seems my case was odd in that they didn’t use stitches or plug them with anything; they’ve been healing quite well on their own. I had to stick to a mush diet for the first few days (which I quickly got tired of) and for the first week I found myself being very careful about how I chewed. I still am to an extent, because it’s still rather sore back there.
The other thing I encountered, which no one mentioned to me, was a general ache through the remainder of my teeth beginning about last week. I can only assume that the sudden abscence of my wisdom teeth has caused the rest of my teeth to move. Once again, ibuprofen is your best friend.
For me, at no point was the pain unmanageable, even without the medications. Oh yeah, and definitely don’t get any kind of suction anywhere near your mouth for a good long while. It’ll rip the healing-over gums right out of the sockets. My operation was deliberately planned to coincide with a week-long break from school, but had it not been I probably would have been avoiding work for 3 days at most.
One thing that helps me get through dental surgeries is SlimFast or Instant Breakfast. Ensure might work, as well, but I’ve never had it. These drinks go down easy, and are nutritious. SlimFast, by the way, tastes MUCH better if you blend it with ice cubes as the package directs you to. Soup is all right for lunch and dinner, but I don’t really care for it for breakfast.
I’ve had all mine out. Be prepared for the swelling, and don’t panic. The first night I had no swelling at all, and thought I’d got away with it. Nu-uh. My face was double the size for about a week. It does go down though, and a minor upside is I got cheekbones afterward!
Got all four out about 10 years ago, now. Mine were easy. I was lucky and got to have them pulled just by my general dentist - no orthodontic surgeon or general anaesthesia for me. Just good ole’ gas and novocaine. Two had already broken the surface, and two were nearly there, stuck under my other teeth. He gave me heavy duty Tylenol, but I think I only used one.
I was happy to have it done by the dentist - both my brother and sister had to go the oral surgeon route, and yeah they had cool drugs, but it seems their recovery time was longer than mine.
You’ll be sore for a coupla days, eating soft foods only for a few more days after that, then should be right as rain in a week or so.
My daughter just got 2 of hers pulled. Welll, one was pulled and the other had to be cut out. She took a couple Vicodin that first evening, but was back to eating normal food the next morning and not taking any pain killers at all. She’s going back in a week or two to get the other 2 cut out.
They had to cut mine out, but that was years ago. I had no problems, either.
My guess is that you’ll fare just fine. Don’t worry about it.
I had all four pulled in March of 1999. One was coming in just fine, the other three were impacted. I had mine taken out under general anaesthesia. They gave me a prescription for Vicodin (which I promptly filled and took every last one of) and told me to take 800 mg of ibuprofen in between Vicodin doses. I was pretty useless for 3-4 days, and stretched out the Vicodin usage for about 10 days.
I lived on applesauce and soup for a while, then learned to chew very carefully with my incisiors. I did stop smoking for about a week, but did not quit.
I had all four of mine pulled out a couple years ago… I was a little older then normal (28) because I was paranoid about having a nerve yanked and losing feeling in my jaw for life. It got to the point where I was having frequent dull pain in my teeth before I decided I had enough and they had to come out.
About a year afterwards I had hernia surgery, and I can say this about both - the wait is the worst part. Once its done, it’s not so bad. Thats the best piece of experience-based advice I can give. Once the operation is done, there’s no way to go back and you realize that it really isn’t all that bad.
I did have a couple hours though after the novacaine wore off but before the pain meds really kicked in that I was in pain - but I ended up popping another percoset a little early and all was good.
If you can have someone wait on you hand and foot to make milkshakes and sherbert smoothies for a couple days, its much better.
After 2 days of just sucking it up, dealing with the inconvenience of cotton in your mouth and watching everything on Tivo, it gets better on a daily basis.
You’re wise to get them all taken out at once. There’s no sense in going through it multiple times.
I was about 21 or 22 when my dentist told me I needed to have my (impacted IIRC) wisdom teeth out. I was terrified, but after doing some research to convince myself that it really was wise to have them removed and not just a scam to drum up more business for the oral surgeon, I figured I’d better go ahead and get it over with before complications that would require even more oral surgery arose (and while I was still covered under my parents’ insurance).
As it turned out, it really wasn’t that bad. I had it done under the kind of anesthetic where you’re conscious but you don’t really care what’s going on, and I was prescribed Tylenol with codeine (IIRC) afterward. The only time I experienced any serious pain was about an hour or so afterward, when the anesthetic had worn off and the Tylenol with codeine hadn’t kicked in yet. I lived on liquid food (Instant Breakfast, instant soup, etc.) and pain pills for a couple of days, but I think I was back on my feet within 2 or 3 days.
I had all 4 pulled when I was about 25. Two were impacted, two were just “normal” but I figured, here I am, yank em out while I’m not paying attention.
Unfortunately, through this experience I learned that “happy” drugs make be puke voluminously. Talk about miserable – I was in agonizing pain and throwing up clear broth and crackers, not to mention half-digested Vicodin, and it was sunday and I couldn’t find anyone to tell me what to do. Truly one of the lowest moments of my life.
Once I figured out I could take lots and lots of advil instead, all was good. My oral surgeon stressed the importance of getting protein during recovery. Puddings, especially rice pudding or any type made with eggs, is a good source. Broth that’s been homemade from bones is pretty good too. And smoothies with added protein powder.
I was given darvocet after I had my four teeth cut out. You know, honestly, it wasn’t a big deal at all besides sounding a bit goofy when you talk. I took the opportunity to lose 10 pounds because of the mush diet and I read ALL of the Harry Potter books, well up to the Goblet of Fire, because that was all that was out at the time.
I took exactly two of the pain killers when the doctor told me I was supposed to. The second one made me a little high, which I didn’t like. I suddenly became paranoid of being hooked on pain killers or something so I flushed them all down the toilet. I had no pain at all. The big huge monster ibprofen pills they give you take care of the swelling, thus no pain.
<shudders>
All for of mine were impacted, growing into the sinus cavity, sideways, just messed up.
I was given Codeine and it didn’t work for shit. It just made me nauseous, and I puked up a lot of nasty stuff (blood clots) <shudders>
I found ibuprofin to be much more effective for the pain (which was pretty bad - I was laid up for about 2 weeks).
I echo Lynn Bodoni’s advice on shakes - I discovered these nifty soy milk protein shakes when I had my tonsillectomy, and since most of the food I could eat wasn’t terribly nutritious (soft, mushy, tasteless stuff), they helped a lot. They’re also dairy free, which is nice since dairy promotes mucous production (according to my doctor - IANAD).
Unless you can ask specifically for a certain drug, I wouldn’t hope for any drug-induced happiness during your recovery. They took the edge off the pain, but that was about it. I hope you have a way better experience than I.
