<p>I have gotten some really great ideas from this thread! I may or may not be hungry, we’ll see. When I had my last ones out I was ravenously hungry and ate like a horse, I think the painkillers made me hungry instead of sleepy, but I’ll have the pain and swelling to contend with this time so who knows. I want to make sure I have some stuff I can eat around the house so my poor clueless boyfriend doesn’t have to run out when I get hungry and figure it out by himself.</p>
<p>Make sure that you consume sufficient protein, calcium, and vitamin D up to the surgery, so that you are not deficient in these nutrients just when you need them most for healing after surgery.</p>
<p>Of course, if you can consume sufficient amounts of those nutrients after surgery on a soft diet, that would be even better.</p>
<p>But if you have many other dietary restrictions, it may be more difficult.</p>
<p>If you are given oral antibiotics, that may cause changes in your gut flora, which can have an effect on IBS. If you get lucky, it may kill off the bothersome bacteria. But some find that it kills off symbiotic bacteria, leaving resistant ones that happen to be more bothersome.</p>
<p>Is it typical for them to prescribe an antibiotic? I’d forgotten about that. Normally when I need an antibiotic my doctor prescribes zithromax because pretty much EVERYTHING else throws my stomach off for the duration I’m taking the medication plus a week or more. I tried to take clindamycin last fall at the behest of an urgent care doctor (stupid) and was sick for a month afterward. Maybe I should discuss that with the surgeon before the procedure. Hopefully there’s something I can take that’s appropriate for this procedure. </p>
<p>Unfortunately I am coming off of a bad flare up right now anyhow. I think I am just about better now, but I am being very careful this week to avoid triggers so I’ll be well and strong for Saturday. I maintain that I am too young for these kinds of problems. :)</p>
<p>Ahhhhhhhh – No matter our age, we’re all too young for these problems!</p>
<p>Oral surgeons commonly prescribe antibiotics before or after oral surgery. They have been criticized for doing so for patients not at unusually high risk of bacterial infection (the usual concerns about overuse, breeding resistant bacteria, disturbing patients’ gut flora, etc.).</p>
<p>[Evidence-Based</a> Dentistry - No benefit from prophylactic antibiotics in third molar surgery](<a href=“http://www.nature.com/ebd/journal/v6/n1/full/6400307a.html]Evidence-Based”>No benefit from prophylactic antibiotics in third molar surgery | Evidence-Based Dentistry)</p>
<p>When I had all 4 wisdom teeth extracted (impacted and did an overnight in the hospital), I ate applesauce, rice, and eventually ground beef. It wasn’t the pain from the extraction sites that bothered me but my jaw muscles were sore and tight and I couldn’t open up my mouth wide enough to really get anything in. I was in basic trainining when I had mine pulled so of course I did not have much choice in the food I ate.</p>
<p>I’ve read that rice can be problematic because it can get caught in the incisions… any truth to that?</p>
<p>I couldn’t eat rice for months after I had my first ones out, but that was because there weren’t stitched up incisions or anything, just open holes where the teeth used to be. I have no idea what to expect to have back there after this procedure. I’ve never had stitches before so I don’t even know how cleanly they can close up the wounds.</p>
<p>My denial that this is actually happening is starting to wear off. :\ I don’t expect it to hurt enough to bother me but the recovery sounds extremely cumbersome, and if it’s anything like last time I’ll be anxious the whole time about messing something up and giving myself dry socket. I’ll have to remind myself to keep the self-pity to a minimum. I am being such a baby!</p>
<p>Aww, it’s OK. We parents like to feel needed. :)</p>
<p>Yes, I think I’d stay away from rice, it’s probably the perfect size to get stuck. And definitely talk to the surgeon beforehand about your antibiotic issues.</p>
<p>The recovery is a little cumbersome, certainly not as bad as, say, major abdominal surgery or something. You’ll feel fine in a day or two, and just have to be a little careful about what you eat for a period afterward. It’s really not so bad. </p>
