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I survived my wisdom teeth extraction!!

M

Margarine4

Member
Joined
May 21, 2009
Messages
40
After putting off having my wisdom teeth extracted for 10 or more years, I finally did it!! Two weeks ago I had all four of my wisdom teeth out. I made my appointment to have the consultation and surgery both done on the same day (because I knew I wouldn't want to have to go there twice.)

For a week before the surgery I stocked the house up will all kinds of soft stuff to eat. I highly recommmend having lots of mashed potatoes, sour cream, drinkable yogurts, pudding, ice cream, carnation instant breakfasts, applesauce, and refried beans in the house. I made lists for my husband of all the things he had to do for me while I was out of it after the conscious sedation too. (Stuff like make sure I keep ice on my face for 20 minutes, then off for 20 minutes, and take any medicines I am supposed to take.) Also, you aren't supposed to drink anything hot or carbonated after the surgery- tea bags on your extraction sites should make your blood clot better, and I was really scared of tasting blood and bleeding, so I drank a lot of iced tea. I don't know if it helped my blood clot faster or not, but there was no way I would have taken a sip of water and risked tasting blood if I could help it.

I was an absolute wreck when we got to the oral surgeons office. I couldn't even stop crying enough to tell the receptionist who I was, and my hands were shaking so badly I could hardly write my name. The receptionist, the doctor and the nurses were all very nice, but it didn't really help my nerves at all. I was actually trying to find problems with them so I felt like I had an excuse to leave and never come back, but I didn't find one. I managed to pull myself together enough to have a panoramic x-ray taken of my teeth. It took less than a minute and they were able to bring the picture up on their computer. They showed me that my nerves were far away from the roots of my teeth so the risk of perminant nerve damage was very minimal. They showed me also that my sinuses were close, but not so close that they were concerned. Then they assured me this should be a very simple surgery. I also had a scar tissue thing on my cheek they took off too.

They gave me laughing gas first, and I'm really glad they did- I think I would have bolted out of there if I hadn't had the laughing gas when I saw them start getting stuff ready. As they were giving me the IV, the doctor told me so sort of joke about how the painful part wouldn't be the teeth, it would be the bill. He said he was putting the stuff to make me fall asleep in. I got scared I wasn't asleep yet, and I told them I wasn't asleep yet. The doctor told me not to worry- I would be, it just takes a minute to start working. I don't remember anything after that until I woke up. I asked them for my husband about 5 times before they went and got him, and I remember them telling me I wouldn't remember this. My husband said I was in there for less than half an hour. The doctor said that everything went very well. They gave my husband perscriptions for a NSAID pain killer, and percoset, and an antibiotic.

On the car ride home I started going into shock. (Don't freek out- that won't happen to you, I have a bunch of health problems, and that tends to happen to me) After about 20 minutes I was okay again as long as we had the air conditioning blasting. (it was only about 60 degrees out, so I guess it must have been pretty cold in the car. My husband works inside a refrigerator, and he was complaining that it was cold) We went to the pharmacy- and I stayed in the car. THere was no way I was going anywhere that people could see me with blood all over my face.

The pain pills were problematic for me. Both of them put me into a state of deep depression. When I took the percosets I got a rash all over my face (apparently I am allergic to it) and I was so depressed I just couldn't stop crying for about 6 hours until it started to wear off. My husband called the oral surgeon for me to try to get something else for the pain (since I was in enough pain that I couldn't stop sweating) but they told me there was nothing else they could give me. . . at that point I really wanted to die. I never thought for a second that I would end up writing a success story. I suffered through with that much pain for 3 days before the pain intensified and I got 2 dry sockets. My husband told me I was being a wimp. The surgery was on a Wednesday, and it wasn't until Monday that the pain was so severe that I started seeing speckles that I called the oral surgeons office myself and made an appointment to go back. Having the sockets washed out and packed was brutally painful, but definatelly worth it. The pain became managable within a few seconds of having them packed.

