Wisdom teeth removal question

[karinothing]

DH is having 4 wisdom teeth removed today. They are not impacted. Did anyone have this done as an adult? what was recovery like?

I had mine taking out in HS and they were impacted so I was asleep. I don't remember a rough recovery after I stopped vomiting from the codeine. But I don't remember any pain.

[Jalapeñomel]

I just had a tooth extracted on Monday. Take the pain killers before the anesthesia wears off. Frozen peas and gauze around the face, no straws for a week or solid foods for three days. My stitches are dissolving, so they get checked once a week until they go.

I still have pain today, but it’s much more manageable.

[icedcoffee]

Mine were all impacted. I had them removed in college. Recovery was fine. I did it on a Friday and went back to work Monday. I spent 1 day sleeping it off and maybe 5 days on a liquid only diet. I rinsed my mouth with salt water (I think it was salt water...) after eating for maybe 10 days and I avoided straws. I was super cautious because I have a phobia of dentists and I didn't want it to heal improperly so most people probably don't do these things for so long. I think I took pain killers Friday - Sunday and then stopped to go back to work on Monday.

ETA:  My roommates at the time ordered a pizza and I was very HANGRY while I drank Slim Fast.

[nessness]

I had one extracted as an adult and it was extremely easy. The worst part was the sound when they crack your tooth. Ididn't need anything stronger than Advil after.

[karinothing]

Thanks ladies. What kind of food would folks suggest I get for him? Just soup, apple sauce, smoothies? Ice cream?

[lostrn]

I don't remember mine being impacted, but I know I was totally knocked out for it. DS spent the day and night with Grandma and I just laid around with ice on and took my pain medicine. It was not the best experience lol.

[Jalapeñomel]

Aug 9, 2018 8:21:16 GMT -5 karinothing said:

Thanks ladies. What kind of food would folks suggest I get for him? Just soup, apple sauce, smoothies? Ice cream?

I’ve been eating pudding, applesauce, eggs, Mac and cheese, and potatoes.

[Pom]

Yes. I was 45
Not impacted, all at once. Just numbed (don’t recommend.)
It wasn’t bad the day of extraction. I didn’t know I was having it done, just a regular dental visit. So I should have prepared better, asked to be put under.
I ended up with dry socket. Take every precaution to avoid. That was worse pain than my hysterectomy.

My H had his done while being put fully under. His were impacted. He was fine and eating solids the next day.

[huskymom]

It was fine - maybe 3 days of liquid diet, I think i did it on a Thursday so i could have 2 days before the weekend (DH works saturdays). They only gave me vicodin and I didn't think it really did anything, motrin was fine enough.

I did get dry socket so if it does still reallllly hurt 5 days later - Call!!

[wildrice]

My XH had them done when we were married. For him it was really no big deal, and he was kind of a baby about a lot of things. I think the second day was the worst for him. The day they came out, he was eating normal food because they really didn't hurt at all (he's dumb, so I'm sure that's why the 2nd day was worse...)

I'd go with soft foods at first, just to avoid pushing it. But I'd expect him to be feeling pretty good pretty quickly.

[gt7301b]

The pain from the extraction wasn't too bad, but I had a horrible, horrible, horrible sinus headache the next couple or days.

[Deleted]

I debated answering, but decided that my experience could happen to anyone, so here it has.

Had all 4 of mine extracted in my 20's. They DID NOT put me under (God I wish they had). My roots were embedded into my jawbone, so no matter how much novacaine they gave me, I still felt everything. I begged them to put me under and the didn't. After the fact, I developed lock jaw and couldn't open my mouth for about 2 weeks after the procedure. Even after the pain eventually went away I could still only consume liquids. It was a pretty awful experience.

After that, I developed a few of the dentist. Gee. I wonder why.

[shauni27]

Don't do what I did--after 3 days of applesauce and shit like that I was so hangry and I went and got a steak burrito. I ripped out all my stitches and ended up with dry sockets. I was young and stupid in college and could no longer handle just the soft foods, lol.

