To get signed off for one wisdom tooth extraction

[SadlyNotATroll]

I had a severely impacted lower wisdom tooth removed on Tuesday. It’s now Sunday and I am still really struggling. I am not a wimp by any stretch and have had 2 sections and a couple of other minor ops in my life, but this has been by far the hardest thing to recover from. I can’t help but feel like a bit of a fraud though. I had a GA, have 8 stitches and have bruising down to my chest. However I was discharged with no pain relief at all and told to expect a few days of “discomfort”. I’m due back at work tomorrow but am considering asking the GP to write me a fit note for the week. Does that sound ridiculous? I can’t eat or talk without feeling like my jaw is broken. I am meant to talk at a conference on Tuesday but can’t fathom how I’ll do it.

I think you have misread. She had the extraction last Tuesday.

I've heard wisdom tooth extractions can be like this, it sounds brutal. Of course you need recovery time after something like that, hope you're soon feeling better!

You need to do what is best for you and nobody else can really relate because we have all had different experiences and pain levels.

I hope you feel much better soon.

Everyone is different. I had my four removed with the “gum numb” and was fine the next day, other than sore gums. But we’re all different.

So did I! I had mine done as an in-patient and looked like I'd done 10 rounds in the ring with Muhammad Ali afterwards. This was 50 years ago though, so techniques might have improved a bit since then.

The hospital issued me with a FIT note for 2 weeks off, and even after 2 weeks my face was still swollen and I was talking oddly because I couldn't open my mouth as I normally would.

Also, OP, although it's very rare, it's not completely impossible that you could have a broken or fractured jaw, especially as you have so much bruising on your chest. This bruising would imply it wasn't an easy extraction.

If I were in your shoes, I think I would definitely be phoning the Dr in the morning for a fit note and pain relief, but in the meantime I would also Google the signs and symptoms of a broken jaw, and if I felt I genuinely ticked the boxes then I would go along to A&E today to see if they could x-ray.

You poor thing! YANBU, get well soon.

Health care professionals vastly vastly understate how significant the recovery is for the removal of an impacted wisdom tooth. They say it's straightforward, what they mean is, it's straightforward for them to take out the tooth, not that it's straightforward for the patient.

I had complications from mine and went back.too soon after 1 week

Please ring the clinic in case you need an x ray

I’ve had two wisdom teeth removed. One was fine and I was just a bit sore for a couple of days. The other one (under a GA) left me with a severely swollen face, very bad sinus pain and a black eye. I definitely needed the week off for the second one! The dental surgeon at the hospital did point out that a tooth extraction under GA is actually quite a brutal facial surgical procedure and that if if I’d had any other non-dental facial surgery under a GA nobody would expect me back at work straight away.