Wisdom tooth extraction nightmare

[bumblebee1987]

I had two wisdom teeth removed yesterday. I was a bit blindsided to be honest, I was supposed to be on a waiting list to have them removed under a general, but one of them got infected (fairly frequent occurrence!) so I got an emergency dental appointment, only to get there and the dentist to whip them out there and then. I'm not sure why I agreed to it, three dentists in the past have told me they will be a tricky extraction hence the need for a general, and to be honest the whole ordeal was awful, the dentist was like a butcher and it was horrid.

Anyway, it's done now, however I feel absolutely horrendous. I am on amoxycillin (I'm guessing to treat the infection that was there?) and been told to take paracetamol and ibuprofen, but I can't take the latter because I haven't eaten since yesterday morning and my stomach is really sensitive to ibuprofen when I haven't eaten. I can't eat, I feel so sick, my mouth is absolute agony and my face has swollen up like a balloon, so much so that my skin hurts from stretching. Before he took the teeth out he asked if I had eaten recently and I said not for 11 hours, but he still went ahead, so I'm not sure why he asked.

Is this normal? I had to cancel work today and have just had to cancel tomorrow too (self employed so this is problematic and if I had known I'd need 2+ days off work, I would have refused and rebooked for a time when I could plan my work accordingly)

I feel so awful I don't know what to do with myself. I'm utterly miserable and paracetamol isn't touching the sides. I can't take anything stronger because of another medication I'm on long term, so I'm stuck.

This can't be right, surely?!

It isn't outright unusual for two surgical extractions. Inflammation will peak in the first 48 hours and then you'll slowly start to improve and you should be feeling much better in a few days. It's easy to trivialise a tooth extraction but it is surgery and you should anticipate some down time. For simple extraction this wouldn't usually require any time of work but for more involved extractions where soft tissue is cut and bone needs to be removed, a more protracted period of healing should be expected.

How horrible, that sounds awful. But to be honest I wouldn’t think it is totally abnormal, that’s why most people tend to have wisdom teeth surgery on a Friday, so that they then have the weekend to recover.

I would prioritise getting some food into you, soup would probably be the best thing for now, or meal replacement shakes. You have probably been told “soft food” diet but I would say the more liquid the better. Not just will it mean that you can take ibuprofen, but your body will heal and recover quicker with food and nutrients. Also I’m no medical expert but I wouldn’t think the antibiotics should be taken on an empty stomach either.

It might be an option to track some stronger painkillers down (I appreciated the codeine after oral surgery once) but not if you’re not eating.

I went for two and the dentist said might as well take the other two at the same time (I was awake). I looked like a hamster for a week, I went to bed for the first day and just took water and co-codamol. Then once up I lived on soup and soft food for a couple of weeks.
I had told work I'd be in the next day after the extraction and they laughed. I was off for two weeks in the end.
Edited my spelling

Thank you for your replies, I appreciate the advice.

I am trying to force some soup into myself, but it's not going well, I feel so sick!

I really hope it gets better soon, I really can't afford to take any additional time off work, not to mention that I literally have nowhere to reschedule the work I have had to cancel. I had no idea it would be as bad as this, if I had known I would absolutely have refused the surgery.

I hope you've been advised on aftercare especially the risk of dry socket. It's incredibly painful so you'll want to avoid it. It must have been a shock to have the extractions when you weren't expecting it so take it easy over the weekend and give yourself time to recover.

OP I’m sorry, I’ve had the same thing and it’s brutal. I was shocked. I think I was off work for a fortnight but you may be made of tougher stuff than me. Try and have some thing that means you can take all painkillers suggested.

Do keep up with your salt rinces, I had a tooth taken out and was terrified of dry socket.

I lived of off soup, weetabix, mash and scrambled eggs for weeks.

I hope it starts to feel more comfortable soon.

Oh god, are they always bad? I am booked to have one out on Thursday and I’m back in work on the Tuesday - it’s a job where I talk constantly

I would say that’s optimistic… I don’t want to scare you off having it done. At the same time you might as well be prepared.

I had one out three weeks ago.

it was pretty vicious for a few days.

after that with painkillers, anti histamines fur nausea and eating ice cream and easy eat food it was better than it was.

not fun though

I think it varies. Had two out years ago and just took paracetamol for a few days. Was well enough to get kids to school next day and back at work day after that. On the other hand, a friend went into the dental hospital to have a couple removed and looked and felt dreadful for a couple of weeks. I imagine it depends on if they’re impacted etc.

I had all 4 out in hospital and the recovery was really tough. Took a few weeks. I definitely needed the Cocodamol they sent me home with.

