<p>Yeah, I had general anesthesia.
Problems afterwards: I’m a coxswain for my school crew team, which means that I don’t exercise but I talk a lot. I assumed that 3 days after they were out I was well enough to go to practice. I was taking vicodin, so I was drinking coffee to keep me awake and it basically worked. My mouth didn’t hurt that much. Much later I realized that every time I opened my mouth widely the wounds reopened and it ended up taking way longer to heal – long enough for me to almost develop dependence on Vicodin. So really really really try to take it easy. I never heard that codeine caused dry sockets – I think hot foods and rinsing your mouth out do – but your doctor will probably let you know all that. And the Vicodin really was good with stopping the pain, advil wouldn’t have been so effective for me. Sorry about the long reply, and good luck with the surgery.</p>
<p>Don’t listen to other people’s horror stories. My son had 7 (yes, 7!) wisdom teeth removed by the oral surgeon, under IV sedation. Some were impacted. He did great! No dry sockets, minimal use of pain meds, very little swelling, had it done on a Friday and was back at school on Monday. Buy at least 4 bags of frozen peas, so you can be using 2 bags and have 2 re-freezing (they defrost fairly quickly).</p>
<p>OK Cleveland
You must tell us the whole story of the 7 wisdom teeth!!</p>
<p>Apparently, it has to do with the formation of teeth during fetal life. Two teeth buds become 4, 4 turn into 8, etc. Some people get “extra” that way. His orthodontist came out with my son’s xray and said, “I’ve got some bad news about his wisdom teeth” and I, jokingly, said, “He’s got 2 sets”. He looked at me, shocked, and said, “How did you know that?” (which, of course, I didn’t really). They could only see 3 extra wisdom teeth on the xray, but assumed they’d find a 4th when they did his surgery (they didn’t). They also described the extra teeth as being small cell clusters, but in reality they were each the size of a 6-year molar. The oral surgeon said that extra wisdom teeth aren’t that uncommon.</p>
<p>I’ve been in dental practice for 24 years and I don’t recall ever seeing more than six.</p>
<p>warblersrule: My daughter had hers out 2 summers ago. She also went the IV sedation route. She was in some pain for a day or so, but took whatever pain medication they prescribed, which worked and made her sleep. But before the week was up, I remember she was going to the movies with friends. </p>
<p>By the way, I think the doctors do a much better job these days of outlining what you should and shouldn’t do afterwards…but I had mine out in my 20’s–decades ago–and I was told to drink milkshakes, but no one mentioned a word about not drinking through a straw. Consequently, I did get a dry socket, which is the most excruciating pain I have ever experienced in my life. So make sure you have them tell you all the ways to avoid that.</p>
<p>eireann: About the codeine causing dry sockets. It’s not the codeine but the nausea that is sometimes caused by taking codeine. The goal is to NOT disodge any kind of clot formation that has started. Excessive rinsing, sucking through a straw, and vomiting would be things to avoid. Whatever medication is taken follow the time schedule as someone else has suggested. Don’t wait until it hurts.</p>
<p>I had four impacted wisdom teeth removed at the same time. I went with all the drugs they offered me, and experienced less pain post-operatively than I was experiencing before the proecedure. I would have gone hiking with a friend that night if my father hadn’t intervened.</p>
<p>Find an oral surgeon with long fingers and small hand. You’ll thank me for this advice.</p>
<p>My s had all four impacted wisdom teeth out two years ago and we just went to a general dentist. He gave my s something before hand orally that made him really sleepy, but I can’t remember what. One of my s’s teeth had a root that had grown down near a nerve and and I was really nervous about the procedure, unsure if we should have gone to an oral surgeon, etc. Anyway, the dentist got all the teeth out in record time, like some sort of Indy pitstop for teeth removal. I took my s home where he went to sleep and woke up four hours later feeling just fine. He didn’t swell at all and I think took one tylenol. He could have gone out that night. I still can’t quite figure out if the dentist was some sort of secret master surgeon, or what the story was, because he just slipped those teeth out. It’s too bad there aren’t places on the web to rate dentists, because the guy should be doing everyone’s wisdom teeth removals. </p>
