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wisdom teeth removal Posted: 01-19-08 17:04pm
O.k.! So, on February 7th, I'm having my
wisdom teeth removed.
They are already erupted into my mouth and
I use them like normal teeth; they have
never given me any issues with pain,
however, they're far enough back in my
mouth that they're hard to clean behind (I
have a special toothbrush for cleaning,
but flossing is a no go, even for the
dental hygienist!), and I've already had
several small cavities in them.
Technically, this was my decision to have
them out (it was recommended, but not
considered a do or die situation), so I
decided to do go ahead and do it in the
hopes of preventing further oral issues.
The pros are that the teeth are already
out in my mouth and are not causing any
kinds of issues (even crowding is
minimal). The cons are that it seems that
at least a couple of them (possibly all)
are set in the jaw bone, which means bone
may need to be removed before they can get
to the tooth.
I don't have a high tolerance for pain,
however, this past year, I had
mouth/jaw/head issues for nearly 3 months
with a tooth that was dying (I didn't know
this, my dentist at the time claimed it
was TMJ; when I got a second opinion, the
new dentist sent me to an endodontist who
confirmed that I had a dying tooth), and
ended up having a root canal.
I'd always heard that root canals were
these horrible, awful experiences and mine
was completely painless. I felt the tiny
pinch of the first Novocain needle and
then not a thing for the entire rest of
the time. I was given heavy duty drugs for
later, after I came down from the numbing,
but I never needed to take any and
actually worked that evening, after the
procedure. The endodontist office was very
surprised that I wasn't in pain and didn't
have to take any of the prescription meds
when they called to check on me a few days
later.
I also had a wrist surgery that I was
given percocet for that I never needed to
take (again, docs were very surprised that
I had no pain afterward and didn't take
anything).
I'm not pretending that it isn't going to
hurt after the drugs wear off or that I
won't need someone to be there to take
care of me for the day, but I was in awful
pain with my jaw for almost 3 months where
I could barely eat, sleep or concentrate
on anything but the pain, so I figure if I
can make it through that, I can deal with
a few days to a couple weeks of tooth
socket pain.
I would like some first hand stories
(especially anyone who doesn't have
pain/infection issues with their wisdom
teeth, like me) and would love to hear
what the rest of you dealt with so I can
be better prepared.
Don't worry; you won't scare me if your
experience was awful and you won't give me
false hope if it was a completely painless
experience. I just want to hear some
stories. Any tips you found useful would
be nice, as well.
Thanks, everyone!
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Tmddyan
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Posted: 01-20-08 16:21pm
well mine went fine--they cut through the
gums and i went n to get them out. i was
awake the whole time and it was really
quick. get the pain meds as fast as you
can and take them. I didnt that was a
mistake. lol
then for the first few days eat cold and
then slowly warm up. no sucking through a
straw. use biotene mouth wash cause you
wont be brushing for a while. this
mouthwash is for this stuff. then use ice and
heat--it feels so good.
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dental_floss
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 05 Dec 2007 Posts: 6
Posted: 01-20-08 19:16pm
Mine has just started growing, but it is
interesting to hear everyone's stories.
Good luck for your procedure, Duchessljb!
Hope its not too painful. Let us know how
it goes. =)
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Biani
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Posted: 01-21-08 16:19pm
I got all four of mine out at the same
time. A couple had erupted, and the other
two were just poking through my gums, but
to the side, it was weird.
Anyway, i didn't feel any pain during the
procedure. But i did have to get another
shot of sedatives or whatever they are
called cause halfway i started to feel a
little sensitivity. It was mostly pressure
and the tugging that was felt. Creepy to
see all that blood and to know it was
mine...
Afterwards, i drove myself home, and even
stopped at the pharmacy to get my
prescription. I didn't talk, of course, my
mouth was still numb, i could barely hold
the cotton in.
I swelled up and looked like buzz light
year! i followed instructions to avoid it,
but i guess my doctor was too rough with
me. I even developed a bruise on my
cheeks. It hurt to touch my face even
lightly, i couldn't wash my face normally.
I took a lot of pills, and other than my
face hurting from the swelling, and the
feeling of pressure in the extraction
point, there was no real pain.
The thing that was killing me was not to
be able to eat solid food for a while.
