Wisdom Teeth

[Chris in VA]

Dd getting 4 out tomorrow.  Other than following Dr's orders on preparations,  any tips? Post op experiences?  It is under IV sedation. 

[happypamama]

I had mine out in December (under GA).  Soft foods. I ate a lot of plain full fat Greek yogurt and cottage cheese for a few days. I didn’t need the narcotics after maybe one dose, but I did alternate Advil and Tylenol for a few days. I did end up going back after a week because one side felt a little more sore than it should have, and they gave me antibiotics because it looked like an infection was brewing. I have a high pain tolerance and tend to bounce back from the physical side but apparently am prone to infection. (Same thing happened with my appendix — pain was NBD but I ended up on antibiotics ten days after because it looked like an infection was starting.)  They gave me a little syringe to fill with water or mouthwash, for cleaning out bits of food, and I found that to be really helpful. 

 

I hope it goes well for her!  Overall, I thought it was a pretty decent recovery. I was back to myself (with a little bruising still) within 5-6 days. 

[Noreen Claire]

I'm guessing this is for DD18 (from your signature)?

Antibiotics can interfere with the effectiveness of birth control pills. I was a 20yr old college junior when I had my wisdom teeth out. Ten months later, I was a mother.

Other than that, I drank meal replacement shakes for a week. Gross.

Edited August 2, 2018 by Noreen Claire
typo

[Scarlett]

My son had his out 10 days ago.  He followed instructions very carefully.  He took Norco for a day....then a couple of nights to sleep.  He rinsed faithfully...took it easy for about 5 days.....he feels like food is stuck right now so he is going in for a check on Monday befor he leaves on vacation just to be sure..

[klmama]

Are you bringing her home right afterward?  If possible, take another person with you to drive or to sit in back with her on the ride home.  Her mouth will likely be full of absorbent cotton and talking will dislodge it and cause more bleeding, so texting or writing on paper would be better.  Don't be surprised if she's a bit loopy and groggy for an hour or so after release.  Also, take some paper towels and a large ziploc bag to clean up with if she spits out cotton or blood - another task for that 2nd person, if you have someone.  Yet another task for him or her - helping you get dd safely into the house.  Her balance may be a bit off if she was released quickly.

Be sure to ask the surgeon's office if they can send the pain med prescription to the pharmacy electronically so you don't have to wait a long time or make a second trip, when you should be home keeping an eye on your dd.  That's another job the 2nd person could help with, as you don't want to leave your dd alone at home the first day. 

In addition to taking the pain killers as soon as possible and as directed, be sure to have her use the ice packs 20 minutes on and 20 minutes off all day long the first day, every time during the night that she takes the pain/swelling meds (wake her up for them), and at least once every hour the next day or two.  The kids I've known who had no problems with swelling were all very careful to ice right from the start.  The others who started late or didn't keep up with it as well paid for it with swollen, painful mouths and faces for at least a week. 

I hope all goes well tomorrow!

[Stacia]

Ds had this done in June, also under IV sedation.

I did have plastic bags & paper towels handy in the car for the ride home, if needed. (Fortunately, they were not.) The IV med made ds extremely chatty. (He kept touching his tongue & saying he couldn't tell if that was his tongue or the gauze. ?) He didn't stop talking all the way home, even though it was pretty hard for me to understand him with his mouth packed with gauze. He did ok with walking & remembering stuff. (That was not the case for me eons ago when I had mine out at age 20.)

It is helpful if someone else can run get the prescriptions. (He was given an antibiotic & a narcotic.) Also make sure you have Tylenol & Motrin on hand (for when weaning off the narcotic). Take the meds at the given intervals for the first few days at least.

Ds can't handle seeing blood, so the worst part for him was that he had to clamp down on gauze pads & was to change them out about every 30 minutes until bleeding had mostly stopped right after surgery. I think he wasn't positioning them quite far enough back, so we had quite a few hours of the bleeding. (Which was hard on him seeing/touching the bloody gauze, caused gagging, etc.) Also, once the effects of the IV sedation wore off, he was in A LOT of pain for a few hours (even though he had already taken his pain meds). So, a very rough patch for a few hours the afternoon of his surgery.

