Wisdom Tooth Removal (all 4) @ 40 - Positive Support Log (so far)

[Asrial]

Came across this website when I was Googling about getting wisdom teeth removed at 40, and found an interesting thread where a couple of people posted their progress and so figured I'd do the same to help others.

So I'm 40 (technically I'll be 40 in 2 months) and it finally came time to have my wisdom teeth removed. I don't have dental insurance, and so that's one reason I waited so long ($1500 for the entire procedure). The problem teeth are the bottom ones because they're creating pockets to allow decay. They both have (had) cavities, and the one on my left side was showing signs of an infection and the one on the right was literally coming apart as my hygienist was scraping it.

I did it all at once to just get it over with, and so I wouldn't need to pay for sedation again in the future.

I've attached a panoramic x-ray that was taken 2 years ago. I highlighted the areas of concern with the bottom teeth. You can see they're close to the nerve, and also that the root on one is hooking a bit (they both were in actuality). The top ones ARE protruding into my sinus cavities.

NOTE: The x-ray is reversed (look for the L / R markers at the bottom).

My concerns that brought me to this website was finding general information regarding wisdom tooth removal at 40, concerns over the one tooth being close to the nerve, and the ones protruding into my sinus cavities.

Obviously I read about nerve damage causing numbness/paralysis and one guy had posted how when he had his upper ones removed, liquid would come out his nose when he drank, lol.

Another concern was the sedation. I had never experienced it before so I was anxious about that.

Anyways, hope the following log helps!

I should also note that my vitamin D and calcium levels were checked at the beginning of this year and are in the normal range. I broke my foot (4th and 5th metatarsals) a year ago and it healed up nicely.

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DAY 0 (yesterday @ 4pm)

I won't go into huge detail because it was just talking to the doctor that was going to do the surgery, and filling out paperwork, etc etc.

I get into the chair and I'm fairly anxious. As I mentioned I've never been sedated before so I didn't know what to expect. As you can tell from my x-ray I don't have too much of a fear of the dentist, lol.

It was conscious sedation (I think that's the term) where I'm out of it, but still can respond to their commands.

They stuck a needle in my arm and started to sedate me. The ceiling started to move around a bit. The lead up discussion to this actually made me nervous because I was worried of nausea, but it wasn't the case at all. It's more of a "that's weird, the ceiling is funny" experience. I was talking, watching the ceiling shimmer for 30 seconds, and then I woke up. Literally. I have no recollection of anything that happened.

Sadly, the procedure ran a bit longer than the sedation. The procedure (for all 4 mind you) took about an hour, but the sedation was only set for 45 minutes. I did get uncomfortable, and it was painful, but it's not the end of the world. I powered through it. They were almost done and so you just have to zen out and be patient. Once they were done with whatever they were doing to my teeth the pain pretty much went away.

I loosely remember things at this point. I wasn't in full control of myself, but I could move around without stumbling too bad. I was sluggish, a little dizzy, but I was fine. I did accidentally leave my driver's license at the pharmacy so probably should have the person taking you home hold onto everything until you actually get home.

My mouth and cheek were pretty numb still (this lasted all night which is normal), and yes I was uncomfortable a bit, but I found it easy to power through. I laid down, pulled out my phone, and then spent the rest of the day drifting in and out of consciousness. It was a by product of the sedation, and maybe the pain medicine they injected me with at the office. I just was sleepy really.

I was prescribed a pain killer (non narcotic), a muscle relaxer, and some antibiotics. I was given a list of instructions that are fairly thorough.

BIG NOTE: I have yet to take a pain killer. The one they injected me with at the office was supposed to last 12 hours. I could feel it wearing off, and the numbness/tingling from the anesthesia as well, but I never felt like I was miserable. It wasn't a walk in the park either. I dislike taking medicine, and if I can avoid the pain killer I'd like to. The pain is not above my threshold to handle it.

The muscle relaxer is to help relieve tension and lessen grinding while sleeping. The doctor said that my teeth are going to move in the next week, now that there's all this space, and this is to help prevent any issues being raised by my bite changing. Grinding is bad anyways. I don't think I grind my teeth while I sleep, but he wants me to take it anyways because of the helpfulness of it.

I took the antibiotics on schedule, no pain killers, no muscle relaxer (that starts later). I ate mac and cheese, pudding, and had water without issue.

The key is to be gentle on your body!

I felt capable of getting up and doing stuff, but I just kept myself in bed with my phone and got up every now and then to get food or use the bathroom. Nothing strenuous.

There were no issues with blood, or abnormal pain, or anything of the like. The numbness/tingling faded over time.

My doctor stressed awareness of two things: any eye pain after 2 days (indication of a sinus infection) or any pain overall after 10 days.

He also said that both bottom teeth were problematic because their roots had hooked around the nerve, but he wasn't overly concerned with any of it.

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DAY 1 (morning)

So again, no pain killers yet. I brushed my teeth a little bit. I'm having an easier time drinking fluids.

I didn't sleep very well, but I did dream a lot and so I know I was able to fall asleep.

My jaw is really sore, especially around the bottom teeth. No real notice of the upper teeth. My doctor was telling me that upper is Heaven and lower is Hell so yeah, that appears to be true.