After a week or so everything was back to
normal. I still had huge holes in my gums,
which have evened out nicely. It took them
like 3 months or something like that. It
was quite annoying as food got stuck in
the holes every time i ate, and at first i
couldn't brush well in that site because i
would bleed again.
So, mainly uncomfortable, and it's over
soon enough. Don't worry too much about
it... well, i don't know how worried you
should be about them having to remove a
little jaw bone though... good luck!
Oh! almost forgot to tell you about
another important issue that happened to
me in the process...
my mouth STUNK for a while. But really
REALLY stinky. Awful. I would brush, use
the mouthwash my doctor gave me, and i
still smelled pretty rotten. The thing
that helped was to rinse with a mix of
normal water with oxigenated water, and
rinsing with warm water mixed with some
salt. That got the funk out. If you're
ever in need of getting rid of that bad
smell after the extraction, these two
things work great.
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Tmddyan
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Joined: 13 Jun 2006 Posts: 4346 Location: post falls, id usa
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Posted: 01-22-08 15:33pm
you arent suposed to brush for awhile. i
used tons of mouthwash
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Duchessljb
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Posted: 01-22-08 16:12pm
Thanks for the posts so far!
Tmddyan, I'm usually pretty
good about taking meds as soon as humanly
possible if I need them. I also know that
I can take ibuprofen with either vicodin
or percocet, so I'll probably stagger them
so that I'm constantly full of something!
I've actually been told that I can't use
mouthwash afterwards; I can brush the
forward teeth and rinse with saltwater,
but no mouthwash and no brushing the back
teeth area at all. I remember reading
about the no straws and no hot liquids for
awhile. I'll probaby exist on jello,
pudding and lukewarm soup for awhile.
Thanks, dental_floss, good luck with
yours, too!
Biani, I'm asking to either
be knocked out (IV meds) or gassed until
I'm asleep. I don't think I'll do very
well if I'm awake and aware enough to hear
cracking or see blood. I haven't had the
consultation, yet (it's the 5th) but I'm
going to make that very clear at the
appointment; I do NOT want to be aware. If
that's more expensive, then, fine. I'll
pay.
I'm sure I'll be a little bruised (I
bruise very easily) and I'm sure I'll
swell some, but I have plenty of ice packs
ready and waiting, and the ibuprofen will
help with that, too, so I'm hoping to be
able to keep it to a minimum.
I also plan to get the perscriptions ahead
of time so I can have them filled the day
before and waiting when I get home (to
avoid my caretaker having to go get them
for me).
I've been reading up and I've read in
many, many places that the only time you
should experience a bad smell is if you
end up with dry socket, which might
explain why you had to wait 3 months for
them to heal properly. But I will keep
your suggestions in mind.
The food thing probably won't bother me
that much; I had some TMD issues (that
turned out NOT to be TMD, afterall) where
I lived on soft foods for almost 5 months,
so this'll be nothing.
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Biani
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Posted: 01-22-08 19:38pm
lol, i don't know how you can do it. I
hated the soft diet... i craved solids,
salts and fatty foods like never before.
Anyways, i was told too to not brush for
the first two days or so, and the
mouthwash was a special one given to me by
the doctor, it wasn't listerine or
anything like that.
And here i thought i didn't get dry
socket! I've read about it but i didn't
recognize any of the symptoms as mine.
After my gums stopped bleeding I thought
they were healed already, but there was
still a hole in them. I thought the holes
were normal for everybody. But i was very
worried they would remain like that
forever, good thing they evened out!
Good luck with the whole thing Duchess!
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Duchessljb
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Posted: 01-22-08 20:40pm
Oh, don't get me wrong, I hated it, too...
unfortunately, withthe amount of pain I
had in my jaw/mouth, it was all I could
eat! I lost almost 15 pounds in those 4
months, mostly from not eating because
none of the soft food I could eat was
appetizing at all.
I'm no dentist, so you might NOT have had
dry socket; I'm just saying that
everything I've read has stated that a bad
smell combined with slow healing time is
associated with dry socket. I could be
totally wrong... Having read what I have,
though, if I notice a bad smell and find
that I'm taking longer than a week or two
to heal, I'm gonna head back to the
surgeon and have them check it out.
