How was your experience getting all 4 of your wisdom teeth pulled out?

Question

i'm getting my wisdom teeth out monday. and they really didn't tell me anything about it. how long did it take?

Answer 1

i had all 3 of mine taken out (yeah i only had 3) and thery had to break off a piece of my jaw bone to get one tooth, and within 3 days i was normal, i was okay the 2nd day but i didnt want to go to work!... You will get pain meds and of course that makes you feel MUCH BETTER! =)

Answer 2

hopefully my experience will help you. Im 33 (and a smoker) and put off having my wisdom teeth out for 13+ years. In terms of anxiety over the procedure I'd say I was about a 9 out of 10.  

anyway, i just had all 4 removed a week ago by an oral surgeon. So how bad was it? well if i was a 9 out of 10 on the fear scale, the actual reality was about a 3 out of 10.  

I went in, sat in the chair, they put the IV in, and i was out in seconds. I woke up a few times during the surgery though. now you might think this is scary, but it wasn't. I woke up and remember saying 'youzzz guyz are doing a great jahbbbb." then went right back under. haha.

after the surgery they took me to a room where i laid down for 30 minutes or so. They told me afterwards that apparently i was singing the whole time after the surgery (or humming).  I had no pain at all.

so now to recovery. honestly, it wasn't that bad. I wore the nicotine patch 2 days before the surgery and for 5 days after the surgery (this is how paranoid I was over getting dry socket - which by the way I didn't get).

The first day, surprisingly, i wasn't that tired. I spent most of the day on the computer. I ate ice cream and applesauce. the bleeding was nominal and to be honest I found it kind of funny (maybe I still had some of the anasthesia in me, who knows).

the second and third day weren't a lot of fun. I basically watched movies and felt pretty lethargic due to not having much to eat. I never touched the tylenol 3. I took ibuprofren / advil (3 of them every 4 hours, but not during the night when I was sleeping). honestly, i never experienced any pain.  I basically kept my mouth wrapped in these ice bag thingys (not sure what they are, my moms a nurse and bought them at walmart for me).

anyway, day 4 I started to feel a bit more normal. was about to brush my teeth a bit better. rinsed with salt water religiously.

day 5 even better. day 6 felt really good. could actually start touch the gums with my tongue without worrying about hurting the wound. started eating kraft dinner without a problem. day 7 i was 95% back to normal - can eat most of the foods I did before. can have my morning coffee and smoke without a problem.

so was it worth it? well on day 1-4 it sucked (but it wasn't horrible, just sucked). but now that I'm on day 7 im SOOOOOO glad i got this done. I'm super happy I did this. my mouth feels GREAT - better than when i had my wisdom teeth! and i know that i'll never have to worry about this again also.

plus, I have a bit of a round face. and with my wisdom teeth out I find my jawline is a bit more pronounced (superficial i know, but my face actually looks better than before - I guess my wisdom teeth were pushing my cheeks out a bit).

anyway, to summarize. I had no swelling. I had no bruising. I did not get dry socket. I had no pain at any time during the surgery or during the recovery.

i will say that i felt blah enough that I needed a good 6 days to feel normal again though.  now mind you, i'm older and a smoker (so technically i was at high risk for complications, and yet I had none).

also, two of my teeth were erupted (the top two). the bottom two were partially erupted and were difficult extractions they tell me.

so coming from someone who dreaded having this done I can conclude with:

1) Im sooo  happy I did it

2) It was nowhere near as bad as I thought (maybe the equivalent of having the flu in terms of being a shut in for 4-6 days afterwards)

3) go to an oral surgeon. I don't know how much of a difference it makes, all i can tell you is that my experience was great and i suspect a big part of that was getting it done by an experienced oral surgeon. Also, take your pain meds (for me I just used advil for about 5 days, although only really needed it for 3) and get cold packs on your face as soon as possible after surgery (i think they really helped my recovery).

good luck - and don't be scared. a week after the surgery you'll be so happy you had it done.

Answer 3

My experience was fine, as good as it could have been.  I must have had the most giving dentist in the whole world.  First, he gave me a Vicoden to take when I left the house.  My mom drove me there and when we arrived they decided that I wasnt messed up enough so they gave me another one. Ten minutes later they called me up to pay for the procedure and I remember being really out of it and not really being able to talk to her.  Everything was fuzzy but I was very happy to be there =) Then they took me to the room and gave me gas (which made my laugh uncontrollably) and finally gave me the IV drugs and I was gone.  I remember nothing, don't remember falling asleep, no pain, nothing.  I woke up and I was not in pain either. They told me that I was out for 15 minutes- I was probably in the office for about 45 mins with waiting, set up, and them cleaning me up and making sure I was ok before I left.

They had my mouth shoved full of cotton and I couldnt breathe right, but they made me wait to take it out.  I was so messed up that I really dont remember the ride home, but I know I took a really long nap. When I woke up I took the pain meds that they gave me and ate some soup and sat around.  The next day for dinner I had a huge meal and was great cause I was still on the meds.  

The third day I stopped taking the meds and then it hurt to sit there. It certainly hurt to eat.  It was not a sharp or serious pain though, just a dull achy kinda pain. They took out 2 that were already in, and 2 that were seriously impacted and had to be cut into pieces to be removed.  My doctor packed the holes with hydrocortisone and put in some stitches that dissolved a few days later.

Its not a ton of fun, except for the drugs were interesting. But overall it didnt hurt much and the pain never lasted long. Good Luck!

Answer 4

I had a GREAT experience getting all 4 of mine out three weeks ago. I never had any pain or swelling even. I just have the holes there now, and am waiting for them to close up. I'm eating and doing everything else normally. The healing process was as smooth as it could be.

Here's some information on what they will do or what you can expect:

They will give you a gas mask for oxygen and they also say they will give you some laughing gas. Most of the time, the laughing gas will make you feel a bit light-headed and relaxed so you won't even notice if they put the IV in you. For me, the laughing gas had no effect on me so I was completely conscious for the IV. The surgeon put a rubber band around my arm so they could see the veins more clearly and it was a tiny pinch and the IV was injected. It feels just like a small shot. You will fall asleep in literally less than half a minute so you won't even get much of a chance to see anything. The actual operation takes about 5-6 minutes per tooth. And after they are finished, it will usually take you about 10 minutes to wake up. But the whole thing really only feels like a minute.

As long as you use general anesthesia, and take your painkillers on a tight schedule, and follow your doctor's instructions on post-operative care, you will be fine. Once you get into that chair and they put you on the IV, you won't even get a chance to see or worry about anything. You will fall asleep and a minute later, you're done and out of there. Really.

Good luck with your surgery and hope you have a fast recovery =)

Answer 5

They put me to sleep when I had mine out, so I have no idea how long it took...I'm sure no more than an hour.  I was eating tacos that night (soft shell) and I was swimming the next day.  You'll be on pain medication for about a week, but you'll still pretty much be able to go about life as normal.  It's not that bad.  Good luck!!