Impacted wisdom teeth...any experience?

[nobodysfool]

I am due to have all 4 wisdom teeth taken out in March as they are impacted and have split the gums and keep getting infected.
My only previous experience with wisdom teeth extraction was my mums.....and they really made a mess of her mouth (though this was 25 years ago).
Im having it done under sedation at my local hospital and they have warned me i may loose the sesation in my lower lip.
What should i expect and am i living in hope i may be up for going to a friends 40th party 6 days later?
TIA.

I had 3 out under GA - I think after 6 days you should be fine for a party, though you'll still feel a bit bashed and not want to eat toffees....

It's nice of them to warn you about the possible loss of sensation. I didn't get told that till I arrived on the day, and didn't have time to decide whether I wanted to risk it - only one of mine was causing problems, the other 2 just sat there without trouble.

And I did get loss of sensation, which I live with to this day, though it did improve a bit over time.

But if they have split the gum and get infected, then i don't think you have any option about having them out, so just cross your fingers and all will probably go smoothly.

You should put something protective over your pillow for the first few nights, and maybe the top part of your sheet, as there will be blood for a while.

I had all four taken out under GA about 25 years ago. Two had cut the gum and were getting infected occasionally and they took the decision that they may as well take the other two out while I was under, as there was no room for them to come thoguh either, as and when they decided to start attempting to appear.

Had no long term effects. Nowadays it would probably be done as day surgery but back then I was in for two nights.

Think it was done on the Wednesday and I drove back down to England (had it done at "home" in Scotland as the waiting list was ridiculous in Welwyn Garden City) on the Saturday with only slight swelling, which would ony have been evident to those who knew me.

Think I was fortunate in that though.

I had mine (lower two only) done on a Monday afternoon under general anaesthetic. Went home that afternoon. Had the rest of the week off work as a lot of pain and strong resemblance to a hamster.

Went to a hen lunch the following Sunday but still wasnt feeling 100% and had quite a lot of facial brusing still.

Hopefully yours wont be as bad as if they thought it would be they'd offer you a general.

Only real problem was that the trauma of the removal damaged the tooth next door and I ended up having to have that root canaled and crowned 3 months later.

I had one taken out about 10 years ago.

I got numbed and a sedation. The actual procedure wasn't pleasant, but it wasn't too bad either.

When the anaestheitc wore off, I had no pain. But, apparently the dentist had moved the nerve out of the way to avoid damaging it. It took a couple of years for the feeling to return to the area. So, pain wise, you might be able to get to the party, just depends....

However, the outside of my face became very swollen and bruised which took a couple of weeks to fade and go down. Apparently they had had quite a job getting my tooth out, and they ended up having to saw it in half to get it out. But, again, it just depends. And it depends if you would be happy to go to a party bruised and swollen.

And also (ffs, you'll be wishing you never asked - I'm just full of misery about this!!!!) I got infected afterwards and it took weeks to clear. This made me feel like crap, and I stank of cloves from the dressing they packed in. And sometimes, the cloves didn't always mask the smell from the infection.

Hopefully, none of this will happen to you and you will be just fine and dandy for the party.

Good luck

Thank you all for your replies.Sounds wonderful doesn't it
It's a day stay so hopefully all will go smoothly and my time looking like a hamster will be minimal.
Oh and my friends 40th is a masked ball so maybe i can get away with it if i keep the mask on all night .
What did everybody find the best pain relief?

I had all four taken out under a GA about 8 years ago - it went v well and I had no after-effects apart from looking like a bruised hamster for a week or so. The stiches were pretty gross though - they looked like long strands of shredded wheat!

I took a lot of paracetamol and codeine for the first few days which really helped to keep the pain away. Good luck!

A masked ball sounds fab BTW

Poor you. Had mine taken out under general anaesthetic when I was 18. It's not great (I seem to remember I couldn't open my mouth for ages afterwards). My brother has just had his done in hospital - he was signed off work for a week. I would think you'll be fine for the party, but it is a bigger deal than just having a tooth out. I'd second paracetamol and codeine for pain relief. Good luck - if they are getting infected much better to have them out, it is uncomfortable, but at least it's over and done with. By the way, I seem to remember a bonus for me was an effortless loss of weight due to not wanting to eat - so if you need to shed a few pounds you'll be nice and svelte for the party!

Had mine out under GA 11 years ago, struggled to open my mouth wide enough to take tablets at first so might be an idea to get in some of the soluable stuff! Also was recommended corsdyl(?sp) mouth wash, tastes foul but a great help against infection.
Best of luck and enjoy the ball!

Thanks again ladies...will be stocking up on paracetamol and codeine.
I have never needed any work doing on my teeth- not even a filling- so this is going to be an experience.
Next thing is to get a brace fitted as the wisdom teeth have made my fron tooth a bit wonky...oh the joys!!

My DS had his out a couple of years ago under GA. His face was swollen for a while afterwards. For the first week he found it easier to eat with a silicone baby spoon, and drink through a straw - in case you want to stock up!
Good luck, DS was a lot happier without them.

