Should it really take this long to recover from wisdom teeth extraction?

[Erin1700]

I remember eating Campbells chicken and stars soup. Try that!
Mine were taken out when I was in college, 14 yrs ago. Took about a week until I could eat.

 

[fly girl]

Oh this all sounds very normal then. I think it's that every day I'm getting the guilt trip from my boss that "she went back to work the next day!" She also only had 2 out when she was 20, and hers were erupted so they were just pulled. I'm 40-something & had all 4 cut out.

And there lies the BIG **** DIFFERENCE -- you had surgery, she didn't!! By the sound of it, you had to be knocked out to have yours removed, she had some novocaine. Make sure she knows what you had is vastly different than hers. Geez, sorry you are made to feel guilty. Get a clue, boss.


I've had 4 teeth pulled (My teeth are too big for my mouth and 4 needed to be pulled before I could get braces so I would have a straight smile). It wasn't fun, but I was fine the next day. Granted, I was 12 years old at the time.


I have also had all four of my wisdom teeth surgically removed below the gumline at 18 years old, and it took me a good week to start feeling normal again.


Hope you feel better soon and know even if you were 18 (but who really wants to be 18 again, you can't enjoy a good cold beer ) you'd still be in some pain. Hang in there!

 

[Feckless]

When I had mine out at age 21 I looked like Mr. Magoo for 2 weeks. Almost three weeks after, my mother put Sunday dinner through a food processor. My BFF stopped at McDonalds for a Big Mac on her way home from the hospital when she had hers out!

Hang in there Tara. Nothing worse than something wrong with your mouth.

 

[LuvsDragonflies]

Do yourself a favor and really just slurp up the easy foods, I pushed it and ended up with dry socket, that just sucks.

 

[TaraPA]

Today was MUCH better. I got out & got groceries & did some yard work & went for a walk!

Ok too bad my mouth wasn't as swollen because OF COURSE I just had to look inside with a flashlight. I think I have what they described to me as the bone fragmants coming to the surface of my gums. Did anyone else have this happen? I have small hard white bumps along one side of my gums, about 2 teeth up from where the incision is. They don't hurt, they jsut feel like something very hard is underneath the gum. The piost-op paperwork does say this is normal - but just YUCK! Will they just erupt on their own???

 

[Gumbo4x4]

I took a full week and I WAS 18 when I had mine out. They did have to cut away part of my lower jaw on both sides, so it wasn't just a simple extraction

 

[arminnie]

Yes it is different for everyone - BUT the biggest difference is in the skill of the oral surgeon who does it.

I had two out at 60 (not young at all and they'd been there awhile). One had 4 roots with barbs. The tooth had to be cut up before it could be removed piece at a time.

I had NO issues at all because my oral surgeon was a real pro. Kept ice on it for 24 hours and all was fine.

I'm the person who has complications from everything - but not with my wisdom teeth.

 

[IDoDis]

My DD 15 had all 4 wisdom teeth out in late February. We thought she'd be fine in a few days, but she wasn't. On day 6 she went back in and was diagnosed with two dry sockets. A bag of some kind of herb was put in two of the sockets that were hurting and DD said she felt relief within a few minutes. She want back on day 8 and had a fresh set of "tea bags" put in. On day 10 the bags were removed. On day 11 but she said the pain was starting to come back, but it was short-lived. She still felt some pain up to 2 weeks later but not horrible pain.

Oh, and she said she had food stuck in the gums where the holes were. The doctor pulled out the rotten food that smelled bad ---- ewww! DD was disgusted. She said she kept tasting something rotten but thought it was dried blood.

 

[MzDiz]

I had two that had to be surgically extracted, and two that were popped out by the dentist. That is a night and day difference. One recovery was in hours and the other was in weeks. Plus, the bottom teeth had roots and barbs off the roots and were impacted and sitting there for 20 years, and the top teeth were one smooth root. I also had the wonderful experience of dry socket on one of the bottom nightmare teeth. So yeah, what everyone else is saying, everyone has a different experience. Get better quick.

 

[sookie]

I think all four of mine were impacted and I had two dry sockets. I had an awful time. I remember crying full out tears in the back break room a full week after I went back to work after having to flush out the back bottom areas out. I went back and got the dry sockets re-packed (which was an awful experience but afterwards provided almost instant relief).
Your boss needs to be understanding because not everyone is the same.

