Thursday, September 9, I will have all four wisdom teeth removed. It requires going under general anesthesia. I will not be able to drive the rest of the day, and I will likely be in some pain and on painkillers. This will kill what I normally do on weekends, which is visit my parents and go bowling. I’m usually not an outgoing, extroverted person anyway, so I’m not missing out on participating in extreme sports or anything like that.
I had planned to spend a lot of time watching TV and reading, but I figure a little activity will help in recovery, but a lot won’t help.
Well, GZ, I recommend eating endless amounts of ice cream. It’s yummy, cold, and you don’t have to chew! My personal fav would be Godiva Chocolate Raspberry Truffle, followed by Hagen Daas Bailey’s Irish Creme.
Also, in case no one else has told you, avoid straws. Good luck! I’ve had two removed, and they came out whole. I still have them and have been toying with the idea of having them gilded and turned into earrings
Come home, take a pill to cope with the pain, feel sick and pass out. Wake up, pointedly not take a damned pill, vomit from swallowing so much blood. Feel like shit from the pain, take a pill, feel sick and pass out. Occasionally try to eat something soft, vomit from the blood, and feel hungry and sick. Try to read, realize you can’t concentrate on hydrocodone, wish for Darvocet, feel sick and pass out.
Well, you can still visit your parents. You probably not going to have the energy for any sports though, so take it easy. I myself was up and about the night I had mine done without the vicoden (didn’t want to take it, I thought I would get sick). Luckily, I had no pain anyway, just a little puffy. But if you’re gonna go anywhere, I’d say just relax and have people drive and cater to you.
Wow Derleth, really that bad? I’ve had two surgeries on my grill. One for wisdom teeth, and the other; TMI:
They cut above my upper teeth (from cuspid to cuspid) to lower them to correct an open bite.
I felt no pain both times. I don’t think I have any nerves left?
Hey, why lie. The painkillers are great. I had two of them pulled last year, got home and took a pill (Vicodin). Spent the next four hours in jittery detachment. It was kind of cool.
Hey, I rather enjoyed the Vicodin, myself. Didn’t get sick.
Important: don’t drink anything from a straw, don’t suck on anything, or create suction or a vacuum in your mouth, and avoid carbonated beverages – my dentist told me about how all of these can contribute to the dread “Dry Socket” condition, which requires you to go BACK to the dentist and endure yet more torture.
After 48 hours, if you’re not in agony, you’re pretty much okay. Just avoid getting food particles in the sockets.
You’re having all four out? I had that done 10 years ago. You need someone else around - you’re going to have had general anaesthesia and you’re likely going to feel like shit for several days. You may well find you have extreme difficulty in speaking - I did. This is dangerous.
Rent a Playstation II and Gran Turismo 3. It’ll cost about ten bucks. You’ll become a far better driver than you are now - as long as you stay on the narcotics while driving!
If you are having all four taken at once under general anaesthesia, then I second the advice not to be by yourself.
I also recommend renting a stack of old movies with silly (but not off-putting) plots you can snooze through if you feel drowsy. I got through with a stack of Bond movies. I made certain that they were mostly things I’d seen before so that if I nodded off I would know more-or-less what I’d missed when I woke up again. My brother appreciated the baby-sitting duty, as he got to make free with my fridge, and hadn’t seen many of the older Bond flicks prior to our little fest.
Bro also provided some mental stimulation once I’d slept the worst of it off, by leaving me with a jigsaw puzzle. This is standard therapy in our family: good for broken bones, sprained joints, pulled muscles and bruised hearts. Putting the pieces back together is a nice symbolism when you feel broken, which you just might for the first day or so.
I third getting someone to take care of you. Seriously, you’ll want someone that you don’t even have to ask to bring pudding, flan, soup, milkshakes, icecream, popsicles and lots and lots of painkillers - a mindreader is helpful. Especially one who can actually remember when you took your last dose, thereby avoiding OD’ing.
Don’t worry about being bored. If you’re lucky, you’ll be far too high to be bored. If you’re not too high, find another oral surgeon, stat .