You need ibuprofen as well (which you can take at the same time as the codeine and paracetamol) as it will help with the swelling.

I had two wisdom teeth taken out in my lunch time. back at work at 2!
But to be fair, they weren't impacted, but just infected.

I had one impacted tooth taken out a couple of years ago. Was warned about nerve damage but it was fine, healed well and I really want all the others taken out now.

But my face was swollen and bruised for more than a week afterwards, including a sodding great big bruise down my neck too (from where the nerve was bashed apparently).

I'm the same as MadameDefarge. I had 2 taken out in the morning, and was at an opera rehearsal in the afternoon. To be fair, it started to hurt by the end of the day, but that was because the dentist had split my gum while trying to get one of the teeth out, so I had lots of stitches.

Well I'm sitting here looking like a hamster who's gone 10 rounds with Mike Tyson, having had both of my left wisdom teeth out on Saturday.

The top one was through but was at an angle and kept rubbing the inside of my cheek, whilst the lower one was fully impacted and kept 'rumbling' as if it was ready to erupt.

I had a general anasthetic at 11:30am and was back home by 2:30pm. I'm on regular pain killers and antibiotics and have only eaten soft foods so far. I'm happily pootling around the house but I'm certainly not up to working or partying yet.

But based on how much the swelling has gone down since Saturday I'd say I'll be looking and feeling quite normal by the end of the week.

wrt your friends party I'd guess you'll be up to going but you'll just need to be careful about what you're eating (especially about making sure you keep your mouth clean).

If its any consolation I have had an infected tooth for the last two weeks and only got myself to the dentist today because I was about to OD on painkillers.

70s dental butchery has scarred me for life.

Funnily enough, once I am in the chair I am totally tough and manage, just getting myself to the actual dentists does my head in.

I just don't trust any of them.

Ooh - the comment about soft food reminded me about when I was in hospital having them out: the whole ward had had their wisdom teeth out, so what did they give us for supper? Thck, tough ham and thick, hot, crunchy (unsually for a hospital) chips Nobody could eat any of it......

The sensible ones had got their family to bring in yoghurt/ice cream from home, so at least they got something to eat. Remember, we had been fasting since the night before, as we were going under general......

you should be fine for party nobodysfool. i had mine out under ga 20 years ago, they were so bad i had to be referred to specialist dental hospital.

they must have tugged around my mouth and jaw a lot as that was awfully painful, not just the wounds where teeth removed.

i slept sitting up for first couple of nights. they should give you pain relief.

was fine a week later. oh and i wanted the teeth to take home but they had to shatter them so no joy. i still have a few shards in one gum, can feel them sometimes.

I'm only a day stay case and i go in at mid day so i can have breakfast as long as its before 8am.I'm being sedated not GA so hopefully will be out that night.
HHmmmmm never thought i would be eating food the same as my baby---mashed dinners here i come.

I had the top two wisdom teeth removed at the dentist's over 20 years ago. It was painful but I didn't need stitches. The worst bit was getting food stuck in the holes left in my gums until they healed over.

I still have my bottom two wisdom teeth. They will need removing at some point - however, the left hand side one only started coming through a year or so ago. I am 43 and still teething!

I had all 4 impacted wisdom teeth removed at once under GA in hospital 14 years ago.

6 days later I had quite a bruised jawline and was still taking codeine for shooting pains in my jaw but I would have slapped on foundation, popped some pills and gone to a posh party, had I had the chance!

I had all four out under sedation. You will need someone with you for 24 hours after the sedation and you won't be able to drive. I had quite a lot of pain and had to eat smoothies for a couple of days and take quite a lot of pain relief. 6 days should be fine though. You can have any hot drinks for 24 hours afterwards either. When I woke up froonm the sedation I was very weepy.

Thanks for your experiences.I will stock up on the smmothies and soup!

Hi
I started to have pain in the left side of my face, numbness, tingling and aching and stiffness around 10 yrs ago and got referred to the maxiofacial unit, who xrayed my teeth

I had an impacted wisdom tooth very close to the nerve and also have a cyst around it.

He said the tooth looked fine and gave me lots of medication gabapentine, tegratol, etc
which didnt work and i had ct scans and mri scans too. I was diagnosed with aTYPICAL FACIAL PAIN.....

In the end i just put up with the pain as pain killers didnt touch it.

This year i got a new job and with it, extra pain. so i went back to the hospital, who now say it is my impacted wisdom tooth but as it is so close to the nerve there is a strong chance of permanent numbness.

Has anyone else had this?

I had impacted wisdom teeth taken out 18 years ago with GA. I was all ready for the hamster cheeks and booked a week off work. Doctor suggested that I sat up asap post op. It really helped. I had slight swelling and bruising for a week or two but nothiing too bad. Painkillers dealt with the pain ok.I wore a fair bit of blusher to hide a cracker of a purple bruise on my left cheek but it wasn't bad.

In fact when I returned to work my boss didn't believe I'd had my teeth out and was sure I had been moonlighting for a firm that was trying to poach me.

I think it just depends on each individual