Wisdom Teeth Out Now, or Next Week?

[Haven]

Hey ladies!

I thought I'd check in to share that I am feeling so much better this morning! I had a decent long sleep and woke up to find that while I'm still in some pain, it's not bad AT ALL. My cheeks are still puffy, and I really can't wait to brush my teeth, but other than that I am doing pretty well. It feels like I just have four mild toothaches where my wisdom teeth used to be, but as long as I don't touch my cheeks or jaw then I don't feel all that bad.

My doctor called just now and I told him about the pain yesterday and then how it's better today and we decided to stick with the Vicodin since the pain is better today. He said to call back if it gets worse and he can prescribe something else, but I feel like I'm okay for the time being.

Jstar--It sounds like you are the ideal candidate for meds, I'm jealous! I definitely had the mood swings with the Vicodin yesterday, or at least that's what I'm blaming my crying spells on. I don't think I'd ever taken Aspirin before last week when I first had my toothache, but I also definitely had stomach pain from that. I read your post last night about the swelling contributing to my pain, so I kept changing out my frozen pea packs and had them tied around my face until I went to sleep. I DEFINITELY think that helped, because even though I'm still a bit puffy it isn't nearly as bad this morning, and neither is my pain. YAY!

LAJennifer--Yikes, I should stop whining about my wisdom teeth--jaw reconstruction, huh? That sounds intense. I'm so glad they were able to prescribe something that really worked for you. I met a young Northwestern student in the waiting room yesterday who was in to have these metal things removed from his upper and lower gums. Apparently, he broke his jaw and had to have it wired shut for a month, and then he was back in to have some of his broken teeth fixed. I felt awful for this poor young man, but he had his brother with him and he seemed to be really supportive. (AND, they were from New Mexico, so he had to do all of his recovering in his brother's campus apartment. Oy! Good thing his brother also attended Northwestern, huh?)

B.E.G.--Thank you! After I posted those pictures I thought "Do I really want to put those on the Internet?!?!" I think they're pretty funny, though. I don't have any bruising or anything yet, so I'm grateful for it. That is so funny about your friend mumbling her Hamlet monologue during her surgery! That's hilarious, and much better than some of the things people might say while sedated, right? I love it. (P.S. Hamlet is my favorite Shakespeare play. I saw it performed by the RSC in Stratford and it was AMAZING. I always loved The Winter's Tale, but that performance changed it for me. Actually, I saw it TWICE that summer, it was so good!)

Autumn--I hadn't thought about liquid meds. I'm going to keep that in mind if I ever (heaven forbid) find myself in a similar position again. It's so good to have PS friends in the medical industry!

Here's hoping I don't have any more crying spells today! DH is so sweet and wonderful whenever I'm under the weather, but I don't want to torment the poor guy!

Thanks again everyone. This thread has been so nice to have to come to during my recovery.

 

[cookies]

Hi Haven, sorry you are suffering from the pain. I am 28 and just had my wisdom teeth taken out early this year. My dentist, not the oral surgeon, did the extraction. He used local anesthesia on me. The drug is supposed to make me not remember anything about the procedure; and it did work very well. I only remember the questions they asked me before letting me go. He is very good. I didn't experience any pain or swollenness after the removal, and took only 1.5 weeks or so to recover completely.

Everyone is different; I think I had the best possible outcome. The recovery could take much longer if one doesn't have great mouth chemistry, or if one cannot rest well and/or develop inflammation. I think you should definitely wait till the wedding is over and you have 3 full days for rest.

Also, since you have the pain right now, I would imagine the gum area has bad inflammation. You would have to wait till the inflammation is gone to do the surgery.

ETA: I just went through the whole thread, and realized Haven already had the teeth out! Silly me

 

[kama_s]

Hope you're recovering well, Haven. It's a fantastic excuse to have as much ice cream as your stomach can handle

My wisdom teeth haven't come up yet, I can only imagine the agony when I have to go under to get them removed. Gives me goosebumps just thinking about it. Ye-gads.

 

[NewEnglandLady]

I'm so glad you are feeling better! Now the worst is behind you and you won't ever have to worry about this again.

You looked gorgeous at your sister's wedding, but I'm even more amazed at how cute you look right after surgery--I wish I looked that great after anesthesia!

 

[Haven]

Cookie--I hope I have a similar recovery experience as you! It sounds as ideal as you can get!

Kama--I like your style, and I've definitely been enjoying ice cream and milkshakes. As for getting yours removed, it's not that bad. (And the recovery pain isn't nearly as bad as the pain I had when they were still in my head!)

NEL--You're too sweet, thank you. DH sent the picture from the car ride to my mom and she said I looked like I was ten-years-old again.

