What do I do for fun after my wisdom teeth are removed?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
21

Sure you can! I did it through all five tooth-removal operations. The trick is to keep the gauze in place and bite down while smoking. This little trick NOT recommended with straws as one tends to kinda drool all over one’s shirt in the process - something about sucking and biting and swallowing while numb makes the face muscles rebel, or something.

Another tip and trick: If the doctor doesn’t give you something similar, try to get a hold of an insulin syringe and break the needle off. When something gets stuck in the holes it’s much easier to squirt 'em out than anything else. DO NOT USE TOOTHPICKS!

22

Anasthesia! In my day we didn’t use anasthesia. For me, at least, it was only local numbing agents, with an injection of Valium. It made me silly for about the first three removals. I started catching my senses on the last. It was lots of fun biting on the guaze afterward. Fun if you enjoy major pain. Plan on cursing your oral surgeon for about a day. I was much better the next day, I even went out with friends that night for some beers. My mouth was sore, but tolerable.

Sounds like the anasthetic has more side effects for some.

23

Wow. :frowning:

I have a consultation with an oral surgeon on the 20th, no idea when surgery will be. I’m going to assume they’ll be taking all four of mine. You people make it sound horrible!

I have a question. I have a kid who will be 16 months old by the time I get mine out. I know that everyone is different and stuff, but how long do you suppose I arrange alternative care for him? Very likely I’ll have a family member stay with me through my recovery and watch both of us at the same time. :smiley: I know the day of and the day after is probably a good plan, and I’ve taken care of him while on oxycodone before (which is what I’ll ask for since hydrocodone (Vicodin) makes me queezy… I think it’s because there’s more acetaminophen), but that was minimal dosage. How high am I going to be? Also, how long do you have to keep the gauze in your mouth? (Ballpark, of course) I have an extremely sensitive gag reflex. Also… blood? Is it really that awful? Does it bleed for long?

I’m seriously scared now. :frowning:

:freaks out:

24

I had all four of mine out at once but don’t remember what sort of anesthesia was used. You could get lucky and not be too affected by the surgery. I drove home afterwards so everything must have gone well for mine but I remember being groggy later on for a bit. I did have to go in later to have a 5th tooth taken out (that failed to show itself earlier!) but overall it was definitely not too dramatic.

Good luck!!

25

I had all 4 taken out while I was in high school (a little over 20 years ago). They kept warning me about the anethsesia and didn’t even want me to go to the bathroom unassisted, and I thought it was all rather silly since I didn’t really feel that bad and had no problems whatsoever walking about. The most important thing is to keep those silly ice packs on, even if you feel like you don’t need them. I kept them on religiously and didn’t have many problems. When my roomate in college had his out, he figured he didn’t need the ice packs any more after a bit, and swelled up like a chipmunk.

26

I had all four of my wisdom teeth taken out under general anaesthesia when I was in high school. I must say none of this gloom and doom stuff applied in my case. I was a little fuzzy for a couple hours after the surgery, but that’s it. I took a couple vicodin, because I felt obligated, but painkillers tend to make me nauseous, so I stopped after a few days. No biggie.

Good luck and hope your surgery goes as easily as mine did.

27

I can tell you what *not * to do. Take a vicodin, be recovering from anesthesia, and watch Moulin Rouge. In a word: swwwiiiirrrrlllyyyyyyyy.

28

Wow! Lotsa responses. :slight_smile:

I will be under general anesthesia because the teeth are impacted. The bottom two are pointed directly forward and won’t appear without pushing all the teeth in front of them, plus I have a cavity on the molar directly in front of bottom left or right. I don’t remember which. The top two are pointed out toward my cheeks, and one has begun to show through.

I don’t have Vicoden, but I do have Hydrocodone and Etodolac. I’m not looking forward being high on pain meds because I hate the feeling of sluggishness and slowness that is sure to come. I guess I’ll decide whether or not someone should stay with me on the day of the surgery. I could choose Zamboni Mom, but she is in the late stages of pregnancy and almost needs help herself because she is quite big. I doubt she would turn down the opportunity, being my mother and all, but I don’t want her to overexert herself, especially since she has littluns running around, too. I might be able to get Zamboni Brother to do it too.

