having all 4 wisdom teeth out

[catra1]

i am having this op soon. would be happy to hear of other people's experiences good or bad- especially how long it takes to reccover. I am going under general anesthetic and need to stay in hospital 1 night

Catra

[David H]

Having opted for the conscious version of the complete removal of wisdom teeth, I can happily say even with two impacted teeth from four it was an incredibly straightforward and painless procedure. You'll probably get swelling for a few days afterwards but it was a lot less hassle than I expected. Good luck!

[dmsjps]

And it will be so much easier than having it under local at your dentist. There may be bruising afterwards, but that's not because you were under local; it depends on how deeply the teeth were rooted, how far back they were in your mouth, etc.

 

I had one wisdom tooth extracted under local at the dentist. He couldn't get to it and ended up crying, the assistant ran out puking and they had to call in an older, more experienced (and, by the way, very much physically stronger-built) dentist to pull it out - by which time I was also crying, of course! Very traumatic for everyone concerned.

 

I say go for it: get under general and you won't know anything about it until afterwards! It probably won't be comfortable post-op, but they'll give you painkillers anyway and at least you won't have any idea of what's happened. Some things are best left unknown ...

[dmsjps]

Sorry, my reply made it sound spooky if you went under general, but it was meant to mean that local is worse because you know what's happening all the time and still get the aching afterwards, whereas with general you get the aching but you don't know what's happened.

 

Sorry, I might not be making it very clear.

[ursula62]

in complete reverse to all the others:

I had one removed at the dentist and went back to work for the rest of the afternoon. The thing that made me jump was the loud pop as the tooth came out!

I had the remaining 4 (yes I had an extra one) removed in hospital under general anaesthetic. Apart from an unpredicted bad reaction to the anaesthetic, which left me seeing visions and screaming for about 5 hours after the op (very difficult for the nurses in recovery), the actual operation was straightforward enough. They had to cut the edges of my mouth to make room to get at the tooth that was growing at an odd angle and I had stitches which were very uncomfortable while they were healing. Also because they jack your jaws apart I couldn't chew for about 2 weeks as my muscles were very sore. All in all the hospital stay was not an experience I'd care to repeat!  

Apart from that it healed up quickly and I've had no related dental problems since then.

[netibiza]

Sorry but having my two out was a complete nightmare.  In hospital for 2 weeks, non-stop bleeding, huge bruise on my chest where the surgeon PUT HIS KNEE to pull the things out.  Dreadful experience.  Home for a month recovering.  But this was in the late 60's so am sure it's inproved now.  Good luck.  Once they're out you'll feel a lot  better.

[mattie]

I had two impacted wisdom teeth removed under a GA in hospital, apart from keeping everyone awake with my snoring, ( but what did I care), as I was operated on in the afternoon and the anasthetic didn't wear off until the night, everything went ok.

A couple of things to remember, don't eat or drink as the anesthetic makes you sick, and don't go to the toilet by yourself, I got there, but was too weak/lightheaded to get back again.

[WaldoMcFroog]

I had all four removed under local anasthetic at the dentists and had a very easy time of it. No pain, a bit of bleeding and a bit of tenderness for a few days afterwards but nothing much.

However, as the experiences of some of the others has revealed, there's no such thing as a 'common' experience. Some people do have a really hard time of it and look like a chipmunk for weeks afterwards. A lot of it is simply down to whether the roots are twisted or not. I was lucky.

[angel1978]

So much better then when they get infected :)

Had one out under local in a denist's chair then the other three under general at a clinic.

Last thing I remember is going out while chatting to a rather nice australian dentist.  Took me a while to come back round, was talking complete nonsense apparantly which I remember none of, but managed to make it through a 3 hour drive back home (not me driving I might add) and even ended up having some (albeit soft and easily munchable) tea.

Was pretty tender for a while and found playing with the stitches dangerously addictive but just got loads of rest and I was fine.

[Chillum]

I had it real bad, don't read on if your nervous about it. All four out under general. Very painfull for weeks afterwards, swelling from the bottom of my ears to the middle of my shoulders. Deep yellow/black/green bruising, in a v-neck to the middle of my chest. Nerve damage to my toungue, I couldn't stick my tounge out and had a numb patch for over a year, and nerve damage to my chin, another numb patch for over a year and a half. Apart from that it was fine.

[SteveD]

Here's a site which may be of interest:

http://www.animated-teeth.com/wisdom_teeth/t1_wisdom_tooth.htm

[HAnn521]

In the U.S. I believe most everyone does this the same way...it is always performed my an orthodontic surgeon, but the dentist usually recommends when you need it done...

I had three wisdom teeth removed in my surgery...everyone is always put to sleep (under anasthetic)...the surgery took close to two hours maybe...I came out (still very grogy and feeling nothing), feel asleep in the car on the way home...woke up later that night in pain...

It goes on with some puking, bleeding, pain, no sleep, swollen jaws/cheeks and little sleep for about two-three days...after a full week, the swelling had gone down and my teeth felt pretty normal...

If this helps: my brother had the same exact surgery and was back out/no pain/no swelling/just fine in a one day!