How soon after wisdom tooth extraction did you feel normal again?

[gingerale23]

Day 5 now and mostly ok. Managing to eat a bit more normally and swelling has gone down. Still tender on that side and have some ulcers forming where the stitches were. I was terrified of dry socket which I've hopefully avoided by this stage but now the area is white and tender ( apparently this is normal healing) and I guess I'm just wondering how much longer before it looks and feels normal again. I keep worrying about infection but pain is minimal. Some but not all of the stitches have dissolved.

It sounds really positive. My socket is still tender 3 weeks later, and the dentist saw it today and said it’s healing fine. It’s not fully healed yet. I’ve got another socket from extraction 5 weeks ago, and that feels and looks normal now. With my dry socket, it suddenly became massively painful - so there’s no chance of missing it. I think your recovery sounds really good - great news!

I think I'm worrying more that I've started eating a wider range of food and also had a little vape and a small gin and tonic tonight. Prior to this I was being really good, now I'm worried I might have set myself back recovery wise. I am still doing salt water rinses. I think I'll feel better when I see nice pink skin over it, at the moment it looks white and a bit spongy for want of a better word.

Exactly like mine did, which they said was normal. It’s so hard not to worry, but even if something did happen, it’s usually okay to fix - antibiotics for an infection or something to help dry socket. For me, my dry socket healed by itself, so try not to worry. After 5 days hopefully you’re in the clear!

I had dry socket and believe me if you had it you'd know about it. I knew i got it when the pain which had been getting better suddenly got much much worse on day 4. Painkillers didn't touch it. You sound like you are on the mend thank goodness.

It took over a week for the nausea and vomiting to subside for me. I don’t know if it was a reaction to the GA or the ABs but it was a dismal week. I started on toast on day 4 just to try to settle my stomach (which did help). I can’t remember when I started eating totally normally again, it took a while to build up confidence, maybe two or three weeks.

My swelling was mostly gone after a week, and the pain of the extractions only lasted a day or two. After a week (and it could have been earlier but I was distracted by my stomach) I started noticing a jaw pain, which took a few weeks to subside. I’ve also had a few incidents of worse jaw pain since, and limits in my jaw movements for very short periods of time. My dentist said it’s likely traumatic arthritis from the surgery which will go away in time and I haven’t had any pain for a few months now (surgery was in December) so hopefully that’s over now!

This isn't much help to you OP but in case anybody's reading and worrying about an upcoming extraction... mine barely hurt at all. I felt a bit sore when the local wore off but didn't need painkillers. I had to keep reminding myself not to chew on the affected side because there was no pain after the first evening.

i needed this thread, I’m having all 4 of mine removed on Thursday. I’ve had hundreds of surgeries in the past but for some reason this surgery terrifies me, I suppose it is because the unknown. I have to do the school run again on Monday so I’m hoping I don’t swell and look like a freak.

I hope you fully heal soon op. Wishing you the best!

I took about 2 weeks. One of my stitches just wouldn’t come out, I had a check up after a month and that was the day the final stitch came out. 10 years down the line and have had no issues at all.

I felt normal after a couple of days. Unfortunately my husband had a clot come out and he got dry socket and it was awful. He knew! But yes don’t vape! Don’t tempt fate or ruin recovery.

Had both upper WT removed in my 20s the day before flying to Greece for a holiday. Can’t remember any issues at all.

I had 4 removed at once and it was actually a lot harder than I thought as I felt like my mouth had been sewn together and I couldn't open it very wide! I think I was eating normally after a week but the anaesthetic knocked me out really for a couple of weeks.

Would add mine wasn’t surgery just extraction in dentist chair.

I don't think I'll be vaping or drinking for a while! I've gone this long without either but tonight I thought hey I feel a bit better so why not. But then I've been worrying ever since that I've set my recovery back so it's really not worth it.
I'm not so worried about dry socket as the whole area is covered in a sort of spongy white substance. Can't work out if it's the healing tissue or the gauze type stuff they packed the wound with. It looks and feels gross but isn't causing pain which is the main thing. I'm just worried about the site getting infected.
Also they kind of stitched part of my gum to my cheek and there's a big ulcer forming on the cheek side which is sore.
I would add that the surgery itself wasn't bad at all and the recovery is a million times better than the pain I was in with toothache before. But still, it's not much fun. I just want to crunch some nachos without worrying about it 😂

I only had one out but there was no external swelling. Once I took the packing out you couldn't tell at all by looking at me. Make sure you're prepared with lots of soft food and good luck!

I had my top two out recently, no stitches but had local anaesthetic. No painkillers needed, did smoke after 72 hours, was back on crunchy food by day 5. About 5 weeks on now, no issues. I salt-rinsed religiously and didn't poke around with tongue or fingers. Worst bit was the noise it made when the dentist popped them out!

Ok so I'm freaking out at the moment, on day 6 now and I've just had a look at the wound. It appears that either some of the granulation tissue or a stitch has dissolved or disappeared and there's now a clear hole in the gum. It's not very big, literally the same shape and size as a stitch which makes me think it's that. But it's black and definitely open. There isn't any pain which makes me think it might have happened recently but I'm so scared it's going to turn into dry socket, what do I do? I thought I'd be in the clear now.

I had all four of mine removed at once under GA in hospital when I was 19.

I'd say the worst of the pain and swelling was gone by about Day 7, probably took about a month in total before I was fully recovered and eating a 'normal' diet, but all things being equal, it wasn't bad.

No dry socket or anything (which, TBH, I had never heard of prior to coming on Mumsnet, in spite of multiple extractions due to overcrowding and orthodontics).

Week to 10 days

I was actually feeling ok and gone back to eating fairly normally just minus bread and crunchy things but this hole has really scared me. I can't see any bone or anything, it's just like a black hole the size of a stitch.

It was fine for a few days then it got even more painful than when I had toothache. I had dry socket, they filled it and sent me off. I think within a week of that it felt a lot better and I cld eat normally. Didn't need antibiotics.

So for me it was 2 weeks but if it hasn't been for the dry socket I think a week wld have been fine for me.

Very quick. Did not have any stitches. Dentist told me to eat lots of ice-cream and then baby food for two days, and the ice-cream really helped with the swelling. I drank through a straw for the first day though. Had to be careful for a while when eating, but I think the ice-cream was the real help.. A bit of consolation too.