I was told no straws at consultation, and it was stressed as being very important, and I don’t smoke. I will avoid ice cream because my teeth are very sensitive. If ice cream comes into contact with my teeth for too long, they will hurt for a while, and I don’t want this during recovery.

Looks like I’ll have to check out some good books and movies at the library, then, which is how I might have planned to spend this weekend anyway. Now I have a good excuse to be lazy :smiley: .

I had planned to watch all 50 episodes of Family Guy over the weekend, but I figured that I might want to be a little more diverse. Now after reading others’ stories, I realize that might not care what is on TV, no matter how much I try to diversify my television habits. I will be happy to get back to work. I hate sitting around and doing nothing.

29

From my experience of wisdom teeth removal I have only this to offer: Don’t use pillowcases you like for about a week and get a good rag that you can use to wipe out the inside of your mouth with when you wake up the day after (and maybe the day after that). I was dazed and throbbing for about a week but it was manageable, the giant bloodstain on my pillow and the caked blood on the roof of my mouth the first morning after however were unpleasent, to say the least.

30

I was coming here to tell you the truth, but I see Derleth has beaten me to it already.

I just had mine all four of mine out about 4 months ago.

I would not wish this on the people contained at Guantanamo Bay.

31

As a dry socket sufferer, let me say: do WHATEVER IT TAKES to avoid them. I had two out under local anesthetic, and then went home. No big deal, but my dentist (a family friend) was over 60 miles away and I was so broke I couldn’t just run back to his office immediately if things weren’t hunky-dory (couldn’t afford the gas).
Anyway, went in on a Friday, had them pulled, and was given Tylenol 3 for the pain. I’d had a single wisdom tooth out before, so didn’t think much of it. I think I changed my gauze too often or something, because I definitely developed dry sockets - and couldn’t get back until the NEXT Friday. I was miserable, AND I was trying to work during this time, too. Sheesh.
Just TAKE IT EASY.

32

I had all four out under general anesthesia a few years ago. Two were fully bony impacted, so they were digging them out of the bone. My husband limited me to one quarter of the prescribed pain medicine. I was in tears for days and could not function for all due to the pain. He felt this was better than risk addiction. I have not forgiven him. I reminded him each time I brought him his medicine after he had his wisdom teeth out. He knows he was very wrong.

Do not be by yourself. Be around someone who will clean up your vomit. DO NOT eat ice cream with candy or nuts in it. Don’t use a straw. Don’t plan anything intellectually or physically challenging. Do line up some engaging movies, preferably some you have seen before but want to see again. Stock up on soups and soft foods.

Once the healing has started and only after the doc says it is ok (or you risk dry socket or worse), irrigate the sockets to remove gunk. This feels heavenly to finally get the ick away. Do let them know about any pain when they ask. I had some after a week and he put in a little paper with clove oil. It relieved the pain with no problems other than tasting clove oil.

33

How do you respond to anesthetic? That’s going to be one major factor about how much help you’ll need during recovery.

I had mine taken out the day before I left for college. Then spent my orientation week at college buzzed out on Percocet. :smiley:

I was put under for the teeth removal, but part of that was the oral surgeon knew me of old - he’d been the one to dig out my adult canines so they could be pulled into place. (Stupid things came in in the roof of my mouth, like shark teeth.) Anyways, he was a little light on the anesthesia - both when I had my canines found and my wisdom teeth done, I woke up on him working in my mouth. As you can imagine, I had no real problems with navigating afterwards.

(Of course I have a history of odd drug interactions: caffeine helps me sleep, and a moderate dose of a common anxiety med turned the walls of the hospital purple! :eek: Not that I was worried, mind you - IT is an anxiety med, after all. Anyways, be aware YMMV)

As for food and fighting boredom… I’d recommend audiobooks - you usually can get some from the local library. For fighting boredom :wink: , in addition to the standard ice cream and stuff - other suggestions include cold pasta salads, and cold soups. When you’re getting better you can move to warm foods, but cold is good for the first couple of days.

(A favorite ‘casserole’ dish, easy to make, and no crunchy/chewey bits:

One package frozen chopped spinach
about a quarter to half cup chopped onion or scallion
3/4 cup sour cream
1 TBSP vinegar

Heat the spinach with the onion.
Once warm, add the other stuff, and mix well. Very tasty, and let it cool and it goes down quite easily.