The good news is that the pain is significantly reduced, it's probably just mild right now, and I haven't felt nauseous since my last post.

However, I AM NOW TERRIFIED THAT I'M GOING TO DEVELOP DRY SOCKET!

We have one of those lighted mirror tools that dentists use so I've been using it to check out the extraction sites in my mouth. My lower left site never developed a blood clot! My lower right is partially exposed with the blood clot covering only part of the site, and my top two look okay. I just called my surgeon and he said that pain is the biggest indicator of dry socket, so if I'm not feeling pain I shouldn't worry about it just now. He said the dry socket won't develop until a few days after the surgery, so I'll just have to wait.

I'm really scared. I followed the directions I was given to the letter--no rinsing or spitting or anything for 24 hours. I was very careful while eating, yet I have this exposed socket. Is there anything I can do other than what I've been doing to prevent dry socket?

It seems that women are more likely to have issues with dry socket, and that we should have our wisdom teeth extracted between days 23 and 28 of our menstrual cycle. I had mine extracted around day 6. I'm really scared--anyone have any advice?

 

[AprilBaby]

Aww, Haven, sorry I haven't been online! Don't worry about the socket! The clot is in the bottom where you can't see it. Believe me, if you get a dry socket, YOU WILL KNOW IT! Make sure you don't cause any suction or pressure in your mouth from lifting. Chances are you won't do anything wrong. I am glad you got the prednisone for the swelling. That helps tremendously. The pain should be minimal by now. Vicodin doesnt work for everyone. Tylenol or advil should be enough for any pain you feel at this point. Just take it easy for the next two weeks and everything should be fine!

 

[Haven]

Aww, Haven, sorry I haven't been online! Don't worry about the socket! The clot is in the bottom where you can't see it. Believe me, if you get a dry socket, YOU WILL KNOW IT! Make sure you don't cause any suction or pressure in your mouth from lifting. Chances are you won't do anything wrong. I am glad you got the prednisone for the swelling. That helps tremendously. The pain should be minimal by now. Vicodin doesnt work for everyone. Tylenol or advil should be enough for any pain you feel at this point. Just take it easy for the next two weeks and everything should be fine!

Thank you for coming back, AprilBaby! I took one half of a Vicodin this morning around 10:30 and that's the last painkiller I took, so that was about seven hours ago. I'm feeling minimal pain right now but I think I'll take a Tylenol in an hour just to stay on top of the pain. (This is what the surgeon advised me to do, he said that it's easier to stay on top of it than to wait for it to hit and then take the pills. I find this a bit difficult to do because then how do I know when to stop taking the pills? I've just been reducing them every day, so hopefully that's okay. I took 3 Vicodin total yesterday, and one at 3 AM and then the half pill at 10:30.)

I have a very dull pain in my left ear, it's there but it isn't terrible pain. I'm scared that it's going to turn into dry socket, but I'm really trying not to let this fear of dry socket take over and make me miserable. I wish I hadn't read anything about dry socket before my surgery!

I definitely think the prednisone is helping. I've been taking the tapering dose as prescribed, and I think the swelling is almost totally gone now. When I smile it definitely looks like my cheeks are stuffed with something so there is still some swelling there, but at least it isn't totally obvious.

DH just brought me a vanilla Frappuccino and I have to say it is the best thing I've eaten these last few days. I haven't had any coffee since Sunday AM, which is a long time for me, and that smooth, icy frap was amazing. (P.S. I never eat fraps so I looked them up on the Starbucks website and did you know that the Caffe Vanilla Frap has 3 grams of fat, but the caramel frap has 15 grams of fat?! Insane. I really wanted a caramel frap but went for the vanilla one because of the relative fat content.)

I've decided that Vicodin makes me weepy. I don't know if I shared this in this thread already, but I have been so weepy these last few days! I've cried every time I've taken some Vicodin, it's really ridiculous. It helps with the pain, but man oh man does it make me emotional. My last cry was this morning when I couldn't remember if I was supposed to collect a urine sample from our Shih Tzu right when I woke up, or wait until this afternoon to do it. (He has bladder stones.) So silly. I just broke down on the phone with DH because I couldn't remember what to do. Then I cried again when he came home and told me that it was no big deal. OY. I am so happy to be done with that Vicodin.

The upside of this whole thing is that my complexion suddenly looks AMAZING. I don't know if it's the meds or all the protein I've been eating (I've had more cottage cheese and scrambled eggs these last few days than I've had in a while,) but whatever it is, that's something to be happy about.

Okay, I'm rambling. Thank you so much for your help, AprilBaby, I really appreciate it. I'm so uncomfortable taking medication and it's been really nice to have support and input here on PS.

My ear pain is getting worse as I type this, by the way. And my left gland is swollen under my jawbone. Is this the beginning of dry socket? Am I a crazy person? EEK!