<p>Just think, while you’re recovering, you can spend all day online with us. What’s bad about that? :D</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Right?!</p>
<p>You’re not being a baby. You just need some support and we’ve got that for you.</p>
<p>Good luck with the sugery. Will you be under general anesthesia?</p>
<p>I’ll be under general anesthetic. I am looking forward to the “yay best nap ever” sensation that usually follows after I’m sedated-- gotta find the silver linings. lol. Unfortunately whenever I have that done my last conscious moments are usually filled with panic because the medicine burns UNBEARABLY as it goes into my arm, but then I wake up and don’t care anymore. The no-food-or-water for six hours prior stipulation is more unpleasant! I am never not thirsty. </p>
<p>Boyfriend and I are popcorn enthusiasts-- seriously. He has a “whirly pop” that makes movie theater style popcorn and we go to the detroit popcorn company and buy special corn from their huge warehouse-esque store and make popcorn all the time. I am in mourning. I am hoping it won’t be more than a month or so before I can eat things like that again. I remember popcorn being a serious problem when I had my top teeth pulled, the kernal bits would get stuck in the holes. Why is this such an issue still if they have to sew it shut anyway?</p>
<p>Well, I just got back from the surgeon. So far my biggest complaint is that I am STARVING and can’t eat anything until the bleeding stops, which it doesn’t appear it plans on doing any time soon-- I’m beginning to wonder how long that part is supposed to last, I don’t remember the surgeon telling me that. On a scale of 1 to 10, the pain is ranging from around an 8 to a 12 fairly unpredictably. I did take a vicodin, which was an interesting thing to attempt when I can’t feel my mouth or lips at all. I really just want the bleeding to slow down. Bloody drool keeps pooling in my mouth and I can’t feel it to dab it up until it runs out my mouth. The pain would not be bothering me very much at all, but the numbness and the blood are making me feel extremely upset.</p>
<p>I am thinking my mother is never going to forgive me for A) doing this without her, or B) doing this on my little sister’s birthday. I wasn’t going to see sister today anyway (she’s 19 and surely has her own plans) so I didn’t think it mattered, but I think my mom would like to visit me and I told her to wait until tomorrow. I am hoping she’s not wandering around the house a nervous wreck instead of seeming excited about sister’s birthday. Somehow I figured my boyfriend and I would handle this ourselves and that it wouldn’t really affect anyone else, I forget how much trouble my parents are having with the idea that I have boyfriend (and myself) to take care of me now and I don’t really need them for EVERYTHING anymore. You’d have thought those two years in the dorms at umich would have prepared them some for this!</p>
<p>I do have a funny story! I need to remember that I do ridiculous things when I wake up from anesthesia. When I woke up from my colonoscopy last year I insisted on very seriously shaking the nurses hand, as if she had just pulled me from a burning building. This time I am pretty sure I told my boyfriend I wanted to marry him like 15 times. Thankfully it’s TRUE and I think he already knew that, but we are not yet to a point where that is generally an open topic of discussion, so looking back it’s a little humorous. I can’t imagine what the nurses must have thought! He is being a real trooper, I refuse to stick my hands in my mouth and he’s been changing my gauze for me and got me set up in the recliner with my laptop. Such a sweetheart. :)</p>
<p>Vicodin makes me more verbose than usual, I think.</p>
<p>Wishing you a speedy recovery.</p>
<p>If the bleeding is bad enough to prevent eating (of soft foods not requiring chewing), then something is likely wrong, and you should contact the oral surgeon.</p>
<p>It stopped very abruptly an hour or two later and hasn’t started back up. We did end up calling a while later because my boyfriend noticed a gaping hole in my stitches… apparently they purposefully didn’t sew one side totally shut for some reason, which is annoying, and there are very long strings from those stitches sticking up and stabbing me and they are sticking up farther and farther throughout the day. Disturbing. We’re keeping an eye on it. That’s the only side that hurts, at all, but is also apparently the only side they needed to use a drill on.</p>
