I had all 4 removed when I was a teen. It was a total non-event.
After I got home I took the standard dose of aspirin mid-afternoon and again at bedtime on day one. That was it. Never took any of the fancier pills I was prescribed, nor any aspirin on day 2 or later.
I ate soft food for a couple days, ate gingerly for a few days, and was very temperature sensitive at first. I have no recollection of using ice packs.
I went to school the day after the removal & pretty much resumed life full speed. Teen full speed.
Bottom line: It can be a big deal as some folks up-thread have said. It can also be a minor deal for other people.
Keep an eye on the emotional aspect. My mother wanted someone with her at all times, but I just wanted to be undisturbed in a dark room for a few days.
And yeah… echo what other people say about drinking straws and dry sockets. Keeping those sockets gooey and un-suctioned is ultimately the kindest thing you can do. NO DRINKING FROM STRAWS
I had all three of mine (for some reason one was missing, although I didn’t miss it) pulled at the same time. After the removal the 800 mg ibuprofen did the trick, the Vicodin was useless.
I almost didn’t add to this, because the one tooth I had yanked was an almost total non-event compared to most people, but of course there was still bleeding, pain, swelling, etc.
I was handed a sheet of instructions and told to go home, rest, and not engage in any significant physical activity for 24 hours, preferably 48. I suggest following any instructions given.
I second taking the pain meds on a schedule. Use ice packs/whatever. Keep ahead of the pain. I took one codeine, then 800mg ibuprofen for a couple days, then regular ibuprofen for a couple more, then that was it. But that was my experience, other people have considerably more pain and swelling than I did.
Even though only one side was affected I still went for soft food for a couple days.
I watched a lot of videos and read books on my days off, then went back to work. I wish I had taken a couple pain pills with me that first day back, as I discovered the hard way a dose didn’t last quite my entire shift. Keep that mind, given your long work days. Have back up pain meds for about a week, just in case. I found keeping my mind occupied was a good thing.
I did have one tiny bone chip work its way out later - but I had been warned about that as a possibility so I didn’t panic or anything. I’m surprised no one else has mentioned that.
Best of luck to the OP’s wife! Also wishing her an uneventful recovery.
Thanks for all of the continued tips and well wishes. I don’t think I’m going to have to have full on nursing degree. but wanted to make sure that people knew I wasn’t the one getting the teeth removed. So caregiver it was. My wife is enjoying this thread and reading up on things mentioned. We’ll see what they have to say at the consultation on Thursday and then who knows when they’ll actually do something. Her worst wisdom tooth is still deteriorating, as she showed me a piece that came out the other day. We’re thinking it will be the surgery for the bottom two that are impacted, and the top two should be easier to get out as far as we know, but it will depend on whatever they say, obviously.
Again, thanks for everything. We’ve been fortunate to avoid having to go through any medical issues together in our 17 years of marriage, though we do work together every day in our business and have for pretty much our entire marriage, and we left a cult together and are shunned together, so I wanted to see what I could do here to help with this new frontier as well.
I’m not a nurse, just a husband. I’ve helped my wife through some difficult injuries (she’s an IronMan). Been in the ER with her and have had to call 911 another time.
Just be prepared to be there. Don’t forget to look after yourself, or your going to become less of a care giver for her.
I had all four of mine out at once and it was no big deal. But I was 16 years old. That time in life when a fall was not a big deal.
Good suggestions here, but as I said, don’t forget to look after yourself.
Goodness, how dentistry has changed. I had three wisdom teeth pulled, local anaesthetic, 2 the first time and the third at the next visit. First appointment of the day for the dentist, and I went to work afterwards. But I was young then.
I had mine done when I was 21. I was working at Pizza Hut and had it done on a Friday, and requested the weekend off. The next day, I went in to get my check, and the manager was skeptical that I’d had it done because I wasn’t swollen or bruised at all. I finally told her, "I have 12 stitches in my mouth that I can show you - " and she said, “OK, OK, I believe you now.”
I had very little pain and, like I said, no swelling. Most of the pain was from a stitch that was pulled a little too tight.
Same for me. I was about 20 and would have gone out with friends that night but my parents convinced me not to. I think I took two Tylenol with codeine when the anaesthesia wore off and that was it.
@whatever - My wife has had teeth pulled before, when she was little, and I don’t think it’s a matter of dentistry changing as much as it is a matter of needing different things. For her top two wisdom teeth we think they can be pulled, just like you’ve had and like she’s had before, with little real issue. The problem is impacted teeth that are sideways and below the surface. Those have to be surgically cut out because they didn’t ever fully come in. From what I’ve read they have to see where the roots are, sometimes they can be wrapped around the jaw, there can be all types of complications. That doesn’t mean that there will be, but it’s not a matter of simple dentistry. Her dentist said he could do the top two in his office, but since the ones that are causing problems need to be surgically removed because they’re so messed up and under the gums then she might as well have all of them done at once in one place.
Thanks for the stories ladies and gents. I hope she has one of those stories where it goes smoothly and things are just fine for a quick recovery. Thanks for the well wishes. We find out the game plan on Thursday morning. A client yesterday told her not to let them schedule before Thanksgiving so she could enjoy the food and fun, but we’ll see how it all lays out. We have a great point in time picked out, I think the first Thursday - Friday of December, if it could work out that way, but we don’t know how urgent it is to get this done and will find more out with the x-rays and consultation.
