Wisdom teeth removal - experience for treating?

[toesmom]

Hi, my son is having 4 wisdom teeth removed by oral surgeon tomorrow. I would appreciate any ideas for keeping him comfortable and food ideas in the first few days. He is 17.

Thanks in advance

 

[DisneyDebbie]

My son (20 yrs old) just had his out in May. The recovery was pretty simple for him. He used frozen peas on his jaw/cheeks the first day to try to ease the bruise and swelling look that he knew was coming. I think it helped. for meds, he just took Motrin every 6 hours or so for about 3 days. He said the next morning was the most painful, but it wasn't awful. For food, he ate applesauce, ice cream, cream of wheat, and protein drinks for 2 days, then moved on to mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, Beefaroni... he was fine by about day 5 with just a slight yellow tinge to his jaw.

 

[mjkacmom]

Frozen peas. Most of my kids had them out, dd26 was a mess for a week, ds24 a few days. Dd19 had them out last month, just novicaine. However, she developed 2 dry sockets almost a week later while 4 hours from home, so suffered a few days before getting them packed by the surgeon. She chose not to go the soft food route after a couple of days, I do not recommend that. She was in a ton of pain (I had one, extremely painful).

 

[design_mom]

My daughter asked for homemade chicken noodle the first night and her oral surgeon said that was a good choice. Before that, she had some pudding, jello and cream of wheat.

Also, keeping up on the pain meds (mine was able to switch to tylenol by that evening) and keeping up on the icing helped a lot.

 

[Moliphino]

The worst part of my recovery was the two days it took me to realize the percocet was making me nauseated and it wasn't an aftereffect of the surgery itself. I stopped taking it and felt much better.

 

[Christine]

Ice, ice, ice. I had this done myself and it made all the difference in the world.

 

[Smugpugmug]

I had all 4 wisdom teeth removed last year. My diet consisted of soup, applesauce, ice cream and smoothies. 100% avoid coffee and tea. After a few days, I was able to incorporate mashed potatoes and mac and cheese. The first few days after surgery were the most painful. I was prescribed hydrocodone and was instructed to take it alongside max strength ibuprofen every 6 hours for hydrocodone and 4 for ibuprofen. Icing helps a lot as well. I put an ice pack in a large sock so that it wasn't too cold and alternated icing both sides of my mouth.

I didn't get dry socket and I am SO thankful for that. Tips for trying to avoid getting dry socket would be to not use a straw, when you rinse with salt water to clean your wounds, swish gently and then let the water fall out of your mouth rather than spitting it out (if that makes sense?) and when brushing your teeth, do not brush on the spots where the wisdom teeth were removed.

 

[barkley]

I didn't get dry socket and I am SO thankful for that. Tips for trying to avoid getting dry socket would be to not use a straw, when you rinse with salt water to clean your wounds, swish gently and then let the water fall out of your mouth rather than spitting it out (if that makes sense?) and when brushing your teeth, do not brush on the spots where the wisdom teeth were removed.

avoid dry socket at all costs (oldest ended up with it).

don't let them default to only sweet foods/beverages. dh had major periodontal surgery this year and made the mistake of only consuming sweet stuff which caused him to get very nauseous and dizzy (you don't want to get sick to your stomach post oral surgery).

if you have a reclining chair it can be more comfortable to sleep in the first few days (so you don't roll over).

 

[clh2]

Scrambled eggs are a nice choice for minimal chewing! Cheese can also be added.

 

[Stratman50th]

The worst part of my recovery was the two days it took me to realize the percocet was making me nauseated and it wasn't an aftereffect of the surgery itself. I stopped taking it and felt much better.

I got that and the big Motrins both. The Motrin worked better for me than the percs so that's what I took.

 

[toesmom]

Thank you everyone! this was really helpful for me

 

[_19disnA]

I would not recommend having multiple wisdom teeth on opposite sides of your mouth removed at the same time. Makes eating virtually impossible. Suggest having one side done and then a few weeks later return for the other side removal. If you remove on one side, you can carefully eat using the other side of your mouth until it heals.

 

[mom2rtk]

Ask your doctor for a prescription for Zofran. My son walked in the door and promptly vomited before we could even get pain meds in him. The Zofran was critical and he did much better after that.

 

[PollyannaMom]

Alternating Tylenol and Advil was key for my DS - and keeping to the schedule rather than waiting for the pain to be too much before taking it.

I definitely second the gentle salt-water rinses. I set a timer in my phone to have him do those, and I think they helped a lot.

Scrambled eggs were his diet staple at first, as well as his favorite popsicles.

 

[sipnride]

I had 4 separate surgeries - one for each extraction. The first was the absolute worst - age 16, complete nightmare. The last at age 28 was a breeze. Here's the, um, wisdom I acquired from that journey:

1) I smoked when I had the first and second done, did not for third and fourth. If he smokes don't let him smoke at all this next week. Can be hard getting a teenager to take that advice, but maybe a show him a few images of dry socket and tell him that's what is going to happen to him - not in 5 years but in 5 days - if he can't put down the smoke/vape for a month. Truth is even if a smoker avoids dry socket tobacco is just bad news for that open sore, preventing proper healing and exacerbating the pain.