I remember it being achy but I mostly remember the worst part just being the boring ass pureed foods and no straws.

[pooh8402]

I had 2 that were impacted, but all 4 were removed. I was put to sleep. I had it done in college over winter break.

I spent a week being low key, eating soft food and watching TV. I only took vicodin the first day, and ibuprofen thereafter. I kept a large chocolate milkshake in the freezer with a spoon, and when it would start hurting, I would take a bite or two of that. The cold helped so much.

I did soft foods for like 2 weeks, then just easy chew foods for another week or so. I think it took a solid month before I felt like I chew meat other than shredded chicken or fish.

[Deleted]

Aug 9, 2018 8:21:16 GMT -5 karinothing said:

Thanks ladies. What kind of food would folks suggest I get for him? Just soup, apple sauce, smoothies? Ice cream?

I remember eating mac and cheese (overcook the pasta in this case). Also, my favorite post removal food was refried beans with some rice and queso. I made a sort of slop and just ate small bites. Mmm, queso.

[Deleted]

Aug 9, 2018 8:23:45 GMT -5 Jalapeñomel said:

Aug 9, 2018 8:21:16 GMT -5 karinothing said:

Thanks ladies. What kind of food would folks suggest I get for him? Just soup, apple sauce, smoothies? Ice cream?

I’ve been eating pudding, applesauce, eggs, Mac and cheese, and potatoes.

I lived off of KFC Mashed Potatoes. After nearly two weeks of not eating real food, I put a Hoagie in a blender. I would NOT recommend that LOL

[y4m]

Mine were all impacted and it was still just fine recovery-wise. I ate a lot of milkshakes with a spoon and was fine after the weekend.

[Gwen]

Best advice I got was to take the pain meds before the a Novocain wears off - so, pick-up the prescription on the way home from the ortho surgeons office. AND take them with food (soft of course) as recommended. It sometimes takes more meds to resolve pain than to prevent it, so keep up with it, even if he has to wake up to take a dose.

My poor mother suffered so much because she did not take the meds until her mouth was throbbing badly. Then she took a dose on an empty stomach and had horrible nausea. Don’t do that.

[karinothing]

@sameoldstory, goodness! I am sorry.

[Deleted]

Aug 9, 2018 9:45:41 GMT -5 jamie.1022 said:

Aug 9, 2018 8:44:40 GMT -5 @sameoldstory said:

I debated answering, but decided that my experience could happen to anyone, so here it has.

Had all 4 of mine extracted in my 20's. They DID NOT put me under (God I wish they had). My roots were embedded into my jawbone, so no matter how much novacaine they gave me, I still felt everything. I begged them to put me under and the didn't. After the fact, I developed lock jaw and couldn't open my mouth for about 2 weeks after the procedure. Even after the pain eventually went away I could still only consume liquids. It was a pretty awful experience.

After that, I developed a few of the dentist. Gee. I wonder why.

That sounds horrific.  Did they not see that on your x-rays?

After the fact I was told that they did, but did not realize the full extent. Also, I was young (early 20's) and stupid, and had them pulled by my regular dentist and not an oral surgeon. 

[katfco]

I had all 4 done at once. Two never fully came in and had to be cut out. I chose the gas, so I was awake but not alert (listened to music the whole time). It wasn't bad, but it freaked me out when I developed bruises all along my jaw. The dentist neglected to tell me it was a common after effect.

[snipsnsnails]

Follow recovery directions even when you think you’ve recovered. No straws, no crazy activity, stay on top of pain meds. Do everything to not get dry sockets. It was the worst pain of my life. Far and away.

