Wisdom teeth removal under GA

[WisdomToothRemoval]

Posting for traffic, sorry!

I’m having four wisdom teeth removed under GA in October. I’m also having two additional teeth removed so it’ll be a total of 6 teeth needing to come out.

The surgery is scheduled for Thursday morning and I’m due to go back to work on Saturday. I have no more annual leave left so I’m wondering how other people were after the surgery? Once the anaesthetic wore off, were you in a lot of pain? Is it realistic for me to go to work two days later or will I need to take it off? For context, I have an office job that’s incredibly laid back

I had 2 out at once and was fine but 6 is a lot OP I wouldn't shine you will be in a bit of pain if not swollen I'm surprised they would pull that many at one time ? I definitely think you will need more time off than that , can you take one or two days unpaid ?

Not in the UK so unsure of their hospital policies but I’ve had 10+ surgeries in the last decade, every time the nurse has asked (or I’ve asked them) if I require a medical certificate and for how long. It’s always been provided no questions asked. Is this not the same in the UK?

I had my wisdom teeth out under twilight sedation about 20 years ago. My face was huge, sore and I could barely eat - I don’t think I would’ve been able to work so soon after surgery but I suppose it depends on the job.

People are different! I had 3x wisdom teeth out under GA, they had been driving me mental as they were growing out into my face and hurting me so much. I was in so little pain comparatively after they were done, I ate pizza the next day. I was a student at the time but was good 2 days later Just play it by ear and call in sick if you need to.

I had four impacted wisdom teeth removed under general anaesthetic and was instructed to take a week off work afterwards. The pain wasn't unbearable and I could eat but my poor face was very swollen and had visible bruising. Felt a bit battered generally too. Self-certified sick leave would be reasonable for 5 days.

I had four impacted ones removed from my bottom jaw under sedation plus local and I would have needed a week off work (wasn't working at the time). I did not feel good (understatement!).

Thankfully, I am reliably informed that the three I still have on my top jaw will never bother me.

I had three under GA and it was surprisingly easy. Many problem was food and the holes.
I didn’t swell much, and in 3 days it went done.
i think it’s a bit lucky dip

Early 20s when I had all 4 out under sedation at our local hospital as a day patient. I was home by 1.30 and my dm thought I'd nit had it done!
I think it will depend on severity of the extraction. My right hand side, no issues, easily removed very little pain. My left side were impacted ( I think thats the term) and they were very painful for about 4 days (discomfort after that). I literally rocked on the bed, was only given basic paracetamol and ibuprofen and I was desperate for the next dose. Get some stronger painkillers in.

I can't remember the pain of giving birth (roughly the same time )but I do remember the pain from my teeth!

I had 4 wisdom teeth and 2 others, removed, by the dentist, using “gum numb” - it worked better for me than GA.

I had 3 out about 20 years ago and I had nearly 2 weeks off work. I was bruised and in pain and off my face on morphine for the first couple of days. Fortunately there were no complications but even after a week I still felt quite delicate. I guess it depends what job you do as to whether you think you can go in but I would say take sick leave rather than rush back.

I had all four out under GA last year and two days post surgery I couldn’t move from my bathroom floor because of the vomiting. I wasn’t in significant pain, but I was scared of dry socket and couldn’t move without being sick. I couldn’t even have worked from bed that day. Not sure if it was the surgery, the anaesthetic or the antibiotics, but it really floored me.

I've had friends go back to work the next day and some that wet eoff several days and one that was off for 2 weeks (but she had complications and had to spend time at the hospital)

I had one out under local which was much better for me than the sedation I had for the first two (I never had a fourth one). Is that something to consider? I was right as rain straight afterwards.

I had 4 out under GA, they were badly impacted and i needed quite a bit if time off. I had terrible dry sockets, took longer to recover from than childbirth!

I can't speak for ga or 6 teeth but I went to work straight from having one wisdom tooth out under local, really was no big deal. Numb for 2 hours then no pain really, far less than the agony I felt beforehand!