2) If they don't prescribe percs demand they do. It's actually pretty painful and unless there's a history of abuse or known counterindications or sensitivities there's no good reason not to. Take for 48 hours as prescribed then stop and switch to ibuprofen or whatever otc doc recommends.

3) Avoid general anesthesia or IV sedation. It's overkill and can impact decision making for days, so maybe a bowl of captain crunch starts to seem like a good idea even though the plan was to eat oatmeal and pudding for a week. The local anesthesia, and if necessary nitrous-oxide if your son is prone to anxiety when at the dentist.

4) Take time off - off of school, off of work, off of chores, off of football practice. I tried moving apartments 4 or 5 days days after the 2nd surgery and I was leading Sunday School just two days after my 3rd one and both were really bad ideas. I was physically tired, I was in pain, I was grouchy, and I was HUNGRY (soft foods don't really do the job, especially for young people).

5) To that last point - for my final surgery made a glorious meat pie made with ground beef peas & carrots that required minimal chewing and kept me filled up so I could go back to work (had no choice at the time) eat pie in the morning yogurt throughout the day and more pie for dinner and I never felt hungry. Despite having to go back to work in less than 2 days, the last surgery's recovery period was by far the best, and the two biggest factors were not smoking and that glorious meat pie.

 

[barkley]

I would not recommend having multiple wisdom teeth on opposite sides of your mouth removed at the same time. Makes eating virtually impossible. Suggest having one side done and then a few weeks later return for the other side removal. If you remove on one side, you can carefully eat using the other side of your mouth until it heals.

myself and both kids had all 4 done at the same time. we were fine within a week (helped that none were in bad shape at the time-though mine had started to cause pain). dh had all his at different times-in hindsight he wishes he would have been one and done as well. i know my (then) teens would not have wanted to have undergone the anesthesia twice nor having to miss (then) high school classes for more than 1 full week.

 

[mumto3girls]

My DD just had hers out in March. She only had 3 (her mouth was weird—missing 1 wisdom tooth and 3 permanent teeth). She had them all out at the same time along with an implant to replace one of the other missing teeth. Complained of pain for the rest of that day and the next and then felt good. Surgery was Friday morning and she was back in school Monday with no complaint. She has a tiny mouth and is fair complected and we were told she would likely swell and bruise a lot as a result, but it really wasn’t bad. She did ice, rinsed with salt water and took the meds (I think she used 3 of the oxy and then switched to Motrin). By the time she went back to school she wasn’t taking anything. She did stick to soft foods—frozen fruit bars, Mac and cheese, ice cream for a few days.

 

[HopperFan]

Both kids who had them removed had ALL FOUR taken out at the same time. Both were impacted with out breaking the surface. They were asleep and had them done on a Friday. Neither had any swelling and both were back at school Monday. It is my understanding it depends on how the doctor removes the teeth, therefore will dictate the trauma, swelling and subsequent pain. Advil/Tylenol alternating - no prescription pain killers. Ice packs, had a special wrap for head. All the usual, no straws, liquid or soft foods etc.

Son's friend has his done the same day and was out until next mid week, and still came back swollen. He went to a different doctor, no idea how his procedure was done.

All mine broke the surface. I had three removed in my 20's while awake and it was horrific. I ended up taking out my own stitches because I couldn't deal with the trauma of returning to doctor. Thirty years later I needed the last one taken out, at the same time I was having a fractured molar taken out on other side and while at it putting in an implant. I was put to sleep. I had more pain from wisdom than from the removal of molar and implant. No pain killers, just the advil/tylenol alternating with ice packs. I was good in about 5 days from pain. Implant was restricted eating for a couple months.

Best advice, follow all instructions, use lots of ice packs and soft easy to eat foods. Agree with advil/tylenol alternating on a schedule even if he feels good. Oh and restricted activity. Don't let them go out the next day and wash their car, it could cause bleeding to rupture .............. (DH ).

 

[Moliphino]

2) If they don't prescribe percs demand they do. It's actually pretty painful and unless there's a history of abuse or known counterindications or sensitivities there's no good reason not to. Take for 48 hours as prescribed then stop and switch to ibuprofen or whatever otc doc recommends.

3) Avoid general anesthesia or IV sedation. It's overkill and can impact decision making for days, so maybe a bowl of captain crunch starts to seem like a good idea even though the plan was to eat oatmeal and pudding for a week. The local anesthesia, and if necessary nitrous-oxide if your son is prone to anxiety when at the dentist.

My wisdom tooth removal taught me two things:
-Nitrous makes me incredibly paranoid. Thank God they were able to find a vein and knock me out, because I was about to start screaming.
-Percocet makes me nauseated to the point of vomiting.

If you don't already know how those meds affect you, this is not a great time to find out.

 

[disny_luvr]

This is a timely thread. I just scheduled my twins to get their wisdom teeth out in December. I scheduled them for the same day. Is that a bad idea?!

OP, I hope your son’s surgery goes well and he recovers quickly.