To ask for wisdom teeth removal experiences/support!

[Yumdoritos]

I had a wisdom tooth removal today of all 4 teeth, plus 3 other teeth at the back (2 were broken, one had an abscess under it) I got home about 3 hours ago, and I have dental phobia. I am worrying so much now I am home, and would love love love it if anyone could give me some support or stories of their own experiences with this surgery and recovery period!

I was not given much info on waking up about how the surgery went. I had a general anaesthetic in a hospital.

I got given painkillers, antibiotics and mouthwash, told to start the antib's and mouthwash 24hrs after the surgery. I can't swallow tablets at the best of times and normally get dissolvable painkillers etc. My throat is super sore from a tube being down it, I keep choking and it's so dry and hurts to swallow, even when drinking.

HOW am I meant to take the antib's?? and it was recommended not to spit so how do I do the mouthwash and will it hurt? I am terrified of getting a dry socket. Any advice greatly appreciated. I can't speak because all my face is numb so can't really call the hospital just yet and am panicking

I was up since 6am, didn't eat all day, now it is 2am the next day, how am I meant to sleep? I'm exhausted and am a wreck.

If anyone is awake right now, please come and talk to me!

[Quietlygoingmad67]

Oh gosh I'm not sure I'm going to slept after reading your post - another dentist phobic here!!!
I had one removed without sedation in the dentist chair and fainted!!! Not sure I'm the right person to give support! lol
Are you on your own?
With regards to the spitting etc for a dry socket - I was told NOT to gargle just hold the mouthwash in my mouth where the tooth had been removed - actually I only used cooled boiled water and salt! But then I only had one removed!
I do think you need to try and sip some fluids otherwise you are going to be so dehydrated - can you manage some tea with sugar (not hot hot though)
Gosh I hope you manage to sleep tonight and can start tomorrow feeling a bit better -
I don't think I ate any proper food for a couple of days - just soft food that sort of just slipped down rather than any chew or swallow!

[Out2pasture]

follow your dentists recommendations to the LETTER!
and take the medication as prescribed.
no salt water or mouthwash does not hurt

[cannotmakemymindup]

Hello, i can't offer loads of help, but ive had 5 teeth removed in the past (not all at the same time) 3 wisdom, 2 had abcess' under.
If you are allowed to drink, could you have milk/milkshake? Drunk through a straw(and probably sipped)? To help keep you going hunger wise? Could you look at nhs choices as well see what they recommend to help you and give advice.

[katkit]

That sounds full on....

Mouthwash , salt etc- do it gently, so that you don't dislodge any clots which are helping healing. I think I was told to just 'hold' the salt water in my mouth rather than swish it around.

Also, do not skip the salt washes. I didn't bother with my first extraction and it got infected- which btw was sore but not too bad. I went back to the dentist and he put something in the socket which smelled of cloves, and that sorted it very quickly,

Good luck.

[Yumdoritos]

on the letter I took home there were a lot of instructions but no timeframe for them, it did say salt water rinse and the mouthwash rinse 4 times daily but then it also said don't do anything for 24 hours til blood clots have formed properly, it all reads a bit contradictory to be honest!

I keep trying to drink, but when I drank at the hospital it removed the blood clot and blood was everywhere, I can't seem to stop drooling - but now the blood is very faint and it is mostly clear saliva.

I am very hesitant to try drinking more because I don't want the clots to come out again when it seems to be under control for the moment, but my throat is killing. Seems inevitable that at least one clot will come out when I have 7 removed teeth!

I can't laugh or cough or breathe too fast or will just choke from my dry throat. When I did manage to drink it only made my throat feel less dry for about 2 minutes. Feeling better now my drooling/bleeding is less, but fretting about the rinsing and especially the medicine-taking when I can't swallow.

I do have protein milkshakes that I will be "eating" tomorrow, too nervous at the moment to eat even though I am starving, think I will have to sleep sitting up too? or I will choke on my drool :( bah!

[steff13]

Sleep with your head elevated if you can; it helps prevent dry socket.

[katkit]

Ps could you have some cooled honey and lemon to make your throat less scratchy, before taking the pills?

[Yumdoritos]

"Quietlygoingmad" I am sort of on my own, my DP picked me up and took me home, then he went to bed! It was 11pm though and he has to be up for work at 5, so I will be alone all day tomorrow too until he's home at 7 :(

[katkit]

...me again.... After tonight, your throat will be feeling better and have healed a bit. Maybe it will feel an awful lot better by the time you have to swallow pills.

