S19 just had all 4 impacted wisdom teeth extracted this morning. He’s still frozen from the procedure so it’s too early to tell, but he’s currently practising the piano lol.
Thanks all! Did most of your kids get knocked out completely? Or did they just use general anesthesia?
Our oral surgeon said they use the twilight meds, similar to what is used for colonoscopies.
That’s my next question @momofsenior1 – scheduled for my first cononscopy next month lolol 
Yes - twilight. Woke up and asked if his teeth were out.
My kid has a ridiculously high tolerance for pain. The night he had all four out he wanted Chinese food. At his one week check up he was discovered to have dry socket and had never mentioned it. The doc was a little surprised by that.
What exactly is dry socket and how do you avoid it?
Our oral surgeon specializes in “surgery while you sleep”. D was completely unconscious during the procedure.
Dry sockets are the WORST!!! It’s basically when the clot falls out of the wound too early - hence the strict NO STRAW policy!!! and why they don’t want you rinsing, spitting or gargling right away. I got one when my dentist botched a tooth extraction - oral surgeon said it’s common when there’s too much digging around done!
My notoriously bad brusher got an infection a month after the 4 wisdom teeth were pulled - make sure they follow the cleaning instructions!
My 24 year old daughter had hers out in early May. She has TMJ so she was very worried about the surgery. They removed all 4 with her under in less than 30 minutes. They were in various states of eruption - the troubling one was on a bad angle leaning into the next molar. Sent her home with an RX for vicadon which they told me to get filled (not easy since it is a controlled substance.) She did fine (for her the hot worked better than cold and we used those hot hand pads and she held them on her face.) Never touched the vicadon - used motrin instead. She went back to work 4 days later (had them done on Thursday and she went back on Monday). They healed well but she followed all the instructions very carefully - gargling with salt water, not using a straw, no food with seeds, etc. for two full weeks.
Thank you @NJWrestlingmom. Good to know!
My DD18 had a harder time than both of us expected when she had them out over Christmas break. They were all impacted, and her oral surgeon said a few were “a challenge”.
She did it without sedation - laughing gas and novacaine only. Her doctor gave her the choice. He later said that he could have helped with her (considerable) swelling by giving her medication through her IV. Miserable for about a week, not happy for another week.
She ate scrambled eggs, pastina, and bits of a soft peanut butter and jelly sandwich. She didn’t want to go near yogurt or even ice cream during that time.
I, too, was surprised at the painkillers offered. She did a little liquid Tylenol 3 for a day or two, and then was on regular Motrin.
Her doctor offered her some great ice packs - filled with gel pellets or something that you put in the freezer to get cold but then conformed to her face very nicely. I kept them lol.
My kids had them done a week apart. One wanted to go to the oral surgeon and be put under sedation while the other was happy to go to the dentist and just have Novocaine. Both of them did fine. One thing I would caution you about is the amount of painkillers they give you. Ask for just a few pills for them to share and if they need a refill they can get it. Otherwise you might end up with a lot of Oxycodone in your house.
Oh, and one more thing–if your dentist says you or your child need them out, don’t delay! My brother who is in his fifties waited until last year to have them out. He is still dealing with complications!
However, how do you know that he would not have had complications at an earlier age?
I take dentist’s recommendations with a grain of salt on wisdom teeth. For my daughter, it was clear from panoramic xrays that they didn’t have room to come in straight and that she was going to have trouble. On the other hand, I still have three of my four wisdom teeth and dentists are always telling me that I should have them removed to prevent possible further problems, but they are completely in, not impacted, and have given me zero trouble for the last 30 years because I had room for them. The fourth was removed when I was in college because it was impacted.
I should have had my wisdom teeth removed when the dentist first recommended it when I was a teenager. My father thought it was a frivolous expense (and with 5 other children in the family, who could blame him?). 3 of them grew in straight, but they gave me all sorts of problems with crowns, etc. Over time, I’ve had them removed, one by one. The last one came out 2 years ago. It was just impossible to keep them in good shape.
Perhaps parents of small children should feed them chewier food to help their jaws grow large enough to avoid orthodonic problems and have room for wisdom teeth.
https://aeon.co/ideas/its-not-that-your-teeth-are-too-big-your-jaw-is-too-small
I had all 4 out without any issues, same with my kids. I think a good surgeon makes a difference - less trauma, less digging/hammering, hence easier recovery. We used frozen peas, no activities for few days (included no visitations), and slept upright for 2 nights. I remember D1 had hers taken out a day before Thanksgiving and she was asking for turkey on Thanksgiving day.
@astute12 my D had hers out yesterday. So far (knock wood) it’s been a lot of worrying over nothing. She came home and slept most of the day, used the ice packs, had applesauce, ice cream, scrambled eggs, and water ice. She wanted pizza and fries at dinnertime but stuck to soft foods.
The doctor Rx Lodine and she took that, plus an antibiotic. The antibiotic made her very nauseous after the second dose so at bedtime we opted for tylenol instead of more Lodine. She slept all night fine. So far today she feels fine, a little tender, and only took one more Lodine because I wanted to stay ahead of any pain that might be coming.
I will keep her on softer foods for a few days to be careful. No chipmunk cheeks, and no other issues. The nurse had said day 2 and maybe 3 are the worst. I seem to remember my son was pretty similar - I guess we have good genes for this type of thing. I know I drove myself home after my wisdom tooth extraction and had to pick up 2 toddlers from the sitters. I do not recall lounging on the sofa for 2 days, that is for sure!