 

[GraysMom]

I'm sorry you've been having such a rough recovery Tara . I hope you are able to eat solid food again soon! Does Maggie Moo's make milkshakes? Maybe you could eat that during a break at work.

 

[TaraPA]

I have 2 words....DRY SOCKET!!!

I knew something was up Saturday, as the day progressed I had terrible pain at one of the incision sites. Of course it was Sat. night til I decided this just wasn't normal, so no docs in. I went back on the Percocet & saw him this morning & he said why yes, you must have been in pain all weekend, you have dry socket!!

He packed it with clove oil & gauze - OMG through the roof pain - they use a tweezers to pack the gauze inside the dry socket. I'm a grown woman & had tears rolling down my face! I go back Thursday for them to change the packing.

Still no solid foods but the clove oil helped tremendously!

Thanks Jessamy!

 

[violetrose]

My son had all four wisdom teeth out two years ago when he was 16.......it was terrible! He was out of school for an entire week. He could only eat pudding and noodles for over two weeks. We too, kept hearing how other kids had breezed right through, back to school, back to sports etc. Everyone is different, I wish it could have been better for my son, but it was misery. He had it done at the beginning of his hockey season and he couldnt skate for well over two weeks.

Best of luck to you OP, hope you feel better soon!

Same for my daughter. She kept thinking beforehand she was going to be out running around a few days later but I knew differently. She never moved out of her bed for a solid week....so sick!

My older son had his done and was fine in a couple of days. Younger one thank goodness seems to be the rare kid who doesn't need to have them pulled.

Every person is different and you won't know how you are going to react until it's done.

OP, I hope you feel better.

 

[cm8]

I have 2 words....DRY SOCKET!!!

I knew something was up Saturday, as the day progressed I had terrible pain at one of the incision sites. Of course it was Sat. night til I decided this just wasn't normal, so no docs in. I went back on the Percocet & saw him this morning & he said why yes, you must have been in pain all weekend, you have dry socket!!

He packed it with clove oil & gauze - OMG through the roof pain - they use a tweezers to pack the gauze inside the dry socket. I'm a grown woman & had tears rolling down my face! I go back Thursday for them to change the packing.

Still no solid foods but the clove oil helped tremendously!

Thanks Jessamy!

I'm glad you were able to get the issue resolved.I hope your gums get better soon

 

[marcyinPA]

Tara, curious who you went to? I have to make an appointment for my 16 year old- I guess this summer? He saw his dentist for his 6 month check today, and he told us "at our leisure"...but I want him to have it done over a break so he can recover.

 

[TaraPA]

Tara, curious who you went to? I have to make an appointment for my 16 year old- I guess this summer? He saw his dentist for his 6 month check today, and he told us "at our leisure"...but I want him to have it done over a break so he can recover.

Hi Marcy! I was referred to Lehigh Oral & Maxillofacial Surgeons on Cedar Crest across from LVH. There are 3 oral surgeons in there, I had Dimmich. He also did a tooth extraction for DS14 3 years ago. They are an AWESOME group & I would definitely recommend them, and go back if I needed something else (hopefully NEVER AGAIN!!!) Their staff is genuinely the most considerate & caring I've ever met.

 

[TaraPA]

UPDATE! (Not that anyone is interested but I feel the need to vent LOL!)

It's almost 3 weeks post-op and I'm still having issues. I ended up with 2 dry sockets. One is healing but slowly, it is still very sensitive at the incision site. The 2nd one, for whatever reason, he said was not healing properly & he had to re-open the incision. O...M...G!! I did get Novacaine at least for that, but it was back to square one with the healing process on that side. THEN...a few days after that it's getting worse, not better, so I went back & he said I have a secondary infection in my gums. ARGH!

So now I'm on an antibiotic & still ibuprofen for the pain & swelling on the side with the infection. I also have to irrigate the incision sites after I eat anything, which is no fun. I haven't had real food in awhile!

The good thing (another thread about sinus infections made me think of this) - one of the wisdom teeth had been pushing on my sinus cavity. I've suffered with migraines & sinus headaches for years, often 3-4+ a week. I haven't had a single headache since the procedure, so maybe, just maybe, it was the tooth causing all the problems. Now, I've been on pain meds & ibuprofen almost non-stop...I'm sure that could be lessening any headaches I might have! So we'll see once I completely stop the ibuprofen. Fingers crossed!