[Yumdoritos]

I think I am going to sleep in a chair, not brave enough to lie down. When I swallow I kind of swallow diagonally if that makes sense? Like it seems to accidentally go to the side of my mouth first sort of (guessing cos everything is numb and swollen), would be worried of trying to take honey and lemon and it going somewhere it shouldn't in my mouth, or getting stuck in my throat since it's quite thick

[WiddlinDiddlin]

What you want to do now is avoid the dreaded dry socket (where the clot comes out of any sockets and exposes the bone)...

Hold mouthwash or salt water in your mouth and shake your head side to side, don't spit, just let it dribble out (hold your face over the sink!)

Drinks - cool or cold nothing hot - sip gently don't slurp and definitely no straws or sucking out of a bottle or can.

Food - again, nothing hot, or that requires proper chewing.

To swallow pills (am expert at this, I take up to 8 at a time, up to 3 times a day, more if I am taking antibiotics as well)..

Drink something first, now pop the pill in your mouth, LEAN FORWARD, sip more water until your mouth is almost full, swallow, do NOT tip your head BACK at all, keep it tipped forward.

This way the pill floats on the water in your mouth and goes down your throat first - if you tilt your head BACK however, the surface is now near the front of your mouth and the water goes down first and the pill can get caught as it goes down last.

Once its down drink more!

Drinking and swallowing should be fine (despite the sore throat, keep drinking!).. that won't dislodge the clot.

If you DO dislodge a clot, zoom back to a dentists for a dressing that fills up the socket, these work bloody miracles!

[Quietlygoingmad67]

widdlin great tip about swallowing tablets - will pass that onto my teen. Thank you

yum I had to salt wash after every meal so they helped if any food got stuck - I had to go back to dentist after the socket feeling funny and they found a pea stuck in there.

[Yumdoritos]

oh nooooo at the stuck pea!! that's it I am not eating solid foods for months thanks for all the company and advice everyone - will definately try that with the tablet swallowing, I do tend to put my head back to swallow them so it seems that isn't helping haha, will try the opposite :)

Feeling a bit better now, just need to relax enough to be able to sleep...

[VocalDuck]

Sounds horrible for you OP. Don't drink from a straw though as you run the risk of getting dry socket and that will be so much worse! I had all of my wisdom teeth out under a GA and did recover well, so it is possible and hopefully will be the same for you.

[Newmanwannabe]

Make sure you put some ice on your face too, quite regularly will help with bruising and swelling. I wasn't told to do that and I wish I was.

[Yumdoritos]

I managed to sleep 4-8, but can't stop drooling!! I drooled all down myself and when I am awake it's constant, with or without blood. Am assuming it's still because I have difficulty swallowing. My lops are all sore and cracked from being drooled on and wiped so many times. I used a full toilet roll since yesterday night to wipe up drool!

[Yumdoritos]

Lops = lips! Bloody phone

[pinkdelight]

Some great advice above. I had all four impacted wisdom teeth out under GA a long time ago and my main memory is of drooling over a bowl for the first 2 or 3 days, living for the next painkiller - the first three hours of each cycle were bearable but the last hour before I could have the next painkiller was just awful. But by the third day things were getting better and by the fourth day it was much better. Still took a while for the bruising to go down so I looked dreadful, but just to reassure you, it won't last long, so just hang on in there and you'll get through it soon. Albeit with a lot of drool!

[BeBopTalulah]

I had a molar removed recently. I had a small dissolving dressing applied over the socket and was advised to be very carful with it. If the clot comes away or is dislodged it can lead to serious infection (dry socket).

I was advised to rest it for 24 hours before eating or drinking (on the other side). I was so worried I'd do something to it, but being gentle while drinking normally will not do any damage. It's not going to spontaneously just 'fall out'. I was worried about it by day 3 or 4 because the dressing started dissolving and I still felt like I had a very delicate 'squishy' (sorry!) clot underneath, it also smelled DISGUSTING since I was also told not to brush the area. The socket started to cover with white/grey stuff which I thought might be pus and I was worried about infection, but apparently that's a normal sign of healing. I dribbled too, and slept with a towel on my pillow!

Your mouth is one of the fastest healing areas of the body and you'll notice in a few days or a week that everything is settling down.