Only other thing I can think of was that they were self-dissolving stitches. After about 7 or 8 days, ds said he felt strings hanging down on one side. Nothing hurting, but just a weird sensation of string hanging down at the back of his throat. This was late on a Friday (office closed already), but I googled & it seemed like it was probably normal-ish. I didn't think it was worth paging the after-hours person that night (neither did ds) but said we would on Saturday if it was still bothering him. By then, it had fallen out already as he was eating.

He had no problems w/ infections, healing, or anything, but that was probably because he was given an antibiotic from the start.

I think it was tougher than he thought it would be. He had a horrible time w/ braces (palate expander, etc.) & yet he was able to eat burgers within a day. (Dd, otoh, couldn't figure out how to eat for a week after getting braces.) So, I think ds thought he would sail through surgery, get some pain meds, eat soft food for a day & then be fine. He had a few rough spots with pain (& seeing blood) & really had to stick with soft foods for a whole week. Since ds is a foodie & loves to eat, sticking to plain, soft food was a bit of torture. A very welcome meal around day 3 was when I picked up bean burritos for him from our favorite Mexican restaurant. At least then, he sort-of felt like he was getting to eat "real" food.

Best wishes for a smooth & speedy recovery for your dd.

Edited August 2, 2018 by Stacia

[madteaparty]

I’m kind of surprised at the answers. No abx and no IV here. I had two taken out under local but it went textbook smooth. The dentist told me wisdom teeth are atypical how they grow so you never know and I was lucky. I didn’t have to take even a Tylenol afterward. I had postponed it so long because I hate dentists and all their shenanigans (you have no cavities. No you have 20 ?).

Note: I did this overseas ? I couldn’t find a dentist I trusted here. I happened to go to a remote beach area the day after and she packed me  a syringe with clove oil (I think?) for pain relief. I didn’t need that or any other pain relief really. I’m going back for the other two. 

[Ali in OR]

It was a lot harder on dd than it was for me when I had mine out. Lots of pain on day 1 (remember to use the ice packs). Lots of nausea on day 2 which we eventually figured out was from the narcotic pain killer (I think Oxycodone). In hindsight I would have had her take the narcotic on the day of the procedure only and then switch to Ibuprofen. She did much better once that cleared out of her system and no problem with infection or healing.

[Pawz4me]

Neither of our boys had much trouble. DS19's were pretty straightforward and done by our regular dentist (with IV sedation), but DS22 had to go to an oral surgeon because his had all sorts of complications involved. He also had IV sedation but I believe he was more "under" than DS19 was. He bled more afterwards than DS19. It kept on so long I was really beginning to get concerned. DS22 was put on antibiotics, DS19 wasn't. Neither took much of their prescription pain medication. In hindsight I shouldn't have even gotten the prescriptions filled (although I'm not recommending anyone else skip that). DS19 was pretty much back to normal the next day, even with his ability to eat about whatever he wanted (but still avoiding hard, crunchy food for a few days). DS22 took a couple of days to get mostly back to normal. He went went to the gym on either the second or third day afterwards.

When DS19 had his done the dentist was adamant about 800 mg. ibuprofen before and on a very regular schedule for several days afterwards. She was also absolutely adamant about getting a milkshake on the way home. Her thing was that if you keep inflammation down or prevent it from developing healing will be faster. And I think she was right.

I let them both have all the milkshakes they wanted for a couple of days.

Good luck to your DD! As this thread shows, there really can be a lot of variability in recovery. Hopefully she'll be one who doesn't have much trouble at all.

Edited August 2, 2018 by Pawz4me

[Chris in VA]

Thank you all so much. Can you add to this list of soft foods for me? No dairy (not just lactose--no whey protein so no Ensure etc. ) and no fruit smoothies or coconut ice creams (sugar upsets her tum) or soy...

Applesauce 

Mashed potato (almond milk)

Oatmeal

What else? Scrambled egg,  maybe?

 

[Bambam]

My youngest had hers out in May. It was tough. I agree to take someone else with you to help get them home and in. We got two prescriptions that I needed to pick up right away, so I needed the second person to stay home with her and change her pads (they showed us how to do that, you bite down on them lightly for 2 hours after surgery). 