<p>My s had to gargle with some weird mouthwash for three days before the removal and so he gargled with it and went over to a friend’s house. The mother pulled her son aside and said my s’s breath smelled like vodka! My s was fifteen, and sort of an innocent type. I was kind of insulted for him, but he was nonplussed.</p>
<p>Good general dentists all have their forte’. Some can take out impacted wisdom teeth as well as a top oral surgeon, others do braces as well as top orthodontists, etc. If you trust your dentist, just make sure you feel reassured of his experience with the procedure.</p>
<p>I would guess the pre-op medication was Triazolam and the mouthwash Peridex (CHG), but others are used.</p>
<p>Yes, I think those were the medications! We didn’t go to our regular dentist; we went to a fellow dentist in the same practice who regularly did wisdom teeth removals. I agree that it would be wise to check to make sure this was something your dentist performed often. [Wise for all medical procedures.]</p>
<p>Which is worse… removing Wisdom Teeth or getting a root canal… Hrm…</p>
<p>All 3 of my kids went to oral surgeon for wisdom teeth extraction. S1 did fine and was up and about within 1-2 days. S2 who has diabetes had wisdom teeth extracted in ambulatory surg center where they monitored his blood sugar. Only trouble is in recovery room I found they gave him drink with a straw – a no no. He developed a hematoma, needed a different antibiotic and developed severe reflux from that med. He was out of commission 10 days, longer than expected. S3 was told in winter he needed wisdom teeth out quickly cuz they were near a nerve so he couldn’t wait for vacation. Surgery went well but he is convinced that he was not fully recuperated to
audition on his brass instrument for all State Band.</p>
<p>This may come too late for this to help, but S2 is also having wisdom teeth out this week. He has been given a prescription for medication to combat nausea because that was his older brother’s main problem. He was also told not to have dairy products for the first 24 hours. (I don’t remember if that’s because dairy products are more likely to increase bacteria in the mouth or if it’s more likely to increase nausea–or maybe something else entirely!) AND just remember that you never, ever have to do this again!</p>
<p>I had all four of my wisdom (impacted) teeth removed when I was 15. The oral surgeon gave me IV sedation (laughing class). I was normal a week later. I was also wearing braces during middle school for 18 months.</p>
<p>I had my four impacted teeth out on June the 14th and rode a horse a day or two later. That’s not to say that I didn’t swell up like a chipmunk, and get a bruise, of course. There’s some homeopathic remedy that you can take to make the bruising go away; I think it’s called “arnica montana”. I went through the whole operation under locals–the worst part of that is the shots themselves, and you feel like you can’t swallow and have to go through the motions to discover that your throat still works. Take a CD player if you will be awake, and don’t look at the doc’s glasses;) As painkillers go, I pretty much dealt with my recovery painkiller free because the narcotics made me sick 
and I wasn’t taking enough ibuprofen. Ditto on the dry sockets precautions. If the x-rays show that the roots are close to nerves, have them knock you out. One of mine was, and the doc missed it on the x-ray, and guess who got an electric shock when he irrigated the socket? :D</p>
<p>Watch out for infections! I just had one cleaned up, and it was just like going through the extraction over again, and I think I have another one starting. No one can figure out why either. My advice: don’t pick at the stitches on the bottom with your tongue. :D</p>
<p>Go with IV sedation. You will count back from 100 and get to about 96! It is very short acting and recovery is quick. I had that because my wisdom teeth were impacted, but I just couldn’t stand to be aware of the dental procedure! Getting the stitches out later, though, was easy.</p>
<p>I just had my wisdom teeth out (~8:00)! I went with the sedation. A couple minutes later…
Me: “So, when are you going to take my teeth out?”
Dentist: “Um, I already did.”
Me: “Oh…”</p>
<p>It went really well, although my teeth are bleeding quite a bit. I’m keeping ice on it, though. :)</p>
<p>Sounds like the advice you’ve all gotten is to take out impacted wisdom teeth. My son had braces years ago, and his orthodontist and dentist have NOW both told him that he has to have “molar uprighting” and have back braces put on - yes…just before going off to college as a freshman. He’s already had 4 teeth out before the braces.
We’ve been told that if the bottom teeth are removed, then the top ones will have nothing to bite on (which makes sense…)<br>
He would LOVE to have them removed instead!</p>