My D had hers done last month. Her pain/swelling wasn’t bad at all the first day or two, but she developed an infection on one side and her recovery dragged on for a week.
@hunt I totally believe you with the pineapple thing. Pineapple has an enzyme Bromelain which helps relieve inflammation. Unfortunately, for some folks like me it also causes a mouth rash. Tumeric is another good food for inflammation.
I had dry sockets back in the day. Extremely painful.
It is common knowledge among my friends that pineapples contain bromelain, a natural anti-inflammatory that reduces swelling, tenderness and pain. This powerful anti-inflammatory effect can also help relieve rheumatoid arthritis symptoms and reduce postoperative swelling.
Every plastic surgeon should ask their patients to eat lots of pineapples days before surgery.
It is very common in my social circle to make appointments for the kids to have their wisdom teeth extracted summer of their junior year in high school. Both my kids had them out and I think the swelling was gone within a week at most.
I also had a dry socket, but I didn’t rinse with salt water religiously after every meal.
We had no complications with any of our 4 kids and all had very speedy recoveries. Youngest went to a party that night although he did just kind of sit there. All were pretty much back to normal activities the next day. However all of their extractions were very simple and straightforward. My son’s GF had all 4 of her teeth pulled over winter break. 2 were impacted and she had a miserable break- really in pain and swollen for 2 weeks. She also developed an infection in one socket right before she went back to school. You just never know. Hopefully your DD is an easy case!!!
Huh. Makes mental note to add pineapple to diet.
Hmmm, never knew this about pineapples. Good to know and H loves pineapple and has inflammation.
D liked having frozen yogurt bowls with spoon and fruit toppings during her recovery. She had a complete recovery with no complications while one of her buddies had dry socket late in her recovery and was VERYmiserable.
I think dry socket is the result of the blod clot being dislodged prematurely.
Our OS sets up a consult visit, he looks at xray and sets up surgery time depending on that.
They are always booked up and we had to make the June appointment back in Jan!
When is her spring break and do you think you will be able to set up the surgery for then?
@carachel2 – hahaha – I’ll get you some Valium too! Thanks for the tip about keeping down the nausea – I didn’t think of that. Yes I’m hoping it will be some much needed down time for both of us. Haven’t taken a day off from work in a long time.
@Hunt – that’s so funny – reminds me when the kids were little and they asked me for a wooden spoon. Why? Other kids told them if you want a snow day, put a wooden spoon under your pillow. Half the time, it worked!
@thumper1 --good question – I think her dentist sent her x-rays to the oral surgeon (sort of a “virtual” consult) but I will find out.
There is no one answer that fits all. Each case is different and can in part depend on factors such difficulty of surgery, skill of DDS/DMD doing procedure (either oral surgeon or general dentist), patient’s individual response to surgical procedure, age of patient. WT extractions are like root canals in that these procedures are done all the time with minimal to no post treatment problems. But if something goes wrong, everybody will know about it. Best advice, first set up consult with DDS/DMD who can give one an idea, not a promise, of what to expect post procedure. (As a note I say oral surgeon/general dentist because general dentists can and do remove WT all the time)
At a minimum D will be having a surgical procedure done (actually 4 separate surgical procedures if all WT are removed at same time). Surgery is a trauma experience and like any trauma, bodies can react with pain, swelling, etc post trauma. Good luck
The recovery is based on the individual as well as how difficult an extraction it is. My S was fine a couple of hours later and we actually had a “fight” because he wanted to go out with friends by the late afternoon and I thought he should stay home (happy compromise – his friends came to our house). But by the next day he had no swelling or ill effects but we stuck to softer food for a day or so just to be sure. My D took a couple of days to fully recover. I’ve heard of people having much harder times though.
I agree that if she can do the interviews first, that would relieve a great deal of pressure. Good luck. And be sure to have some applesauce, yogurt, pasta etc. available for the first day or two after the procedure.
@mommdc – her break is March 7-11; surgery is scheduled for March 4 (I’ll take that day off to take care of her)
“how long to recover” - maybe different. If there is an infection, it may take longer. My D. had an infection.
I wanted to update all the kind people who responded to my thread. Wisdom Teeth removal day was today, and it seems to have gone well! Based on many suggestions here, I was very conscientious about the ice packs, which I think really minimized the pain.
They sent her home with 3 prescriptions. Haven’t used the “big guns” (Vicodin) yet. May not need to. The only disappointment – her favorite smoothie place (Robek’s) was closed 
Have to make do with Talenti sea salt caramel ice cream 
Thanks everyone. So glad this is behind her.
Great! Best wishes for a speedy recovery!
Did she eat pineapple, @Classof2015? 
Glad things went well and hope for a continued good recovery. Nothing like Mom’s love and care at times like this!
@doschicos – no – not yet – but I have it in the fridge. Thanks to you and mommd and everyone who posted – when they need you, they need you
Last summer my daughter has a tiny bit of stubborn bleeding on one side the first night. Rather than the gauze she packed it with a Chai tea bag. Regular tea bags were suggested, but the spices in the Chai tea, cloves particularly, seemed to stem the last bit of stubborn bleeding and the taste was relatively pleasant.
Glad it went well! Fingers crossed for rest of the week and an uneventful recovery.