<p>Apparently I not only made the nurses giggle when I mentioned wanting to marry bf a dozen times, but I also demanded to know if he wanted to marry me too on the way home from the surgeons… in the mcdonalds drive through… as he was trying to pay the guy… LOL!!! I’ve been under general anesthetic a few times and I’ve never been THAT bad. I even told him the same story from just before the procedure three times today across a 12 hour span without noticing. Thank heavens he’s found my antics endearing and not terrifying!</p>
<p>I managed to eat half a box of potato buds this afternoon (my favorite mashed potatoes lol), and we made pancakes and tater tots for dinner… my teeth don’t hurt AT ALL so I figured as long as I avoided chewing in the back the tater tots couldn’t be too terrible an idea, and pancakes are super soft. The problem at hand is dehydration, because I have not been remotely thirsty all day and keep forgetting to drink.</p>
<p>Just remember to rinse your mouth after you eat but don’t swish or spit just let it drool out.</p>
<p>Can you eat something with more protein, in order to help healing after surgery? Weren’t there some studies indicating that protein-deficient surgery patients tended to take longer to heal afterward?</p>
<p>Boyfriend is making scrambled eggs for breakfast, I do need the protein! I am TRYING to keep my diet as balanced as possible but it is not easy. lol.</p>
<p>I took my last dose of painkillers last night before I went to bed and haven’t taken more yet because I have to eat first, but right now the pain is pretty good. The right side doesn’t hurt at all, the left side is maybe a 3-4. My sister’s friends all bailed on her birthday last night so she’s coming over to watch a movie with me and eat slurpees with a spoon. :P</p>
<p>Whether or not I can go to work tomorrow will depend on if I need the painkillers, right now I still do I think, that left side is getting sorer and sorer the longer I’m awake. We’re piggybacking motrin 600 and vicodin though so I definitely won’t be able to drive on that. I arranged to take vacation tomorrow and Tuesday if I need it, and boyfriend made arrangements to be able to come in late if I need a ride. Ice helps a TON and there’s no swelling yet.</p>
<p>Glad to have this almost behind me for good!</p>
<p>Well today I woke up in such agony I not only didn’t go to work, but my boyfriend almost didn’t go to work, either. He ended up going and coming home to see me at lunch and my mom is coming in a little while. I don’t think I have dry socket, my surgeon said today and tomorrow would be the worst days, and I see the first emergence of swelling today. The incisions go so far back on the left side that the swelling is going down into my throat and making me feel like I have a sore throat… at least, that’s why I THINK I have a sore throat, my boyfriend said my throat looks fine. Chewing still doesn’t hurt but I am taking it as easily as humanly possible anyway today and yesterday. My cheeks just hurt like HECK! The right side still feels right as rain, it’s just that darn left side that’s been hurting since the beginning. The incisions dont really hurt, though the left side twinges a little, but there’s a freaking giant hole in my CHEEK on that side. I’m to switch from ice to moist heat today and I’m not sure if it’s helping as much as the ice did. Going to try a warm bubble bath in a bit.</p>
<p>Any idea when this should start really feeling better? My dentist said Monday and Tuesday would be the worst days for a Saturday extraction and he seems to have been right… I am hoping for enough improvement to AT LEAST go back to work on Wednesday. I’m missing my performance review. I sit at my desk all day and don’t really talk to anyone or have much to do at the end of the month, but I probably have to be able to get off the vicodin and just go with motrin in order to go back, I keep falling asleep sitting up!</p>
<p>I just had a tooth taken out two weeks ago and I agree with your dentist, days three and four were the worst. I just took my pain meds and tried to ride it out. I was still swollen on day five but felt quite a bit better pain wise but was still very tired. </p>
<p>Just rest and take it easy.</p>