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Tmddyan
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Joined: 13 Jun 2006 Posts: 4346 Location: post falls, id usa
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Posted: 01-23-08 17:24pm
beleive me there are people that would
kill to have a nice solid meal(me) and
cant have it. not now probably not in this
life time. ALl i want is a hamburger.
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Biani
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Posted: 01-23-08 18:23pm
I don't really know what that was... maybe
an infection or something. Anyway, it went
away with just rinsing with salty water
and/or oxigenated water.
Tmddyan, why can't you eat solid food?
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Tmddyan
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Joined: 13 Jun 2006 Posts: 4346 Location: post falls, id usa
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Posted: 01-24-08 14:00pm
i have sever tmd
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greatsmile
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Re: Alright, I need to hear some of the stories... Wisdom Teeth Posted: 02-04-08 20:13pm
Hi, I had my 3 non-impacted, non-erupted
wisdom teeth out 17 yrs ago. I was under
IV Diazepam (Valium), went peacefully to
sleep and awoke in a recovery room an
unknown amount of time later happy as a
clam. My mouth was filled with bloody
gauze but to me it was the happiest bloody
gauze I'd ever felt!
I experienced no pain from this procedure
whatsoever. About a week later I did
develop an infection, and a tiny slit
opened in my mouth between the bottom of
my gum and cheek and I could taste the
infectious pus coming out. It was
disgusting to taste that, but I took the
antibiotics they gave me and all was well.
I even smoked and drank from straws right
after it and never got dry socket.
Compared to what I face now, I would love
to have my wisdom teeth out again and
again!
Duchessljb
wrote:
I would like some first hand stories
(especially anyone who doesn't have
pain/infection issues with their wisdom
teeth, like me) and would love to hear
what the rest of you dealt with so I can
be better prepared.
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Users who thank greatsmile for this post:
Duchessljb
Duchessljb
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Posted: 02-04-08 20:37pm
Thanks, greatsmile! I guess I should keep
an eye out for infection, huh? My surgery
is Thursday, and I have to admit that I'm
getting a little nervous. I have my
consultation tomorrow afternoon and I'm
anxious to hear what they have to say.
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Hazelnutt
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To Duchess: Posted: 02-07-08 00:47am
Hi, I know you must be nervous. I am a
dental assistant, and have assisted many
extractions of wisdom teeth. Youre gonna
do great, it's a piece of cake, especially
if they are fully erupted, no impaction.
You may have some jaw and ear pain
afterwards. Especially if you have ever
experienced any TMD issues in the past.
When we take out wisdom teeth, we instruct
our patients to brush your teeth
regularly, avoiding the extraction site.
Then rinse with warm salt water as much as
possible. This speeds up the healing
process. You want to avoid any carbonated
beverages, drinking through a straw,
smoking, or sticking any foreign objects
back there. This could cause a dry socket.
A dry socket is when the blood clot that
forms over the bone is dislodged, actually
causing the bone to be exposed. The main
symptom of a dry socket is a pounding
headache that will not go away. If this
happens, you can call the surgeon, and
they can pack the socket with a paste. The
headache will immediately subside. As far
as any bad tastes or odors, this is quite
normal because you will get food packed in
the socket. You can ask your surgeon to
give you an irrigating syringe to keep the
sites clean, although you cannot use them
for at least a week after the surgery. If
you use the irrigating syringe too soon,
you can cause a dry socket. I would
recommend taking some pain meds before the
numbness wears off because it is easier to
control the pain if you already have your
meds on board. Good luck, and message me
if you have any questions or
complications!
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Users who thank Hazelnutt for this post:
Duchessljb
Duchessljb
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Posted: 02-07-08 08:41am
Thanks, Hazelnutt, that all sounds like
great advice (and very similar to what my
surgeon has told me). I have hydrogen
peroxide and salt (at the suggestion of
the oral surgeon) to use for rinsing 24
hours after the surgery (I'm not supposed
to rinse for the first 24 hours). Luckily,
as you said, my teeth are NOT impacted and
fully erupted (my surgeon actually asked
me why we were taking them out; when I
told him it was because there was no way
to clean behind them and I was getting
cavities in them, he nodded, knowingly).