[formerlyak]

I was slated to get mine out the summer between freshman and sophomore years in college. The Friday before finals spring quarter freshman year, one side got infected so badly that I couldn't close my mouth from the swelling and I couldn't eat. My dentist was able to call a oral surgeon friend who fit me in early Saturday morning before his other surgeries. They only did the one side that was infected since it was not scheduled and they were being mindful of both what was medically necessary and time constraints. Recovery was a breeze, but it may have been that I was so hungry from living off mush the week before. I remember eating a teriyaki chicken bowl a few hours post-surgery. I took my finals as scheduled starting that Monday. I had the other two done over the summer as planned and recovery was also not bad at all.

[sarahsays]

I had all four of mine done in January. They were not impacted but one had erupted. The pain medicine and antibiotics made me sick so I only took the 800 mg Tylenol and it worked fine.

My recovery was really good. I had them out on Friday afternoon and returned to work on Tuesday. I probably could have returned on Monday but it was my second week at a new job and I wanted to be extra sure I would be feeling better.

Because I couldn't take the antibiotics I was overly cautious and didn't use straws for 2 months and I was really careful to wash my mouth out after eating or drinking for a long time too.

For food I had: mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, apple sauce and pudding mostly. Also, my H bought me some of those drinkable Chobani yogurts and they were really nice to have when I was hungry and couldn't eat solids yet.

[liverandonions]

Aug 9, 2018 8:24:40 GMT -5 Pom said:

Yes. I was 45
Not impacted, all at once. Just numbed (don’t recommend.)
It wasn’t bad the day of extraction. I didn’t know I was having it done, just a regular dental visit. So I should have prepared better, asked to be put under.
I ended up with dry socket. Take every precaution to avoid. That was worse pain than my hysterectomy.

My H had his done while being put fully under. His were impacted. He was fine and eating solids the next day.

I called the surgeon's exchange really early in the morning telling them I had a dry socket and the lady was like "Ok, it's probably not that, let me me ask you some questions. WHat does the pain feel like?" and when I told her it felt like someone was driving a nail through my face she agreed it was probably a dry socket. And it was. FUCK that hurt.

[oswin]

I had mine removed last year, it wasn't too bad except I did get dry socket. The dry socket was painful until they did the treatment for it, but my least favorite part was that the cure for dry socket involves clove oil and your mouth tastes disgusting for a day or two.

Also, ice cream was great for the first day or two, but then after a few days my mouth got cold sensitive and I couldn't have ice cream for a few weeks or my jaw would ache.

[whereintheworld]

I had mine out as an adult, not impacted.
I got the protein smoothies from Booster Juice and ate them with a spoon. Nothing else really sounded good. I stayed on top of pain meds and was fine in a few days.

[Nonny]

I had mine done over winter break in college, 2/4 were impacted. The actual pain from the teeth removal only lasted about 2-3 days, but my jaw was bruised and swollen for a month, and I could barely open my mouth for the first two weeks. I was terrified of dry socket, so I didn't use a straw for at least a month (maybe two because by then it was a habit). I don't really remember what I ate, milkshakes/frosties with a spoon, canned veggie soup (because the veggies were so soft).

I do remember that eating salads were awful for a long time though, because it took forever for the pits left in my mouth to close up, and I had to use the little curved syringe all the time to flush lettuce out of the pockets. <<<shudders>>>

My H had his done in his late 20s. His weren't impacted and he was fine in like a day. He rested over the weekend and was back at work and it was basically like nothing happened.

[katie80]

All mine were impacted so my experience was a bit different, but my advice to everyone is to fill all the prescriptions they give. I was 18 and so tough that I swore I didn't need the anti-nausea drugs. Cut to 11 pm when my dad drove across town to the all night pharmacy to pick it up while I lay on the floor crying because I was so dizzy. Once I took the drugs I was totally fine but it seems like that could have been avoided if I weren't such a smart-ass.

I do know multiple people who have had non-impacted ones removed as adults and been totally fine. I think a lot of it just depends on the person. I'd prepare for a few days of soft food but it should be ok

[cleo29]

I had two, not impacted, removed at different times. Recovery was easy. No real pain, just took prescription motrin for pain and that was enough. I did not swell at all.