Wisdom Teeth Extraction
- You will need extra gauze.
- You will need salt, one cup of water, and a teaspoon.
- You will need your meds prescribed my the doctor.
- Cold compress
- Be sure to elevate your head while you rest, try not to lay flat for the first 24 hours.
- A cloth for possible drooling until the numbness wears off.
- Don't smoke or suck through a straw (first few days) to prevent dry socket.
- Get plenty of rest and eat soft foods such as instant mashed potatoes in small bites, apple sauce, pudding, soup, ect.
- Be prepared to be down for atleast 4-5 days, depending on the person and tolerance.
My Experience:
I recently got my wisdom teeth taken out...all four of them on 6/3/13. I got the anesthesia through the IV and was out for about 15 minutes and waalaa....all wisdom teeth are out, and the Dentist stitched up the holes. When I came to, my face was packed with gauze and I was quite disoriented. I was then given an excuse to get off work for 4 days. I could not believe that it was going to take that long to heal! I had not planned on the procedure being that big of a deal, based on stories from other people such as family, friends, and co-workers. I had assumed I could return to work the next day...soooo not the case. It all depends on how deep the teeth are and what the Dentist has to do to get to them. One of my teeth happened to be down below the gums pretty deep, so that part of my face was extremely swollen...four times it's normal size, as where, the other size was about three times the normal size.
I had a 3 hour drive back to my home (my mom was driving me...I am 30) so I was not able to get my scripts filled right away...somewhere around the last hour the numbing started to wear off and I started to feel the throbbing pain all throughout my jaw and teeth. Throughout the whole ride I was changing my gauze every half hour or so. When I got home I took my meds and put ice packs on my face which felt really good. During the night it was horrible...I could not close my mouth due to the gauze and I had to keep them in (changing every 30 minutes) until the bleeding stopped. I had a bucket next to the couch that I kind of leaned over and let the drool drop into because there were so many nasty tastes in my mouth I did not want to swallow sometimes.
The next day my face was triple the size it normally was and I could barely open my mouth, not even enough to fit a tooth brush in. I ate instant mashed potatoes because it was soft yet pasty so I could control it going straight down my tongue and down my throat without touching anything it shouldn't. I medicated the pain for a few days and religiously took my antibiotics. I also swish my mouth out with salt water all the time, especially after I eat or smoke a cigarette...which I try not to do often because smoking can cause other issues. The ice packs stopped working on the swelling so I decided to use hot cloths...this worked. In 24 hours the swelling went down considerably and continued to slowly go back to normal...not all the way back to normal yet though.
It will be a week tomorrow since I had my wisdom teeth taken out. I can open my mouth enough to brush my teeth but I cannot eat everything yet, I am still kind of nursing that part because I am still healing and do not want to get food anywhere it should not be. There is no pain where my teeth were taken out...my jaw is a bit sore and stiff but nothing serious. The thing that is bothering me the most is this throbbing sensation in my front teeth...or gums rather. I have no idea why these teeth are being affected...but for the past 3-4 days this throbbing has been constant. The pain medication does nothing for this area at all. Ice nor heat aid this throbbing either. I am calling the Dentist tomorrow to see what can be done about this because at night and at work this becomes extremely bothersome. It seems to dull when I am too preoccupied to pay attention to it...just the oddest thing. I also got a few cold sores on my bottom lip because my immune system is weakened as it concentrates on my teeth.
I cannot wait until I can get back to normal that is for sure. This is a long healing process...I hope to be eating burgers and pizza in a few weeks! I will update the rest of my progress as I go along. It has been almost 7 days and I did not get dry socket so that is a miracle...I was very nervous about that. My husband and children have been so understanding and supportive through this process. It is not easy dealing with someone who is dealing with a constant throbbing dull pain in their mouth.
UPDATE 6/17/2013 (2 weeks later)
I went to my local dentist and the reason my front teeth were throbbing is because there was a pocket of infection on the side of my mouth that was still a bit swollen. The dentist prescribed some tougher antibiotics which I took right away. It only took a day for me to notice the pressure coming off my front teeth. By the second or third day of taking the strong meds, my front teeth stopped their incessant throbbing. Unfortunately I ended up with a yeast infection and like 3 cold soars but hey! This by far has been my worst experience...it has seemed these past three weeks have been one thing after another in the line of discomfort. When one issue is fixed another arises. Due to the yeast infection, I stopped the antibiotics and got some Monistat 7. Today will be day 3 of the Monistat 7 and...at first it seemed to be improving but then I woke up today and I feel like it went right back to where I started. If the condition does not improve by tomorrow I will have to make yet another appointment, but this time with the Gyno.
Today I am making another 3 hour trip to the original Dentist who removed my wisdom teeth, to get the stitches out. One side of my lip is still numb, so my local dentist would like me to check in with the operating Dentist to go over the numbing issue and to get the stitches removed. This has been just insane.