The roots of my teeth are very long, which
means there's a small chance that, while
they're being removed, they could bump the
nerve in my jaw, causing numbness,
tingling or complete loss of feeling. He
said this happens in about 5% of people
and, of that 5%, about 1% of the time it's
a permanent condition. However, this means
just a lack of feeling, not paralysis, so
the area will work as normal; I just
wouldn't feel it if it happens. I can live
with that as a worst case scenario. He
didn't say anything about the jawbone
being an issue, so I guess it isn't.
That's what I was more worried about.
I've been told that I can take a
vicoprofen (the pain med I was given) as
soon as I can get something in my stomach,
so I have Carnation Instant Breakfast on
hand to slurp down as soon as I get home
(no straw!) so I can pop a pill.
In about 5 miutes, here, I have to call
the office to make sure they're on
schedule. If they are, then my friend will
be here to pick me up in about 20 minutes
and my appointment is at 9:30 AM. The oral
surgeon told me that he could have me in
and out of the office in 1 hour (including
the IV sedation that the office is a big
prononent of, which is just fine with
me!).
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Duchessljb
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Posted: 02-07-08 13:06pm
Hey guys!
Just thought I'd stop by to let you know
that everything went perfectly.
They got started at about 10:15. They took
me back to the room, sat me down, inserted
the IV (which took about 3 seconds), put
something over my nose and then next thing
I knew, I was waking up. They said it took
about 45 minutes start to finish and all
the teeth came out in single pieces (which
is really good; less trauma to the mouth,
less pain and recovery time).
I woke up out of it as if out of a normal
nap and felt fine. I had (and have had)
very minimal bleeding, took a pain pill at
11:30 when we got home and aside from some
very VERY slight soreness on the right
side (which is more jaw pain, I think,
from holding my mouth open for so long), I
feel fine.
Of course, I'm not passing any judgement
until I know, for sure, all the anesthetic
and novacain have worn off, but things are
pretty good, for the moment.
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Biani
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Posted: 02-07-08 14:09pm
Glad to read it, duchess!
Yours doesn't seem like a traumatic
experience at all. I know what you mean
about it being better if the teeth come
out whole. When my doctor took out mine,
she was supposedly finished, she was
showing me the parts that she took out,
then she noticed one was missing a root.
She cut me open again to take the missing
part out. She had done the stitches and
all that.
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Hazelnutt
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Posted: 02-07-08 19:45pm
Im really glad everything went well for
you! Sounds like your surgeon did a good
job. Keep us posted on your post op!
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Duchessljb
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Posted: 02-08-08 21:51pm
Day 2 of Post Op Recovery:
I woke up with no pain at all, having
slept completely through the night on both
sides of my face, alternately. I rinsed
with hydrogen peroxide like I was
instructed and then with salt water. That
made me a little sore and the HP made me a
little sick to my stomach. I decided to
try it one more time around noon to see if
it got any better.
I decided to go to work, today, because I
was actually feeling pretty good. It was
good, because I wasn't bored to death
(like I was yesterday, because I felt
really good but had nothing to do), but I
ended up getting SUPER tired by about 2:30
and nearly fell asleep at my desk. I did
rinse once more with the HP and salt water
and got sick to my stomach, again, from
the HP, so I'm giving up on it. The salt
water will just have to be enough.
I got home, today, after running a couple
of errands, and just relaxed because I was
still feeling pretty tired. I took
anothing vicoprofen about 5 PM (I'm
supposed to be taking them every 4 hours,
but I was off by about an hour so I could
drive home from work) and ended up falling
asleep on the couch for about 3 hours. It
seems that sometimes I don't get tired
taking them and other times they knock me
out.
Feeling pretty good, still, though. Some
slight soreness, but nothing to write home
about (I was supposed to take another pill
around 9, but decided to wait until 10,
which is when I normally go to bed).
So, all is well, thus far!
I did want to praise Red Robin (the
restaurant) for their understanding and
helpfulness in the situation. Today, my
team went there to celebrate finishing a
very large project. Unfortunately, there
was nothing there I could eat (I checked
their menu online), so I called them up
and asked, if I brought my soup in a
microwaveable container, would they heat
it up for me? They were super nice about
it and said absolutely they would; it was
nice of them, I think, when they could
have said no for legal/personal reasons if
they wanted to.
then use ice and
heat--it feels so good.