It's a light anaesthetic for teeth typically as it's a short operation unless there's complications, my ex had 2 teeth out under ga (after 6pm) and went to work the following morning. Do expect to need to eat soft food but too tip avoid rice as it gets into the holes.

If it was me I'd be going in 2 days later

Normal advice after any procedure with GA is that you shouldn’t be doing anything important/requiring much brain for 24-48 hours or so afterwards.

Having all 4 wisdom teeth can leave you feeling (and looking) like you’ve been hit by a train! It doesn’t always, but definitely can. I tend to advise people (when anaesthetising for dental) they may need a couple of weeks to get back to feeling fully functional. Sounds like it may be a good idea to speak to your surgeon again to get an idea of what they’re expecting in terms of recovery so you can plan a bit better. The dental surgeon should also do the initial sick note not the GP and they should be able to advise you before you start how long they’d be expecting you to need to recover.

Fatigue etc post procedure is due to a combo of the anaesthetic and surgical insult - tricky teeth generate more of a physiological stress response from the body. While the types of drugs most commonly used for the anaesthetic are generally a bit better in terms of recovery than they might have been when PPs had their experiences 20odd years ago, the operation itself hasn’t changed much and can leave you feeling a bit battered.

it’s not uncommon to need opioid pain relief afterwards (usually just something like codeine/dihydrocodeine) and they can make you a bit dopey (as well as some people finding they get nauseated) and might mean you need longer off.

I had the bottom one out under just local during Covid, I wasn't even given the option of ga, I was in agony beforehand so to be honest I just wanted it gone, took 9 months to even get that appointment. It was fine, went to work 2 days later. Not sure why they are insisting on ga, as the risks of ga are higher than the procedure I was told

@mitogoshi It’s exactly the same depth of anaesthetic that you’d get for any other operation. The anaesthetic also isn’t the only variable that affects how people feel post op/how soon they can get back to work. It can be a quick procedure to remove teeth but it also can take a lot longer - have definitely seen it take an hour to get a single tooth out before and for the surgeon to need a bit of a sit down afterwards - it sometimes takes quite a bit of welly!

I should have said I'm still on soft food, it's only been 5 days since mine was pulled, top one, the previous one was bottom and was close to the nerve but all was ok

I had two widsom teeth out with no GA, just local. If it wasn't for all the blood, I wouldn't have known they'd come out at all. I was back at work an hour later.

I took 2 days officially after the op. Then I actually wfh and did very little the next day and chilled the following 2 days. Was still a bit swollen a week later. This was only 1 wisdom tooth under general but was difficult to reach.

Like others have said the swelling is really bad etc. The worst thing for me was the can't brush your teeth you can only gently swill your mouth because of the blood clots. Smelly breath and feeling manky teeth was the worst. You could go back to work but you'll probably feel manky.

I’m not sure if anyone is still watching this thread but I had the surgery yesterday morning. I actually had EIGHT teeth removed and not six. I had 4 wisdom teeth removed. Two teeth that had somehow grown under the gums behind the wisdom teeth and two additional teeth that were really small and had grown at the top row.

All I can say is I’m FUCKED. The pain is absolutely out of this world. Paracetamol and ibuprofen don’t even touch the sides. I’ll be going to the pharmacy to see if they can prescribe co codomal which was recommended by the nurses at the hospital. Thankfully I took this weekend off of work because there’s no way I could go in tomorrow or on Sunday.

Thank you for all of the stories. I can hand on heart say that this pain is worse than what I experienced recovering from my C section🙃

God that's some update , definitely get stronger painkillers and salt water washes when you are able .

This!! I had 2 weeks off work, also 40 years ago. Dr was very happy to sign me off and even said to ring for another week if needed. Face as described by pp above plus bad bruising. Take lots of time off, get the soluble painkillers in, and rest up x

Childbirth and wisdom teeth out are the two worst pains I've ever had. Childbirth at it's worst was more painful but wisdom teeth went on much, much longer.