I'm up and around today and so I notice that driving and walking is making me more aware of the soreness (the vibrations of movement) and I kind of want to get a pain killer, but again it's not at my threshold and I kind of want to give an accurate accounting of everything. It's a huge nuisance, but not the end of my world.

There's very very faint tingling in my lips, but that could just be my imagination. There's no numbness or paralysis.

Aside from the constant reminder that I just brutalized my mouth, I don't notice anything out of the ordinary.

Swallowing is a little painful, which I attribute to maybe nasal discharge or something. It's like I have a sore throat so I have to swallow a couple of times to really feel like I got somewhere (I do have very active salivary glands so that makes it more of an act to swallow). It's only worth mentioning because the act causes immediate awareness of the soreness.

More to come!

 

[Asrial]

Looks like you can't edit posts here, or at least I don't have permission to do that yet. The delay in posting is because my original post got lost for a while.

SOME NOTES

My doctor mentioned how both bottom teeth were problematic because of the roots curving around the nerves, but that there was nothing concerning during the procedure. This explains why it took longer than it did.

Through all this my lower left side has been the most noticeable of all the areas, and I assume it's because it required more work to separate it from the tooth it was against. I assume. By the time of me writing this post (day 5) I can rub my right cheek without worry, but the left cheek still has a noticeable knot on the lower side that I have to be gentle with. It's getting better over time so it doesn't worry me.

I notice that when I nose snort (I have a deviated septum so my right nostril pulls in more air than the left) I can feel the pressure on my upper teeth. This is because of the upper teeth protruding into the sinus cavities. This has faded in intensity as the days go on.

DAY 1 (afternoon/evening)

I went to an event where I did some walking around and I think I overdid it a little bit. Things were pretty sore when I got home. I was still avoiding the pain medicine, but my friend brought up a good point about taking ibuprofen for anti-inflammation. I took 2 Advil that afternoon and it seemed to do a good job in the moment.

I took the muscle relaxer before bed (and have been every night) as well as 2 more Advil.

I got pretty uncomfortable trying to sleep. It wasn't the end of the world, and was manageable, except I was trying to sleep and it made it incredibly difficult to do that. I gave in and took the pain medicine. It took about an hour to kick in but seemed to do a really good job calming things and I was able to go back to sleep.

DAY 2

Since I kind of exhausted myself on day 1 I decided to stay home as much as possible on day 2. I did have to go run an errand, and I noticed I was kind of cranky from the pain, and that I started feeling exhausted again, but I was able to get through the day okay. I spent a lot of it in bed with my phone. If I felt sleepy, I took a nap. If I was awake, I'd entertain myself through various phone based methods. I basically alternated this all day long.

I took the pain medicine early in the evening, and then again 4 hours later. I felt that it may have been wearing off and I wanted it to last for a good amount of sleep (I'm a night owl).

Up to this point all I was eating was mac and cheese and pudding. It was starting to wear on me! The hard part was that my jaw was still really sore so it was difficult to open wide enough to comfortably eat from the spoon.

DAY 3

I wouldn't say that there's been significant improvement, but I can tell that there's improvement overall. Things are less sore, less painful, and I'm more capable of being active.

I did exhaust myself again, but it wasn't as bad. Mostly what's getting to me is my diet! I'm super hungry.

I was out all day almost and didn't feel like it was a mistake.

Took the pain medicine and muscle relaxer before bed again. My sleeping is improving.

DAY 4

Another day where I'm noticing improvement and being active all day isn't bothering me. Hung out with my best friend (we play flag football; I didn't play, heh) and was fine. The pain is at the levels of what I guess teething or growing pains feel like. That dull ache that just won't go away, but doesn't hinder you from living life.

I decided to give eating real food a shot. Still soft and manageable, but it was a success and I'm done with mac and cheese and pudding! My bite is definitely different, and the back corners of my jaw are tender so I'm careful about food getting back there and poking into the flesh, but my chewing is improving.

DAY 5 (the day of this post)

Again, incremental but noticeable improvement. I still have an ache, and things are still sore and tender, but there's been no setbacks or bad things happening.

I feel pretty good. Not 100% by a long shot, but I would say I'm at least 75%.

So far none of the things I was anxious about have happened.

More to come!

 

[Dg6300]

Great!

Much like the supposedly scary DRY SOCKETS (aaaaaah!) getting wisdom out after 40 fear is more hype than substance.

Good luck! Keep us posted!

 

[Asrial]

Day 10

There's hardly any pain and nothing abnormal has happened up to this point. I still know I had them removed, because it's still so new and there's little moments of pain (just a little spike) and being sore/tender, but that's about it.

Eating is a lot easier and I'm not too worried. I just have to pre-plan what I eat and still keep it easy about eating hard foods.

I see mention of people having sockets where their tooth was, but I never had sockets because stitches were used.

I'm not back to 100%, but I'm comfortable saying I'm at 90%.

My anxiety leading up to the procedure was an 8/10 and in retrospect, it only needed to be a 1/10 (and mostly because of the bill, heh).

So, all in all, this really wasn't that bad an experience.

It's all subjective, and everyone's experience is going to be different, but hopefully this helps others