STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

I'm sorry sfcaligirl .  I don't have any advice, but a couple girls have gotten them done recently so their past posts might be helpful.  Maybe search 'wisdom teeth' ..?

I've been there, all 4 taken out!

So, wear comfy clothes to your appt. Sneakers or ballet flats, loose top and bottoms.

I know they already told you this, but make sure someone comes with you to drive you home.

You're going to want someone to help take care of you for a couple of days -- can you arrange that? They can help you get food, change the gauze in your mouth, make sure you take your meds (prob. Vicodin), etc.

Do not take Vicodin on an empty stomach unless you have a very strong stomach. I did, and it made me really sick!

In terms of food options.....here's what I ate:

Mashed potatoes
Pudding
Jello
Soup (after a couple of days, you're "allowed" to eat hot foods again)
Ice cream (again, wait like 2 days b/c of the extreme temp)

Any other questions, just let me know! The experience is still pretty fresh in my mind.

Good luck!

Oh wisdom teeth are the devil!! I ate apple sauce, mashed potatoes and gravy and pudding. I can't remember about jello but jello and yogurt would be fine too. The main thing is don't use a straw ever and don't suck up food like you would suck on a straw (I don't know how else to describe it) because you might lose your blood clots and believe me dry sockets are hell and they are very painful. I am a mouth breather and I lost mine that way and it was a week of extra pain.

I had my bottom two taken out a couple years ago. Luckily I don't have upper wisdom teeth, so those didn't need to go.

I'm not trying to scare you or anything, but here are the problems/issues I encountered.


1.) I had never had surgery before, so when I woke up after the procedure I was kind of out of it and freaked out. I was all disoriented because I felt like I had been out for 2 minutes, not 45 minutes. I got all emotional and started crying. But then again I have never blacked out from drinking either, so this was a new experience for me.

2.) Later when I got home it seemed like I was bleeding excessively, so I had to change the gauze a lot. I was really thristy too, but it was hard to drink (like Aurora said, you can't suck).

3.) My biggest problem with the whole thing was the Vicodin... that stuff sucks! Even taking it with food, I felt like I constantly was going to puke and I was dizzy. I stopped taking Vicodin and switched to Ibuprofen and then felt fine.

4.) I had a plastic "syringe" thing for flushing the cavities out with water, and that was kind of hard to do at first, but fine once you get used to it.

Mara wrote:

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my advice is to not stress- i had all 4 impacted as well, and the surgery was a piece of cake for me! (and i'm a WIMP!) the vicodin made me sick , so I just took advil and that was all I needed. it was an easy recovery time, and the worst part is flooding your holes w/the syringe to get food out afterwards. enjoy your time in bed and rent some good movies!

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Ditto this! I had all four (two impacted) out with just Novacaine and Advil. Don't stress!

 

hopefully you will see this before you go in tomorrow! i have never had my wisdom teeth out so im not really going on experience here, but ttara123's post made me think of something. i normally hate mouthwash (even though i do suffer it twice a day) because it makes my mouth burn from the alcohol, but i started using the listernine pro-health stuff that doesn't have alcohol and it doesn't burn me anymore. but i will note that it tastes like sugar though, pure sweet sweet sugar. anyway, im assuming that you won't be able to do moutwashy stuff for a while but at some point you're gonna need to resume normal activities, right? anyway, long story short...you might wanna try a sample package of the pro-health stuff since your wounds might still be senstive for a while. not sure if its medically worse/better for someone just coming out of wisdom teeth surgery, but you could always ask your dentist about this.

I had all 4 of mine cut out. It was smooth sailing. They put me out for it. I had surgery before (although not on my mouth) so the anesthesia effects were no problem for me. I took one pain pill (percocet) just in fear of pain but never needed any. I was out and about the same night. a couple of pointers....

make sure you have someone to drive you home

change the gauze frequently (if the blood dries it will hurt a little when you remove them so be careful)

DO NOT USE A STRAW!!! you can get dry socket and trust me you do not want that.

If they are putting you out and you've never been under- like zeitgeist said, it is a little strange. It will make you disorientated (I asked the lady like 4 times in a row where I was lol!) but if you have someone you recognize you'll be fine. Just relax and follow their instructions and you'll be fine.

thanks for all the advice and well wishes, girls! i was pretty nervous right before my surgery, but it ended up being a breeze. i wasn't disoriented at all because they didn't put me all the way under- i could still hear some of what they were saying and i may have even opened my eyes at one point. i had the surgery done at a university hospital so i participated in a pain study- i had my own nurse taking care of me for about 3 1/2 hours post-surgery. by the time i left the hospital, i was fine!

it hurts a little bit more today and my cheeks are kinda swollen, but so far i've been relying on just ibuprophen (sp?). i don't want to take the vicodin unless it's completely necessary!

anyway, thanks again for the pointers- i'm so relieved that it's over with!