<p>Our oral surgeon’s office said the whole straw thing is a bit of an urban myth. D used straws with no problem at all. They said that, at least in their case, they never see dry socket anymore because the new instruments are smaller and the opening is smaller. Interesting to see what your oral surgeon would say.</p>
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<p>This just confirms that the guy I saw was a hack. I had mine done two years ago and ended up with three dry sockets… Haven’t been to my dentist since, because I just know it’s going to be dreadful to get it taken care of. We don’t have the money right now, I don’t have the time to take off work, and it makes me so mad that this guy left a mess of my mouth.</p>
<p>This is about the finances, not the food. D1 just got all 4 (impacted) pulled in December (1st day home for winter break). Cost was about $1,900, and our dental insurance only covered about $750 of that. So we paid about $1,200 out of pocket on the day of the surgery. But I followed up with the dental insurance company, and got them to agree that they should pay an extra $150. And THEN the surgeon submitted to the remainder to our regular health insurance, and they paid the rest (which I was not expecting!). So… look at all your insurance options and follow up, you might find more coverage than you expect.</p>
<p>And when we had my son’s wisdom teeth done, we paid cash (no dental insurance at all) and the doctor gave us 20% off his regular fee. </p>
<p>About the recovery: encourage a LOT of rest, it really speeds things up. </p>
<p>About painkillers: there are subtle differences, and reactions really vary. My daughter and I were talking about her wisdom teeth yesterday; she reminded me that she had a terrible reaction to Vicodin (anger, fear) but that Percocet was just fine. My son was fine with Vicodin but it makes me nauseated, while I can take regular codeine just fine.</p>
<p>My S had 2 out last summer, novocaine only, and he ran 15 miles the next morning. He used only one pain pill and refused to do any of the stuff recommended - ice, irrigation and so on. His face was horribly swollen, but no bad after-effects. The dentist had never seen such enormous teeth before, kept commenting on them.</p>
<p>My D had all 4 out and was in bed for about 3 days.</p>
<p>I know another girl who was laid up for a week.</p>
<p>I don’t think there’s any way to accurately predict recovery time, but I agree that boys generally recover faster than girls.</p>
<p>Son had 4 impacted widsom teeth extracted. Decided to stay awake and listen to it all (ugh!!).</p>
<p>Follow directions for icepacks.</p>
<p>My son was told to take 2 Vicodin with 2 Advil ASAP. Refused due to the cotton in mouth. They all spit out blood and saliva and think they are hemorrhaging!! Finally in enough pain as the Novocaine wore off that he took meds (all but 1 advil). Was in agony. However, within 20 minutes he was pain free. Attitude was then great and felt fine. Ate everything in site (4 cups of pudding I made) followed by 2 or 3 packets of instant oatmeal- not piping hot. Then yogurt or whatever else was around. Stayed on the Vicodin through day 2 then I rarely let him have it. He was sore but fine. Little swollen but not too bad. </p>
<p>The combo of Advil and Vicodin was excellent. Ask your oral surgeon about it. Our DDS dispensed the meds so we didn’t have to go to the drug store. I think we had to use a heating pad at some point so make sure you have that on hand if you need it. I thnk we used DDS’s icepacks but switched to frozen peas- easy to mold the bag to the face!!!</p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
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I went to the best and most recommended oral surgeon in my region and ended up with dry sockets and other complications, including a late infection. Nothing went wrong during the removal of my wisdom teeth, and I followed all of the instructions perfectly. Sometimes these things just happen. I was on high doses of Percocet around the clock for a long, miserable three weeks. Even though it’s a common procedure, remember that it is still surgery, and things can still go wrong.</p>
<p>Just went through this with son in January. All 4 taken out - 2 totally impacted, 2 partially. Glad we don’t have to go through this with him agaiin! First problem was the pain med. They gave him vicoprofen. He took that as instructed as soon as he got home. Within the hour, he was throwing it up. Ok, in 3 hours he tries the next dose. Same thing again. So he tried to sleep that night, but the pain was strong. I called the office the next morning and they said to just have him take three advil then. He did that, but it didn’t touch the pain. Now he can’t sleep or eat because of the pain. The next day they prescribed him darvocet. That didn’t do anything either. So on the fourth day, I took him back and sure enough he had a dry socket. She cleaned it out, repacked it (proceeded to scold him for not brushing his teeth better) and within a couple of hours he had relief. It was a long haul.</p>
<p>I hope yours turns out much better. You really won’t know until it happens.</p>
<p>One thing I found out only after the surgery is that vicodin is always paired with something else (usually tylenol) which can be important if you’re also taking non-prescription tylenol or motrin at the same time. If you end up taking more tylenol/motrin than you usually would (and on an empty stomach, to boot) that can cause upset independent of the vicodin part.</p>
<p>Continued thanks for everyone’s advice.<br>
I just doubled checked with my insurance company and referral is in order. We get away with just a small copay since the teeth are impacted and so covered by medical insurance. (Our dental insurance never covers anything, so I’m relieved this is considered a medical procedure.)
