Teef

[vintagewitch]

Edit: I forgot to hit publish on this last night. Oops!

 I'm getting my wisdom teeth out tomorrow. I am very nervous. 

The person I scheduled with treated it like getting a haircut. They were like "Do you want to come in tomorrow morning?" And I was like "... I think I'm going to need more time than that!" I also asked how long I should expect to be out and they were like "well normally people are only here between one and three hours." No matter how I reworded it, she kept seeming to think that I was asking about the day of, and didn't realize that what I really meant was "how long is the recovery process." 

I wouldn't be half as nervous if I knew what to expect. I hate not knowing. 

Good news is that I've been working like mad the last three days so I can take as much time off this coming week as I need. 

Comments

[jenett]

I had mine out when I was in college: it went pretty smoothly, and I bet the tech and process has just gotten better.

There was modest amounts of pain for a day (but also pain killers), and then stuff was tender for about a week - they'll give you guidance, but basically small hard things are a problem, and suction can be a problem, and you probably want soft foods for a few days.

But it was basically pretty straightforward. I was back to normal for everything except eating after a couple of days, and back to normal with food in about 2 weeks (and the last week of that was more 'things are mostly fine, but I need to be cautious')

(I, um, had an unfortunate experience with a bit of peppercorn ranch dressing about a week in. Do not recommend.)

[vintagewitch]

Oooh duly noted re: ranch! It's one of my favorite dressings.

It went pretty well! I don't even feel puffy, which is great. I'm still taking tomorrow off because rest is so important.

[jenett]

Yay!

(I love ranch too. The ranch part was fine, it was the peppercorn that got me.)

[katuah]

Ditto all that Jennet said.

You will want to take that whole day off and I'd recommend maybe the next day too, just due to being somewhat "off" from all the painkiller and such. After that, it is more a matter of whether you have a job that requires you to be on camera, since your cheeks will be all puffed up and bruised for a few more days. You will look like a demented squirrel! Don't freak, that's normal.

The painkillers should keep the ache in check long enough for you to get past the worst. Wean off as soon as you can, though. They can do bad things to your digestive tract. Let's just say, eat fiber. (BUT NOT fiber with SEEDS!)

[vintagewitch]

ooooh noted on the fiber! We were thinking lots of smoothies, as well as blended soups would be ok.

They didn't proscribe painkillers, but I'm planning on using ibuprofen for pain management. So far so good though!

[katuah]

you might want to consider tylenol / acetaminophen over ibuprofin, i think ibuprofin can act liek a blood thinner which isnt good for post-surgery! i coudl be wrong, though - definitely do some googling on that.

[vintagewitch]

Oh that is a VERY good point. I switched to tylenol this morning (it's a good idea to switch back and forth between tylenol and ibuprofen anyway because you can develop cluster headaches if you take one or the other too often.)

I'll stick to the tylenol from now on! Ibuprofen works better for me, but I can handle the pain

[goddess47]

Hope it goes well... ^^ what they said. Maybe a day of pain-ish after the Novocaine wears off and then a few days of soft food (or dedicated eating on the other side, if it's one tooth).

Good luck!

[vintagewitch]

Thanks! It was relatively painless - fingers crossed it stays that way!

[james]

It depends on how far the teeth have come in! If they're fully erupted (come in all the way) it's pretty simple to pull them and recovery can be a day or two. If they are still down in the gums, or impacted at all, the dentist might have to do more work to remove them and recovery can be a few days or several.

The thing with teeth is - you may think it's fine and it's just a pulled tooth, but your body may react like you just had major surgery. Give yourself as much time as you can - you may be sleepy for a few days after, which is your body trying to heal up.

When I had my fully erupted wisdom teeth removed when I was 20, it took me about 2 days to feel normal again. Two years ago, age 48, I had one tooth pulled and I was out of whack for about 4-5 days.

Don't push yourself, and do all the things about what not to eat after and how to clean (rinse with warm salty water, etc).

[vintagewitch]

This is one time when working for myself is really helpful - I was actually able to finish the really big things I needed to do this week over the weekend. I basically planned to be out of it all week - whether that's from the dentist or from anxiety over Biden's inauguration.

The thing with teeth is - you may think it's fine and it's just a pulled tooth, but your body may react like you just had major surgery.

Super interesting you say that! I'm supposed to be starting a class in Swedish folk magic tomorrow morning and the teacher basically said "A tooth might seem like a little thing in your mind, but it's a big deal to your body." (Love Swedes)

So yeah, TL:DR I'm going to be taking plenty of time this week.

[james]

I learned just a year ago that losing a tooth (having a molar pulled) can affect your hearing because those parts are all connected. I had no idea, but I have sure noticed a mild loss in hearing on that side! I just thought it was old age. ;-)