The truth about wisdom tooth removal at 39!!! (Light-hearted)

[AtMyWitsEnd2]

The pain and swelling subsides after 2-3 days, they say! Maybe if your are 20! Noone tells you how rough the recovery is when you are nearer to 40! I had one bottom wisdom tooth out on Monday and still feel like Ive been punched in the face. With a mix of what I imagine babies go through when they are teething!!

Tell me it gets better!! :)

Share your positive stories to spur me on!

I'm 44 and having mine out tomorrow! 😬

@downfrown Hopefully it will be easier for you!! I'm just having a moan - I've had worse pain and I'm pretty impatient with things like this! Its not as simple a recovery as I though but it makes sense as its quite traumatic to the mouth to have such a strong tooth pulled! Let me know how you get on!

I think it depend on what is wrong with them. I had one top one removed in my fifties, under local anaesthetic with no real problems, healed pretty quickly.

My DS had all four removed under general in his twenties, they were badly impacted, and his face was very swollen and painful for about 10 days, and he was basically eating soup and mashed potato for that time. And I hate to tell you, but one of his grew back !

I was nearly 20 years older than you when I had a troublesome wisdom tooth out, and it was fine. Most annoying bit was not being able to chew properly or eat certain foods.

I’m due to have one out any idea what to expect for recovery? I’m your age op and dentist says should be straightforward

I had a lower wisdom tooth removed and it took four weeks to heal. Surgeon said the older you get the recovery time is longer, also the bone is harder which causes the pain/swelling. Glad it’s out now though!

I'm a dental nurse, how long it takes to recover will involve a lot of different things including how difficult it was to take out and it's certainly not true that everyone will suffer after 40.

Some people's basically just pop out and they report quick healing in almost no time next time we see them, and others it takes a bit longer. Just keep it clean with the salt water rinses and take some painkillers and you should be OK soon enough. If it gets worse rather than better after a week go back to the dentist.

@Mydustymonstera if they've said it should be straightforward it's likely the xrays show it in a good position, no difficult roots etc. so I wouldn't worry too much. In my experience they normally wouldn't say they think it'll be straightforward unless they were fairly confident that was the case, because they don't want you to say 'you said this would be easy' afterwards if it's not!
Best of luck. X

Had mine out at 34. Took arnica for a few days before and after as that helps with swelling. I can't say I felt punched in the mouth at all. Did have some pain with lower right one, but it had been sitting right on the nerve so dentist advised me that would be the trickiest. Was manageable with paracetamol by the end of day 2.

Best advice I was given was to go to a specialist surgical dentist. Any dentist can take out wisdom teeth but lots are rubbish at it. Go to someone who is experienced in the bigger types of dental surgeries. And get sedation. I didn't have a clue what was happening.

Thanks all esp @Justanything86 that sounds reassuring. Hopefully just take the first day off work and no big meetings on day 2 and should be ok then!

Had mine out at 44 had sedation, came home and slept most of the day.
Woke up the next day felt a bit woozy took nurofen plus for the day. But felt hardly any pain after taking them. Had a pretty chilled day at home.
Next day all good to go and carried on day to day life jaw felt a little tender but that was it.

Mine was a straight forward extraction that came out easily.

I did have sedation for mine so Im none the wiser how the actual extraction went! Im really paranoid about dry socket but as much as its all very sore and achey, I think dry socket is far more painful so Ill remain positive. I think its just gonna be a painful recovery for me. Ill go back to dentist next week if no better.
Just got a bit of spaghetti stuck in the whole ... that was a fun process to get out!

@billycorn 4 weeks! I fear ill be the same. Was it painful for the full 4 weeks?

@AmyDudley It grew back??!!! I didnt think that was even possible. A whole new fear unlocked 😂

I had mine out at 18 and the pain and swelling was horrific, my face was bruised and swollen for 2-3 weeks. Don't think age has anything to do with it!

hole not whole!

Pain is definitely related on how easily the tooth comes out. Had a very complicated one out recently and I had pain in that area for about two weeks. Had another out under sedation and it was only mildly sore afterwards.

@CinnamonBear Agreed! I can only assume mine was not easy given the amount of pain. And painkillers never touch dental pain! Fingers crosses tomorrow will be the day the pain starts to reduce!

Oh OP I was 31 when I had mine done and generally ok with pain but I was AWFUL. Had booked 1 day off work, needed almost 2 weeks. I went from looking like bo selecta for one week to just an obese version of me with a giant double chin in week 2. Had to sleep sat up like the elephant man and literally begged my Gp for stronger painkillers and usual OTC wasn’t touching it.
Honestly that second night I sat up all night unable to sleep, if someone had put a cyanide pill on my hand I’d have taken it. I’d give birth 10 x over rather than do that again!

@GotMooMilk Isnt it the worst thing trying to get through the day when in so much pain! Im going back to my dentist this morning to check if I have dry socket. If not, Ill be begging for stronger painkillers!

@AtMyWitsEnd2 my dentist would only give me 3 days worth and cost me a fortune to go for the consultation and prescription (even though it’s nhs) so I ended contacting the GP. The pain is something else I really feel for you.

Update - back to the dentist and had partial dry socket so that explains the pain. All packed up with that lovely clove stuff now! Fingers crossed the healing is better now!