Hey, Look Who's Back!!!

[Asher]

Mine were a real pain in the ass. They were nearly coming out, but coming out sideways (I shouldn't have waited too long).

I walked into the room, they put an IV in me and started a sentence about how I'd start to feel a bit tired, then I remember waking up groggy as all hell in a recovery room not feeling anything on my face (it was numb from the local).

The first day your mouth bleeds nearly constantly -- it's really disgusting and you WILL swallow lots of blood. Get used to it.

They should give you painkillers so it won't hurt that much, but it's annoying having to eat for the first couple days. I couldn't eat till Day 2, and even then VERY slowly with mashed strawberries/yogurt/etc and water only.

I went for a few days on a liquid/very soft food diet, then moved up to pasta for a bit.

For about a month or two you'll have craters in the back of your mouth which catch food. Everything gets in there, it's really amazing. They should give you a device to flush it out after you eat every time with salt water, and they also should give you some antibiotics (both pills and a rinse).

[RodLosAngeles]

Damn dude! That sound like a hoot!

I'm only 16, so I dunno if that works in my favour or not. My wisdom teeth are impacted (coming in sideways), but they are 100% under the gums.

Hmmmm.

[Asher]

I was 18 when I got them out, mine were severely impacted too. The Xrays showed them VERY close to nerves so they moved up my date and stuff, but the teeth were huge and deep down in the gums and sideways.

[RodLosAngeles]

I actually have my x-rays right now. I am supposed to give them to the dental surgeon when I go to meet him tomorrow. The tooth on my lower-left side is very close to the nerv of the next tooth. The other 3 teeth aren't so bad, but they'll cause trouble soon enough.

The tooth in question is actually causing me some pain. I was convinced I needed a filling in the NEXT tooth. They did x-rays and they were like 'naw dude, that tooth is 100% healthy'. They then did some x-rays further back, and found that the wisdom tooth was hitting the nerve of the other tooth, causing pain when I chew or bite or whatever.

I can't wait to get that tooth out. Tooth pain is a major bÃtch.

Did you have any pain prior to getting them removed?

[Asher]

Nope, no pain prior to them getting removed.

Just after.

[RodLosAngeles]

Hmmm.

Waaaaah, I'm really not looking forward to this!

(Well, except maybe all the ice-cream and not going to school for a few days)

[Asher]

It's really not as bad as you think.

You actually get used to it pretty quickly, as hard as it is to believe.

After the 1st day is overwith it's all downhill from there.

[RodLosAngeles]

Hey, did your face swell up? Did you have any bruises on your face or anything? Anything that says to the world, "Hey world, I just had my wisdom teeth removed!"?

[Asher]

No bruises or anything. My cheeks were slightly puffy the first couple days, but that's it.

Tip: Keep ice on it for the first couple days ALL the time if you can. You'll notice exactly why I said that if you ever leave it off for a couple hours (like while sleeping), because it'll be swollen as hell when you wake.

It really does help.

[RodLosAngeles]

Hmmm...

One more thing - how much did it cost? My mom wants to know, lol!

[Asher]

I live in Canada, so they may not be comparable.

It was $1400CDN, 100% covered by my dental plans.
That's like $1000US.

One more thing: When they tell you not to use straws or do any sucking, they mean it. You can get something called dry sockets if you do that, and they're painful as hell according to my mom who had them once.

They'll tell you a lot of things you need to do, and you should follow them to the letter.

[RodLosAngeles]

Yeah, I heard about that thing. Do you know what it is? Some dude said he got it cos he smoked a lotta cigarettes after the operation.

[Asher]

They'll probably explain this to you too, but:

When they take the tooth out, it forms a blood clot (eventually ), and it kinda acts like a scab to protect it while it heals. A dry socket is when you somehow get rid of that blood clot before it's done healing, via smoking/using a straw/etc. It hurts like hell because lots of nerves are exposed there, and it also slows the healing process.

[RodLosAngeles]

Hmmm. If they tell me not to use a straw or whatever, I'm just gonna be totally tempted to do it to see what happens. I'll have to like clamp my mouth open for the first few days.

[Asher]

That won't be good, you won't want to open your mouth much at all. Too swollen.

It's VERY tempting to use a straw, but don't do it unless you want some extreme pain.