Unfortunatelly, I couldn't keep the packings in. I ended up having them repacked 3 times. After the last set of packings fell out, I decided I wasn't in enough pain to go back.

I went back to the oral surgeon on Monday. They say that all the sites are healing well, and I don't need to do anything special to keep them clean. (But I have squirt them out with my water pik set on a really low setting anyway, just because I am paranoid about making sure I don't get an infection) I am still concerned about food being stuck in the big holes in the back of my mouth, but the pain is managable now. I am eating real food again (since Tuesday- when I ate pizza) and I am finally off Advil.

Let me add as a side note that I have an IgA deficiency. (That's a problem with my immune system that makes me heal more slowly) I am still nursing my youngest son, so the pain medications available to me were limited. I have autoimmune system problems that affect my hormones (estrogen has something to do with getting dry socket, and I tend to be prone to depression) and I have TMJ and RA which both tend to make me experience excessive pain. . . All of that to say, if I could go though this, you can too. It won't be fun, but I am so proud of myself for making it through this now. My goal right now is to eat chips . . . I am hoping to get brave enough to try it sometime next week.

If you are going to have your wisdom teeth out- you can do it. Make sure you have plenty of help lined up, ask to keep your teeth (they are a great reminder of how brave you are) and stock up on soft foods. If I survived through this- you will too.

If you have any questions about the procedure, feel free to comment here or PM me. I can't tell you all the answers, but I will try to help as best I can.
 
CONGRATULATIONS!!!
:jump::jump::jump: :cheers:
3 cheers for you!!!
What a huge accomplishment for you!
What I love so much about this forum is the way we can share our stories to encourage and inspire each other.
I love your comment about your goal is to eat chips. Someone on here suggested there be a "post extractions cookbook" for people to use after surgery.
Having just had a similar surgery myself, I can appreciate that. Its taken almost two full weeks, but yesterday, I was able to eat a hamburger!
I wish a speedy recovery:)
 
Congrats you made it through with flying colors and were a trooper all of the way!
 
Congrats Margarine, that is fantastic! :jump::respect:. You did it!

Mona
 
I think a post extraction cook book would be a great idea. If someone ever starts one- let me know. It is hard to cook creativelly when you are in pain and feeling dopey from drugs. Sour cream was the best thing I had in my kitchen. It was easy to mix it into other stuff to thin it out (mashed potatoes, refried beans . . )
 
It really is hard to cook creativly when your in pain and cant chewy anything. I'd like to offer a couple of my favorites. If you have a blender, there a number of tasty treats that can be mixed. Right after my surgery, one of my favorite things to do was to mix vanilla ice cream. whipped cream, and fruit ie: peaches, pears, bananas, etc. Whip together and its great stuff no chewing required. Yogurt also works really well for this.
If you like peanut butter, creamy peanut buter blended with ice cream and a little milk is wonderful and good protein as well:).
 
I also had my wisdom tooth extracted about one year ago. I perfectly understand what does it mean! Congratulations Margarine!!
 
Yes, congratulations! I too had my wisdom teeth extracted, just earlier today. I've never had an IV and was terribly worried(so maybe it wasn't the actual "teeth part"), but just reading your story is so inspiring. If you could go through all that, it feels like I could do anything =)

In my case, I was lucky my mom forced the office to book me an early appointment and get it over with. If I didn't have that kick from behind, who knows...
 
Congrats:cheers:

I was lucky also, I had them out like a week or two after the dentist decided it needed to be done.
 
Congrats!

I just got mine out this past Tuesday, and I was wondering what are the symptoms of dry sockets that you experienced?
 
With dry socket, I could actually look into my mouth and see holes where there used to be white stuff covering the hole.

I had intense pain- I couldn't place exactly where the pain was coming from, but I felt it in my jaw bone and in my ears too. I also felt really dizzy. I was in enough pain that I was sweating like crazy (my shirt was wet)

Good luck!! If you think you might have dry sockets, go back to the oral surgeon. The packings make a HUGE difference.
 
Have you guys ever heard about going abroad for better and cheaper dental treatment?
 
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