My wisdom teeth extractions were a cinch. I had local anesthetic and was awake for the entire procedure, which was brief and uncomplicated due to the fact that none of my teeth were impacted. I didn’t have any painkillers after, just massive doses of ibuprofen to keep the swelling down and therefore alleviate the pain. The very next day I went to a dinner party with my parents and ate steak; albeit very gingerly and cut into very small pieces, but I was able to chew and swallow with no ill effects.
I had three pulled with just novacaine (I only had three). I had no pain during the procedure, which took about 20 minutes from the time I sat in the chair to the time I was out the door. I found the whole experience fascinating, since I knew what was going on in my mouth and could hear all of it but couldn’t feel a thing. It doesn’t take much to entertain some people, I guess. I didn’t begin to feel any pain until a couple of hours after I had them pulled. By then my husband was home with the pain meds (of which I took only three).
My husband had four impacted wisdom teeth, and was going to have GA until he found out how much more it costs. We were also concerned about bad reactions he has had in the past to GA. So he went with the novacaine. He ended up with dry socket so had a lot more pain than I did.
Lordie, go GA! The smell, the sounds, the blood, the ache of having your jaw open that far for that long, the thuds of getting them out… eeewww. I had mine out and went GA.
Afterwards, I used ice for a while and then found a heating pad provided a great deal of relief. I didn’t take the pain killers since they made me sick. Get yourself a big tub of plain yogurt and some frozen mixed berries and make some smoothies. They feel soooo good on sore gums.
I had all four pulled under general. Two of them hadn’t broken the surface yet, but x-rays showed they were coming in crooked. My experience was fine; I took gas before the IV, and when I went under I felt no pain and heard no gross noises. I did, however, wake up once during the procedure. I remember opening my eyes, seeing the white-smocked and masked doctors over me, and thinking, “Whoops, I’m not supposed to be awake,” and closing my eyes. Next time I opened them, I was in recovery.
The bleeding stopped within the hour; I could talk easily shortly after that, and by that evening I was eating solid food. My brother’s experience was not so hot; he had a bad reaction to the anesthesia and spent about two days throwing up. There may be no way to tell whether you’ll have such a reaction or not. All I can tell you it, for me, it was a snap.
Also, as others have said, tell your doc you want some nice strong pain meds, preferably something from the codeine family.
I scanned this quickly, since I’m on my lunch break, and I’m guessing somebody might have already posted this, but the NO doesn’t kill any pain. It just relaxes you. At least that’s what my dental assistant said. I still wanted it anyway.
As for me, I had four out at one time, plus one weird extra third tooth growing up in my bottom jaw underneath my front adult tooth. If left in it would have made my other teeth all funky, so he took it out. I’m pretty sure I didn’t have GA since I woke up several times during the surgery, but I think I did have some sort of sedative since I slept through it for the most part. The worst part wasn’t the wisdom teeth but instead, the extra tooth thing in the front. That one involved a lot of twisting I remember.
If it’s any consolation, by the time I had taken my post-op nap at home, I wasn’t bleeding anymore, and the next day I was eating pizza at a friend’s b-day party.
I had all four out, and got put under fot it. They gave me enough percocet to keep me blasted out of my mind for at least two months straight. After two or three weeks I mentioned to my mom that the pain was no longer at the point where I needed narcotics to keep it under controll. Then the percocet suddenly dissapeared, and to this day, I don’t know where it went.
If you haven’t had any bad reactions in the past and your insurance will cover it, take the general! I remember precisely five minutes of my procedure to remove all four teeth and those minutes were the nurses hauling everything in and sticking me with an IV. Next thing I knew, I was in the recovery room and ready to go home. The procedure itself apparently only took about fifteen minutes and the rest of the time was just waiting for me to wake up. After half an hour I didn’t feel any effects from the drugs.
The next day I was out of the house with some swelling but no Vicodin in my system. I felt a little under the weather but otherwise better than before since the wisdom teeth roots were no longer rubbing against my jawbone and doing nasty things. I can’t give enough kudos to my oral surgeon or to the anaesthetic.
My understanding is that age also plays a factor and the younger you are the easier the procedure is, on average. I had all four of mine taken out this past July, and I am much older than average. Two were impacted and I had GA. Oh, the pain. Come to find out I had 2 dry sockets. The percocet made me nauseous and the vomiting only increased the agony. Extra-strength tylenol was actually much better. I may have to go lie down now just thinking about it.
If I hadn’t already had mine out, this part alone would make me opt for the GA–just reading it makes me feel claustrophobic!
The DDS that cut mine out didn’t like to use full-out GA in the office, but he did give a lower amount of anesthesia and painkiller by IV along with one shot of local to each quadrant of my mouth (this was in addition to the Valium they gave to relax me about 20 minutes before the procedure–I was WAY doped!).
I had all four out at once and three were impacted. I had local plus IV valium. I wasn’t asleep, but I really didn’t care. I highly recommend it; it was a lot of fun until the drugs wore off.
I had all four out at once under GA, and from the stories I’ve heard from other people, I’d recommend going that way if it’s available. They started up the IV, started talking to me about where I was in college, and I was out. The only reaction I had was waking up crying - just absolutely bawling - about this guy I was dating. I hadn’t even told my parents I was dating anyone, but they knew then.
Then once I woke up in the recovery room place, I had to pee and I locked the door behind me. That freaked the nurses out to no end, because apparently they were worried that I would pass out in the bathroom and they wouldn’t be able to get to me.