If you’re feeling ambitious you can make it with freshly chopped spinach in the microwave.)

Good luck!

34

I’m sorry you’re scared and are freaking out. I was scared too and had never been under any type of anesthesia before. Bottom line: I felt much better after it was all over & I hope you will too.

I’m in my 30s & remember bits and pieces of the surgery when I had mine out under “twilight anesthesia” last February. I don’t remember them putting guaze in my mouth though. It was in there when I came out of it. I was kinda surprised how much blood there was too and I didn’t FEEL like I was bleeding in there. My “feeling high” didn’t last that long. I think my anesthesia was closely monitored. Without looking at some of my old livejournal entries, I’d say I had the guaze in my mouth for a couple of days. I think you’re pretty set with the plan you’ve got there.

Once you’re there, the staff moves pretty fast to get it over with. For me, there was no time to be scared once I got there. Good luck & keep us posted.

35

You’re all scaring me now, BUT I want to know how common these horror stories are. How common is vomiting? Dry socket? How long before the bleeding stops? Will I be able to work by Monday?

I don’t want to be dismissive or offensive, but I would rather hear from a professional the frequency of these problems.

36

It was for me. Every hour or so, I’d head over to the bathroom, change my gauze, and spit blood into the sink. It looked like someone had been shot in there and the gauze was absolutely soaked in blood.

Also I ruined a nice pillow. Take Spudo’s advice; for a few days after the removal I would wake up with a bloody pillow and a little stream of dried blood on my face. It was pretty disgusting.

37

What surprised me is the pain from my teeth moving over the next 6 months. The other teeth spread out slightly, which was a good thing, but it ached badly every few weeks.

Vomiting is fairly common, partly because the pain meds tend to irritate the stomach as do the antibiotics and then there is all that blood and mucus you inadvertently swallow.

My Husband did not vomit at all, but he did feel queasy.

38

If it makes you feel any better, I had mine out a couple of years ago. General anesthesia, all four taken out (two of which were abscessed). I felt puffy and woozy the first day, and didn’t need painkillers until the second. I had no bleeding after the first time I rinsed my mouth out and didn’t vomit or feel sick.
I did, however, have bloody “whiskers” extending from the corner of my mouth, I’m guessing from whatever contraption they used to prop my mouth open.
It was annoying and… well, sadly, the best word I can think of to descibe it is “poopy”, but not nightmarish.

Food Hint: Boston Market mashed potatos. Mmmm.

39

Oh, and uh… addressing the initial question in the OP: don’t worry about it. You’ll probably spent all of your time asleep or trying to think of foods you can eat painlessly.

40

General? Sounds like you’re in for a wild ride, my friend. Ask if you can bring in some headphones and play Pink Floyd’s ‘Dark Side’ while you’re under. I believe that’s the way it was meant to be listened to.
I had my second wisdom tooth pulled out when it didn’t quite need it yet to avoid going on a date w/ a guy who ‘stopped by’ my area out of the blue - from Germany. I rented ‘To Sir, With Love’ and ‘Gigi’, 'cause I’m a sap for Sidney Poitier (grrrr, baby, yeah!) and sappy love stories. Yes, German guy swung by my house to see if I’d had it done that afternoon, and I had sticthes and blood to show him so he’d go away. The next night my best friend’s family had a ‘Perch Party’, which was the result of a fishing contest she’d been in w/ her dad and hence had a TON of yummy fish to get rid of. So I was on Tylenol 3’s w/ codeine, eating on one side of my mouth, sipping a hard cider, and playing a very loud game of Balderdash w/ a bunch of French Canadians until very late.
I think.

So, that would be a good plan; can you find some French Canadians w/ an excess of perch? Are they indigenous to your area?

But the first wisdom tooth was mostly erupted for almost two years and only needed pushing out. Very little blood and no pain, unless you count the Novacaine needle in the roof of my mouth. Extraction took less than 15 minutes and when that numbness wore off an hour later, no pain. It’s huge and in one piece, I love to show it to people and tell them I lost weight.
X-rays have shown that I have no wisdom teeth on the other side of my mouth. :confused: Evolution, you are a nutty mistress!