Ugh. And I can’t vape (I quit smoking but still use nicotine)
my plan was a nicotine patch and sleep!
it’s an upper one

I would see if you can get someone to get you buccastem anti nausea over the counter, or get some from out of hours so help with the nausea so that you can eat and take painkillers x

No they aren't. I had mine out 'separately', so one at a time over a couple of years. For each one I was off work for two days afterwards, I took pain relief as needed but recovered quickly. The last one was 'unexpected', the dentist had a look and said he'd do it right now, which was almost better in a way because I didn't have time to dread it. So don't expect the worst, it could be okay.

I thought that wisdom teeth extraction included stitches. All mine had dissolvable stitches in as they were very large and deep. So did Ds's when he had them. That way no dry socket, which I did have right before Covid lockdown from a tooth extraction from a damaged nerve.

I had all four out at once at the dentist many years ago. It really was an awful experience that has caused me a lifetime dread of dentists. I was given a general anaesthetic but that it itself was badly done, and then once I was home I could barely drink through a straw for a week let alone eat.

Years later I have since found out that it is recommended that impacted wisdom teeth are extracted in hospital. It's probably less of an problem if they are not impacted, but I had four lots of stitches to deal with. My whole face was swollen and sore and I came out very badly bruised with the type of bruises that go through mutiple colour changes!

I think I had at least two weeks off school to get over it during an exam year so wished I had been warned in advance.

Fingers crossed, the dentist seems fine - I used to be so much of a wimp he packed me off to his colleague to have a filling and now he is happy to take my tooth out!
It’s an upper one with a hole in, nice straight roots and not impacted. No pain but removing it before the pain starts as they can’t fill the hole

@lunaemma that sounds relatively straightforward, fingers crossed for you.

Prepare for the worst, hope for the best is all you can do. Try and stock some protein shakes so you can take ibuprofen.

I had all for impacted removed under general in the dentist chair. I too have been left with a lifelong fear.

My mum actually cried when she saw the state of me, and it took her and my dad to get me to the car.

I had bruises on my chest and my face blew up so my skin was shiny like a balloon. I had to have two weeks off work, one of which was spent sleeping.

That said, like other posters, I’ve known folk to bounce back after a couple of days. Bad luck for me.

It's very individual but yours sounds straightforward. I had 2 of mine out at separate times and in both cases was back at work the following day.

Gosh I feel so sorry for you. A similar thing happened to my friend. She went for an appointment thinking it was an assessment and she would have the real thing done later when she would have someone to take her and be at home with her, but they did it there and then and it was similar to what you describe (although just one tooth). She connected on zoom with me as we always do on that day and burst into tears as she had had to drive home and was in agony by herself and hadn’t got any pain relief in the house as she hadn’t thought she would need it.
Needless to say I went and sat with her and stayed in her spare room that night.

Definitely agree with the PP about trying to get some food into you if you can. Hope you feel better soon.

Update on this! So I woke up this morning in a dreadful state (I say woke up, I barely slept!), my face had ballooned even more and my eye was half closed, and I was in so much pain and so sick. So I called 111 who got me a videocall with a dentist, who basically said 'oh my goodness that is some swelling you have got, we definitely need to see you today.' So I went in and a lovely dentist confirmed that both sides are now infected and I need stronger antibiotics and to get on top of the pain. She was lovely but gave me a tough love approach and said I really need to eat 🤣 She also indicated that it should have been done at the dental hospital under a general and was quite surprised that it wasn't, which I'm pleased about because I was feeling quite traumatised by the whole ordeal and this sort of validates my feelings! She said 'I hope you haven't got much planned next week?!' Yes, I do, a whole 50 hour week of physical self employed work, which will not only financially stuff me if I don't do it, but will also negatively and irrevocably impact my business 😭 I guess it's my fault, I should have said no on Thursday, my gut was saying no because I wasn't expecting it or prepared for it, but I sort of felt railroaded into it. Oh how that backfired!

I have some anti nausea medication now and I managed to eat a very small amount (half a mcflurry! Nice and healthy but I needed some energy and something soothing and I felt ice cream was a good option!)

I guess the lesson learned here is to advocate for yourself! Something I have never been very good at!

You may be fine. I had an upper one out on a Thursday, worked from home a couple of hours in the afternoon (like the OP I was self employed at the time) and in the office on Friday. I was tired over the weekend but that was all.

Yours sounds really rough OP and I hope by resting up over the weekend you'll be able to work.

My big tough 24yr old ds had this happen last week. There had been much umming and ainngg about him needing a general for wisdom tooth extraction,he went expecting an update for dental hospital app but the dentist said o we'll just take this out now. 50mins later he comes out to the car and he was grey and v traumatised. He said it was the worst pain he had ever felt.
Sympathies
💐