[Yumdoritos]

Thanks for your reassurance, thought there was something wrong with me with all this crazy drool. I really struggle to swallow painkillers with my throat like this. I got dissolvable ibu from the shop and children's liquidy calpol (paracetamol) for now til my throat lets me swallow the 'adult' painkillers - which are ibu and paracetamol in stronger doses.

Since my letter said 24 hours for clots to form, I'll do a salt rinse and take my first antibiotic tonight at 11pm, which is when I got home yesterday. Still terrified of dry sockets but I'll be super careful. Still can't speak either without choking :( never thought my throat and my drool would be my biggest concerns/annoyances after this surgery!!

I closed my mouth together earlier unintentionally (lightly), and it feels like my teeth don't fit together comfortably anymore for me to be able to keep it closed. Very worried about that too now! Wish there was a magic pill to take after the operation that sorted everything out I have too much on my mind now!

[cannotmakemymindup]

Sorry straw recommendation seems to be incorrect apologies, it was just meant to deal with last nights hunger. Hope you have a much better day today op.

[Theoretician]

I doubt this is helpful, but I think it's a good story, so...

I had an inflamed gum where a bit of peanut had got stuck between my back teeth. Managed to locate a NHS dentist. Practice was in an old house in Bow, next to a railway line, and I had to step over a couple of broken stairs on the way to his room.

Not being British, I was used to dental surgeries of the kind you see in Hollywood movies, where the whole room is shining white and full of equipment and lights, like the bridge of a space ship. My first experience of the NHS was a little more down to earth. There was a proper dentist chair, but the light he operated by consisted of a single 40w naked light bulb, hanging from the ceiling rose, that, when lit, made the room darker. (Thanks to Spike Milligan for that one.)

He told me it would a good idea to have four wisdom teeth removed. (I assume I returned at a later date for this, but can't remember, it was long ago.) Once he got to work on them, he made some progress, upper ones came out fairly easily, but then the top came off one of the bottom ones, and he literally threw his hands up in the air and said that he wasn't going to go any further. He gave me an emergency referral go Guy's hospital and a prescription for what turned out to be about a month's supply of antibiotics. (Dentist at Guy's literally raised eyebrows at quantity, think I was told to throw half of them away.)

Next day at Guy's, a student dentist got to work on me. He was under intermittent supervision. He got the unbroken lower one out fairly easily, before turning to the other. His supervisor explained that he should cut the tooth in half with a little circular buzz-saw, before pulling the halves out separately. As the tooth was not "fully erupted" the saw would have to go down into the jaw-bone, and apparently at a certain depth he would then need to make a turn, so that he ended up sawing more horizontally than vertically.

Student got to work, though when supervisor returned he commented that student was making the turn in the wrong direction.

Student then spent nearly two hours try to get the halves of remaining tooth out. At one point he had what looked like a bolt cutter with three foot arms in my mouth, was using both hands on it to both clamp and pull on the tooth, while one of his feet was pushing down on my chest to prevent the "bolt-cutter" from lifting me out of the chair.

Near the end of the two hours, he got one half out, and supervisor took pity on him, and offered to take over. Student was sweating and, I think, exhausted, but encouraged by the emotional rush of his recent success, decided to finish the job himself, which he did soon after. He finished off by put a few stitches in my mouth. (I remember them as being metal stitches, but don't if that can be right, as I don't remember them being removed later on. Presumably metal stitches don't dissolve?)

So how did I feel about all this? Well, it was a bit more dramatic and arduous than I expected, but during the whole of the operation a nurse was standing within my line of sight, a gorgeous young red-head with a large chest in tight tunic, and, without staring, I think most of the time I was more mentally focused on her than on him.

I departed for a skiing holiday the next day, and every time I let cold air or a cold drink in my mouth, there would be a painful contraction as the stitches pulled against the flesh.

[Quietlygoingmad67]

yum I've found a solution for your drool

[Yumdoritos]

Haha!! This is what I need I've gone through 2 whole toilet rolls now to wipe it away, it's never ending!

I can't speak at all without choking so called my mum and asked if she could call the hospital and see if I can get a liquid version of my antibiotics. They said since I took tablet version home already I have to call my GP....

Doing anything through my GP is like finding a diamond in dog shit, they are awful!!! I also broke my toe the day before my surgery so can't put a shoe on or walk anywhere to be able to go there myself (and still can't soak anyway), she is gonna call them now and I dread to think what they'll say