Vicodin made me nauseous. Nauseous is not something you want to be with several holes in your gums. If you are aware of a heavy duty narcotic that you respond well to, I’d mention it and ask for a prescription.
IMO, they always underplay recovery times. I was down for the count for 4 days and I had 2 teeth done, not 4. Long about the 4th day, a movie started sounding like a good idea. The 5th day, my eyes were no longer crossed and I could hold a pencil to do a crossword puzzle.
My daughter just had all four done, local anesthetic, and even though she told them that certain pain killers don’t work well for her, they still started her out with one she knew wouldn’t work. When she asked for something else (after a day of pain) they gave her another one that she told them doesn’t work for her. Finally, after three days of pain they gave her the one she requested originally. Apparently if you ask for a particular narcotic they take it as an indication of addiction and won’t give it to you. So we ended up having to pay for three prescriptions instead of one, and she had to go back in to be rechecked because it wouldn’t stop bleeding. She tends to be very whiny about pain, and I had to keep her company for a few days, but she’s all better now and mad that I called her whiny.
I had all 4 out at once after my x-rays showed a picture right out of The Big Book of British Teeth. I had general anesthesia too. It’s really not so bad, and I agree that you should have no compunction against sucking down all the pain pills you legally can.
I suggest sticking to room temperature food for a while. IIRC, and it’s been 20 years, I was more sensitive to hot and cold than anything else.
I had nitrous for mine, and was awake the entire time. I can’t imagine general anesthesia for removal of wisdom teeth. As in the whole deep sleep/intubated kind?
I thought the most they did these days was the ‘twilight sleep’ thing?
Otherwise, the no suction thing is important. And don’t even think you can suck on a cigarette, if you smoke. ‘Dry Sockets’ for sure.
Depends on how impacted they are, and all, too, I think.
Mine were quite impacted (they came in nearly horizontal) and my gums had to be cut open to dig them out. I had a ton of stitches as a result, but surprisingly little pain. I never even filled the script for painkillers.
NO STRAWS, can’t say that loud enough. I was also sensitive to hot/cold, so had to do lukewarm or room temp foods for a bit. I also had trouble opening my mouth fully due to all the stitches, so chewing wasn’t happening too easily for a day or two.
I had them done on a Friday and was back to school on Monday with no complications. I was 17, fwiw.
They geve me some kind of injection to knock me out. I really don’t remember if they did any kind of ongoing thing with some kind of gas while the procedure went forward.
I had only two out (still have the other two, came in fine) and I had general anesthesia because one of the teeth had to be broken into little bits and pulled out sliver by sliver. Some of those slivers eventually came out later, through the roof of my mouth. That was fun, lemme tell ya. The left side of my face was so swollen I looked like half a Kennedy.
You might want to prepare some ice packs for yourself. I had one of those gel ones that you can refreeze, but a few bags of frozen vegetables would work. 20 minutes on and 20 minutes off, you know the drill. Take whatever drugs they give you and Vicodin is the best (the Tylenol with codeine made me itchy and my ears were ringing, which was no picnic).
How I passed the time was that I watched both Godfather movies back to back, and then the original Star Wars trilogy. And slept a lot. That kind of thing should do you fine. Get someone else to make you cool, bland food (cooking on Vicodin, not a good idea). I wouldn’t recommend planning any outings because if you’re anything like me, you’re going to look like you’re storing nuts in your face for the winter. I called in sick an extra day after my extractions because I knew my students would have a field day if I came in looking like that.
I was on cloud nine, the day I had mine out. Misery came the next day. My best piece of advice? No matter how good–or bad–you feel the day you have them out, KEEP ice on your cheeks.
I had two wisdeom teeth out this past February under “twilight sedation.” I think recovery really varies from person-to-person. Since they won’t let you drive a car after the procedure, I’m really not sure what physical activity you would be up for, even if it’s minimal. I say stick to your plan of reading and tv and just play it by ear on how your body feels.
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