She ended up with a dry socket, but when we went in early that morning (Thursday, surgery was on Monday), she had immediate relief. 

She basically lived on protein and yogurt drinks and smoothies (Smoothie King made a lot of money off us that week!). No straws though. 

Chicken broth, applesauce, other apple/veggie mixes like you would have for a baby, scrambled eggs. Noodles, unfortunately, weren't acceptable to her (too much chewing). 

And rinsing those holes? Fun. Three closed up fairly quickly, but the spot that had the dry socket is still not quite closed slightly over two months later. 

[klmama]

1 hour ago, Chris in VA said:

Thank you all so much. Can you add to this list of soft foods for me? No dairy (not just lactose--no whey protein so no Ensure etc. ) and no fruit smoothies or coconut ice creams (sugar upsets her tum) or soy...

Applesauce 

Mashed potato (almond milk)

Oatmeal

What else? Scrambled egg,  maybe?

 

Soups!  More soups! Homemade chicken was my dc's favorite 

Bananas, if not too sweet

Cooked veggies - sweet potatoes, carrots, etc. Sweet potatoes cooked in the skin in the crock pot with usual water are perfect - just cut open the skin and mash with a fork to remove from skin, or slice across the center and squeeze it out. If it's too dry, add a bit of cooking water.

If bananas are ok, puree frozen bananas or plain bananas and ice with almond milk for an unsweetened smoothie, with fruit juice if she can handle that.  ETA:  The doctor may recommend against straws, because they put pressure on stitches.  This could be eaten with a spoon.

 

 

Edited August 2, 2018 by klmama

[Hyacinth]

Maybe she would appreciate the healing properties of essential oils diffused into her space :).

[rjand6more]

1 hour ago, Chris in VA said:

Thank you all so much. Can you add to this list of soft foods for me? No dairy (not just lactose--no whey protein so no Ensure etc. ) and no fruit smoothies or coconut ice creams (sugar upsets her tum) or soy...

Applesauce 

Mashed potato (almond milk)

Oatmeal

What else? Scrambled egg,  maybe?

 

Cold foods feel the best.  Avoid hot foods.  Allow them to cool to room temp.

Slightly mushy pasta. Like the small kind. Can swallow whole if needed. With pasta sauce.

Yes. Scrambled egg.  I made very mushy and thin refried beans for ds last night(day 2 of post op for him)

Make sure you wet the gauze and wring it out before placing it.  Sometimes patients want to do it themselves, but they are not that "with it" to follow instructions.  I had to work the afternoon after his OS, so I wrote out a schedule for the icepacks and meds. No way he could have done that himself.

[ScoutTN]

2 hours ago, Chris in VA said:

Thank you all so much. Can you add to this list of soft foods for me? No dairy (not just lactose--no whey protein so no Ensure etc. ) and no fruit smoothies or coconut ice creams (sugar upsets her tum) or soy...

Applesauce 

Mashed potato (almond milk)

Oatmeal

What else? Scrambled egg,  maybe?

 

Good (homemade if you can do/get it)  chx or beef stock with soft noodles in it. The protien and fat will help keep her full. 

If she can do oatmeal, other soft, cooked grains will probably work too, and some can be seasoned as savory. Cook grains for savory dishes in stock for more nutrition. 

[ScoutTN]

I had dry socket over a holiday weekend when mine were extracted a few years ago. Clove oil as a topical pain reliever was a lifesaver. 

 

[Ravin]

I had 2 out, then 1, then the last one a few months ago, so I didn't get that "all for at once" experience. The one I got out in the spring was a very easy recovery. It'll likely be easier if they've erupted than if they have to cut into the gum to get to them. She probably won't need soft foods more than a couple of days, though, so I wouldn't worry too much about getting creative with it; a couple of days subsisting on ice cream and jello or whatever else is easy and she likes won't do any harm. The biggest thing is no straws/sucking --which makes things like milkshakes better with a spoon.

[G5052]

The first day is the worst (of course), and then it gets better. Be flexible and follow the instructions.

Neither of mine needed pain meds after the first day.

Both had a lot of smoothies and mashed potatoes for 4-5 days, and then softer foods for awhile. No pretzels or tortilla chips, LOL.