 

[Princess Row]

I had all 4 wisdom teeth pulled last October. The pain was AWFUL. I was taking every pain med they were offering and nothing was helping.....NOTHING! I was crying myself to sleep...the pain was shooting down my neck for WEEKS. Something was seriously wrong. So I called the dentist went in he said it looked perfectly fine.....
so went home went back 2 days later told him I had dry socket and then told him to cure me. He said I was completely wrong....I told him to give me the medicated gauze anyways. He did....and within an hour! MAGIC HAPPENED! Pain was completely gone.

Iwent in 5 days later.....he removed the gauze and Iw as on my way...pain free. Okay this was October 8th.....

now fast forward to December 23rd. I kept seeing small white strips hanging from the lower left socket.....I was convinced a octopus was growing in the socket. It was nasty. I would pull it and it would grow back. I thought it was the root.

Well I needed to fix the issue so I sanitized some sissors.....and reach back there and cut it out. Anyone guesss hwat it was????


THE GAUZE!! Yep!! 11pm at night.....I called my mom (was at my dads house this night) I completely had reopened the wound....and it was NASTY! Went in at 6 am the next morning....the surgeon thought it was amusing....I however was traumatized....not at all amused! Then he pulled out more gauze.............

Nasty!! Needless to say I eneded up having to go to someone else to be xrayed and get medication to heal the infection.....

If you are still in pain....something is wrong. You know your body better than anyone. I haven't read the whole thread but sounds an awful lot like dry socket. Birth control, drinking through a straw or smoking can cause all of this. Hope you feel better soon!! It will get better! I promise!

 

[TaraPA]

I had all 4 wisdom teeth pulled last October. The pain was AWFUL. I was taking every pain med they were offering and nothing was helping.....NOTHING! I was crying myself to sleep...the pain was shooting down my neck for WEEKS. Something was seriously wrong. So I called the dentist went in he said it looked perfectly fine.....
so went home went back 2 days later told him I had dry socket and then told him to cure me. He said I was completely wrong....I told him to give me the medicated gauze anyways. He did....and within an hour! MAGIC HAPPENED! Pain was completely gone.

Iwent in 5 days later.....he removed the gauze and Iw as on my way...pain free. Okay this was October 8th.....

now fast forward to December 23rd. I kept seeing small white strips hanging from the lower left socket.....I was convinced a octopus was growing in the socket. It was nasty. I would pull it and it would grow back. I thought it was the root.

Well I needed to fix the issue so I sanitized some sissors.....and reach back there and cut it out. Anyone guesss hwat it was????


THE GAUZE!! Yep!! 11pm at night.....I called my mom (was at my dads house this night) I completely had reopened the wound....and it was NASTY! Went in at 6 am the next morning....the surgeon thought it was amusing....I however was traumatized....not at all amused! Then he pulled out more gauze.............

Nasty!! Needless to say I eneded up having to go to someone else to be xrayed and get medication to heal the infection.....

If you are still in pain....something is wrong. You know your body better than anyone. I haven't read the whole thread but sounds an awful lot like dry socket. Birth control, drinking through a straw or smoking can cause all of this. Hope you feel better soon!! It will get better! I promise!

OMG! Now that's a nightmare! No one should have to go through that!

Question for you - I was surprised that the incisions are still gaping holes in my mouth. He exlpained that gum incisions heal from the bottom up - so they will be that way for awhile. He said it's not skin like on your body, when you cut yourself skin heals & grows over a wound - it's the opposite for your gums. Ok well now that they're not packed anymore for dry socket, food gets stuck in them instantly (and they're very sensitive - anything cold sends me through the roof), then to flush them out is even more sensitive (and he wants the tip if the irrigation syringe IN the incisions to flush them). My question is - how long until these holes are gone in my mouth? Weeks? Months?

I also have one VERY sensitive molar now, that started when the one wisdom tooth erupted sideways & was pushing against that molar (so it's not a side effect of the surgery). He said it probably wore the enamel off the good molar - is this normal? I can't get anything - even a sip of water - near that molar or I'm through the roof with pain that goes into my jaw & other teeth. I will tell the dentist about it at my next appt. but has this happened to anyone else? Will I ever be able to eat or drink on that side of my mouth again?

 

[MrsDuck]

DFi (23) had one out last Friday. It was horizontal scared and he still feels terrible a week later. He can't eat much and is pretty miserable.