 

[AprilBaby]

You are not getting dry socket. That's just pure hell pain. The ear pain may be from having the jaw open for so long. Maybe you need a slight adjustment or massage? Do you grind your teeth? I might call the os since the gland is swollen. Are you still on antibiotic?

 

[Haven]

You are not getting dry socket. That's just pure hell pain. The ear pain may be from having the jaw open for so long. Maybe you need a slight adjustment or massage? Do you grind your teeth? I might call the os since the gland is swollen. Are you still on antibiotic?

April--You are a saint. Thank you so much for coming back to this thread and for your reassurances. I'm just a crazy (and apparently wimpy!) person over here.

I'm still taking Amoxicillin, so I'm hoping that is keeping everything nice and infection-free.

The pain definitely subsided yesterday, and I am doing much better. I really shouldn't have done so much reading up on dry socket during recovery, huh? I took one Ibuprofen last night at 7 PM and then didn't take another until 1 PM today when I started to feel pain in my cheeks. I just realized today that my lower cheeks are a bit stitched up, so I don't know what's going on there. I'm interested to hear why they had to stitch my cheeks, so I'll ask the surgeon when I go in for my follow-up on the 15th. This whole time I've felt like my lower cheeks are numb, but now I realize that it's just because they're stitched up and swollen.

I'm going to keep on eating soft foods for a while just to be very careful. I made 5 lbs of mashed potatoes (half of which DH has eaten!) and I've gone through a couple tubs of cottage cheese and a lot of scrambled eggs. I guess it's good that these are some of my favorite foods, huh?

Anyway, here I am rambling again. I'm so relieved that the ear pain went away, and I really really really appreciate it that you came back to this thread, April. Thank you so much!

As much as I love mashed potatoes, I cannot wait to eat a cheeseburger, by the way!

 

[AprilBaby]

If you are on amoxicillin and prednisone you are safe from almost everything so no need to see the dr unless you have pain that you want to shoot yourself. I'm serious that's how bad dry socket feels. Just take it easy and don't worry, enjoy your time being pampered, I mean how often does that happen? The cheek stitches are probably complication of how hard it was to remove the teeth from the bone. Would have been an interesting case to watch

 

[Haven]

An interesting case to watch?! It gives me the heeby jeebies (sp?) just thinking about watching an extraction!

I like your style, April. I'm going to let DH pamper me for just a bit longer. Maybe I'll throw in some groaning to make it seem like I'm still in terrible pain.

 

[AprilBaby]

If he doesn't I'm gonna come up there! I'm only an hour away down here in Naperthrill!

 

[Haven]

If he doesn't I'm gonna come up there! I'm only an hour away down here in Naperthrill!

Haha! Ow, it kind of hurts to laugh.

Poor DH, he's been really very tolerant. I think I've cried to him more in the last three days than in all the seven years we've been together. This morning we were on the phone and I told him what I fed the dog and then immediately realized it was the wrong thing (she's on a raw diet and he orchestrates it all) and he immediately said "It's okay! Don't worry. I was going to feed her the ribs tonight. Don't cry . . . are you crying?" I couldn't respond because I was laughing, but then it made me feel all what have I been doing to this poor man?! He keeps on hugging me when he comes home, which is so unusual for him. I like to say that he doesn't have any emotions. I think he thinks I'm just extra fragile right now.

No more Vicodin for me!

I forgot that you're in Naperville! Do you know Dr. Alan Braverman? He's the surgeon who did my extraction. Very nice, and based on how well my recovery has gone, I think he's pretty great! I've called him with follow-up questions a couple times and he's been very patient and kind on the phone, too, not a hint of irritation with my obsessive concerns.

You've been so kind April, I wish I could send you a thank you gift!

 

[AprilBaby]

The best thank you is to pass on that it wasn't the end of the world having the teeth out! And sorry, no, I just know the surgeons down here but it's always good to have names to pass on for anyone who asks for someone up there!

 

[Haven]

Not the end of the world at all! I feel a million times better, and the fact that I won't have to ever feel pain from the my wisdom again is so very comforting! I'm still glad I didn't do it before the wedding, but I am so happy that I moved it up to Monday and didn't wait for today to get it done. SO WORTH IT!

 

[daviesmith]

I experienced it not too long ago. Was feeling rough for a couple of days, trying to ignore it. On a Friday evening I went ahead and did legs. Holy hell bad idea, I was close to the last set of calf raises and I got dizzy and nauseous, asked the missus to call my Orthodontist.Went in and had to have emergency treatment. Not an ideal way of going about things.
I learned my lesson. If your immune system is in anyway compromised, be it infection or otherwise it is best to leave working out.