That makes some sense with the more detail. The one I had pulled was because of decay - it had come in 35 years earlier without problem, fully erupted, with enough room on my jaw for it (for all four, actually). No complications with the root. My extraction was simple, uncomplicated, and done under local by a regular dentist.
If, however, you’re looking at a tooth that’s impacted or otherwise complicated then yes, it’s definitely more of a deal and requires heavier anesthesia and an oral surgeon, with more pain and recovery time.
Even if your wife has to go back to work after 2-3 days would it be possible for her to work shorter hours or less strenuous parts of the business for a bit? I hope she sails through this with no problems but having a fallback if she needs a bit more time for recovery might be worth the piece of mind. Keep in mind, even minor surgery is still surgery, a little extra rest will help the body fully recover.
One thing you should do - know who to call if things go south. Dry socket should be attended to as soon as possible. So should any other complication.
I had all 4 wisdom teeth and one other tooth removed at an oral surgeons under general anesthesia. They put an ice pack on me that tied around my head and I headed home. I was very tired but awake and aware of my surroundings. Got the painkiller prescription filled but really didn’t need it. I went to bed as soon as I got home and felt a little pain so I took a pain killer but still felt a little twinge of pain. Turned out the corner of the pillow was poking me in the jaw. Straightened that out and didn’t have any pain afterward. Had bought all the soft foods I could think of but didn’t use any of them and just ate regular foods. Didn’t have any dry socket either. From reading the responses above, I was apparently pretty lucky.
Make sure they don’t give her any after-care instructions that they don’t give you. I’m not sure if it was the tail end of the anesthesia or if they gave me something after the surgery was over, but I was not in a fit state to take instructions seriously. So of course they gave me all the after-care instructions while my husband was bringing the car around. I smiled and nodded and put the written instructions in my pocket. Then I went home and went straight to bed without doing any of it.
I got lucky and there were no ill effects from skipping the ice packs. Whatever they gave me, it was an odd experience. I could feel the pain perfectly, I just didn’t care about it.
If they give you those little absorbent pads, try to get a few extras. If the bleeding lasts a little longer, the real deal is easier to use than makeshifts are.
Well, we went to the consultation today. I guess more specifically I took my wife to it and waiting in the lobby. My wife said that they did x-rays and looked things over. They discussed scheduling and pricing and what kind of anesthesia she would like. She went with local anesthesia and nitrous oxide. They could put her totally out as a last resort if she wanted it, but apparently that’s kind of rough on some people, and she’s not nervous about this at all. I’d need to be knocked out, lol, but she’s not fazed in the least by this.
They never discussed anything else. She finally started asking some questions once she realized that they weren’t going to really give her even basic information. I’m glad we did our own due diligence and reached out to people like on here and some friends. She has to have surgery to remove the bottom two, and the bill said that they would surgically remove the top two as well which surprised us. Ultimately the price wasn’t as bad as I feared, and she got to schedule it for after Thanksgiving pretty much four weeks from tomorrow. So she can enjoy the two Thanksgiving meals that we’ll go to and hanging out with our friends. Then she picked a Friday afternoon to get the surgery done, our one short day per month so we aren’t missing any work that day. She can recuperate on Saturday and Sunday and I can go to work on my own on Monday if needed and we’ll just see how things go from there.
They were concerned about the nerves as hers are really close to the roots of her bottom two wisdom teeth. Hopefully that all goes well. Of course, they did inform her of the risks with that which sound potentially awful, but very rare. I’m sure they have to say that to most everybody.
Thanks for all of the great advice here. I’ll add something we found out from a friend last night, and that is that we should get a Waterpik so that she can flush out the holes back there AFTER the first few days when clotting is going well and she starts eating anything solid. Gently flushing those areas out can help prevent infection. Apparently you can just swish around a little salt water if you don’t have an actual Waterpik or whatever, but it is important to keep things back there cleaned out, again AFTER clotting is established. It might help someone else if they stumble on this thread in the future.
I don’t think I needed ice packs for mine, and I was able to eat a hamburger later that evening (albeit chewing mostly on the less-affected side). Then again, though, I was (like most wisdom-tooth patients) a teenager at the time, and I seem to be more resilient than most in general. If the surgeon suggests you use ice packs, then use ice packs: They’re the professionals for a reason.
All that said, I would expect that the inconveniences of recovery would mostly be in what she can and can’t eat. The only thing that should make a difference in work would be from residual effects of the anesthesia, and those should be well over and done with after three days.
Oh yeah, my wife was told by the surgeon that if you get them taken out while young it is not just easier recovery because young people heal faster, but the roots aren’t as deep and things aren’t as well established. Makes sense.
Yeah, my reaction to Vicodin was similar to yours. I ended up just using the Ibuprofen and dumping out my Vicodin, as it didn’t seem to do much for me.
I had one wisdom tooth removed at about 35 with local (and it was a little rough going, taking nearly two hours with all the time taken to finally get me numb), and I ate nothing but pistachio pudding and instant mashed potatoes for about two days. The swelling was enormous the next day. Looked like I had a golf ball lodged in my jaw, but it came down a day later. But I do remember needing a lot of rest, a little TLC, and room temperature foods that required no chewing. I even think regular mashed potatoes would have been too much for me, hence eating instant (which I otherwise never do.)
