Finally got my wisdom teeth out.

[Finallyfreenow]

For some reason, I’d didn’t go to the dentist for over 20 years. I finally got the courage to go back about 5 or 6 years ago after reading this forum a lot. I of course thought I would need all of my teeth pulled. I only needed 1 or 2 fillings and was told I would need my wisdom teeth out. There was no way I was going to have surgery. It took me 20 years just to go back to the dentist. The top two were fully erupted and the bottom two were completely sideways and fully impacted. As the years went by, I was told every time that I needed them out, but the oral surgeon adviced that at my age the risk could be greater than the reward and if I wanted to wait til they caused problems that was ok. Over the years the lower right started to erupt more and more and particularly over the last year I notice my teeth shifting and feel pressure more and more. I finally scheduled surgery, then chickened out, and scheduled again, and chickened out again. After a solid 3 weeks of pressure on my other teeth, I decided it was time. Today, I removed the upper two and the lower that was now only partially impacted. The other one is fully impacted and very close to the nerve so it will stay. I have to say so far, so good. I had nitrous, local, and IV sedation. My BP was really high upon arrival, but the nitrous quickly brought it down. I heard them talking a lot, but felt absolutely nothing. It was somehow relaxing. So here I am, in bed, 41 years old, and finally free of what had caused me anxiety for so long. Hopefully recovery will be as easy as the surgery. As of now, tongue and chin are numb, gauze are annoying, but no pain. Thanks to everyone here for sharing positive stories that I would come here and read every time I’d get nervous.

 

[Finallyfreenow]

Update: Night of surgery and morning after
I did ice and took pain meds and antibiotic as instructed: a rotation of hydrocodone and 600mg ibuprofen, along with the amoxicillin. Pain has been nonexistent on the side with just the fully erupted upper. On a scale of 1-10 the other side, with the horizontal partially impacted lower and fully erupted upper: at most, pain has been at a 2. I have been very anxious about getting dry socket. I did taste blood a couple times last night and could see it oozing, but both times it stopped within minutes without gauze. Besides the anxiety, the worst part has been getting sleep. I have laid in bed most of the time, but got very little sleep. I was instructed to sleep in my back and elevated. I am a side / stomach sleeper and have never been able to sleep on my back. Neck pain was more substantial than anything going on in my mouth.

Swelling is not so bad. The side with only the upper is almost unnoticeable, and the other side is not bad, though I know it probably has not reached peak swelling. I did ice as much as possible yesterday. I’ll do my best to rotate it in today as well. Did my first saltwater rinse earlier this morning and all was well. Will attempt a gentle brushing and flossing away from the sites at lunch. I have only had jello, pudding and Ensure so far, and intend to keep the same diet today.

 

[Jackieallen]

Well done . Iv sedation is the best

 

[Finallyfreenow]

Update: I’m on day 5 now, I think. The last two days have been completely miserable. My mouth is fine, barely any pain, down to one or two otc pain killers a day for the last couple days. The amoxicillin was dreadful. I became so nauseous on day three that I didn’t even want to sip water. It got worse and worse, and I went to the e.r. The night before last to get fluids and they also gave me promethazine in an iv along with an rx for it. The zofran they gave me after the surgery did nothing. I’m doing a little better today. I have went the day without taking anything. The promethazine makes me feel like a zombie so I’m trying to avoid it. I’ve managed to eat a little today. Doctor at e.r advised me to stop the antibiotic so hopefully that doesn’t cause problems

 

[Finallyfreenow]

Update: Today is day seven and I finally feel like I’ve turned a corner. To recap, the tooth pain was nothing. I took rx pain meds the first day and a half and quickly tapered off to very little otc pain meds. That was far better than anticipated. I’ve heard that it’s horrible at an older age, but it was not bad at all. The problem was with nausea from the antibiotics. I don’t remember the last time I have taken amoxicillin, but it’s probably been years and when I did it was probably for a sinus infection or something where I was eating a normal diet. Taking it in a virtually empty stomach was awful. It tried to consume food, I just couldn’t because my stomach hurt so bad. It was really bad. It didn’t seem like it would ever end. Last night I started to perk up a bit and had a fairly normal day today and was able to eat a decent amount of food. I went back to the dentist to have him check over everything as a precaution since it stopped taking the amoxicillin early. Everything was fine. Now to just wait for the stitches to fall out and continue irritating and hopefully everything heals nicely and closes up soon. I know this is all very lengthy, but wanted to provide insight for anyone over 40 like me who is looking to have this done. Had I not had the adverse reaction to the meds, it really would have been a breeze.

 

[krlovesherkids777]

Finallyfreenow,

Glad things are turning a corner now for you and seem a little better ! Sorry you had that reaction.. HOpe the stiches fall out soon! Way to go on getting this done!

 

[Finallyfreenow]

Update for any older patients out there looking to get this done: I am now nearly one month post extraction. All is basically well. I had some oozing of blood every night all the way through day ten, and called the dentist after about a week to make sure that was normal and they said it was fine. There is still a hole in the lower extraction site so I am still having to irrigate twice a day, which is slightly inconvenient, but never painful. I’m hoping after another 2 weeks or so I’ll be able to stop that. I’m definitely glad I had it done. I wish I had done it years ago.

 

[Finallyfreenow]

Final update for anyone worried that the extraction site will never close. You will get to throw out those syringes one day! After about 7 weeks, the hole finally closed in completely but food would settle in that area. After 9 weeks, I was finally able to throw out the irrigation syringes! This probably longer than normal being I am older and tooth was large and horizontally impacted. If you are on the fence about getting it done, know that it is all manageable and probably way worse in your head than it will actually end up being.