I appreciate the alerts about medication side effects and also combinations.
I’m fascinated by the differences in recovery between males and females.</p>
<p>A nice trick to to use teabags to stop the bleeding. So you place the teabag where the tooth used to be and bite, if you have both top and bottom wisdom teeth taken out, only use one bad. Keep doing this and the bleeding will stop alot quicker. </p>
<p>also you really dont need to go to a dental surgeon to get this done, any dentists with a DDS or DMD can do this for alot less.</p>
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<p>Technically any dentist is trained to do it, but my primary dentist would not even begin to consider doing it and immediately referred me to an oral surgeon, for very good reason.</p>
<p>An oral surgeon is typically far more experienced, has much better equipment, and can accomplish the procedure much faster (= less damage done)</p>
<p>Of course, it partly goes back to whether they’re impacted or not.</p>
<p>Yes, I forgot to say that their stomachs are empty, they are not eating much at first, and they are in pain – unfortunately, the painkillers make many kids nauseous. My daughter found this the most uncomfortable part.</p>
<p>Add another D to the list of girls who had a very hard time. She was completely miserable for 24 hours (Vicoprofen didn’t seem to do much for her). Good thing her little sister was out of the house that day, or we’ll never get her in to have hers done when the time comes!</p>
<p>I had a dentist do my first one about 20 years ago, he had a hard time getting it out and then I got a dry socket infection. Went to an oral surgeon a few years ago for the other 3, that worked out much better. I would NEVER recommend going to a dentist after my experience (I now think he said he could do it because he was a guy in a solo practice with 4 young kids, he just wanted the revenue).</p>
<p>Dr. Horse-interestingly, the way our insurance is structured, we would probably have to pay out of pocket to have our DDS rather than an oral surgeon remove the teeth. This way we just have a small co-pay, though that wasn’t the motivating factor. The DDS, actually sent son to the surgeon, because felt it’s out of his league. FYI-I love the idea of using teabags to help with the bleeding. I recall being told about that years ago, supposed to be very effective. Do you wrap the tea bags in anything? Do they disintegrate while biting down? Thanks.</p>
<p>Nope ya dont need to wrap them in anything, just kinda put them there and gently bite. The saliva makes the tea come out and its just like drinking tea, but more potent. It also takes away from the taste of the blood which is nice to. </p>
<p>I really recommend it, they seem to be great. Also the majority of dentists refuse to sedate patients while they get oral surgery due to its dangers, but a lot do not refuse and actually encourage it to make their jobs easier. Well I think everybody should know the dangers of sedation while having dental work, its really quite dangerous.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone. Just got son home after the extractions. He has frozen peas against his cheeks while I make some mashed potatoes. Oral surgeon suggested he eat, wait 30 minutes than take Vicodan. That way he isn’t taking the medication on an empty stomach and also gets it into his system before the local anesthetic wears off.</p>
<p>Good luck. Ask about combining the Vicodin with the Advil (2 of each) for the first dose. After that, I don’t remember what he took other than Vicodin and I know he did not take more than 1 Vicodin at a time after that initial dose. If the pain level can come down to discomfort, he’ll be fine. </p>
<p>Dry socket is from the blood clot dislodging so I don’t think you should brush like crazy. Follow your surgeon’s instructions. Remember, no straws. </p>
<p>Home made my-t-fine pudding made with whole milk, yogurt. Get things ready for when he is ready to eat.</p>
<p>The problem with eating is you can’t eat with the cotton in your mouth. Once that part it over, they are miserable and the Novocaine is wearing off. If you can get him to eat- great. </p>
<p>I hope he does well, for his sake and your sanity!!!</p>
<p>do ya really need pain killers? I had all 4 of mine extracted with no anesthetic and it wasn’t even that bad. </p>
<p>I just dont think getting a few teeth out is worth taking a opioid narcotic.</p>
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<p>I hope you meant no general anesthesia 
I can certainly agree with having only local anesthetic (that’s all I had, also)</p>
<p>And maybe some people are lucky and don’t really need the opioids, but there are plenty of people where a day or two of vicodin will make it infinitely more comfortable. It is surgery, after all.</p>