Most people have four wisdom teeth, – two on the top, and two on the bottom – although some people can have less, or even none at all. Wisdom teeth are also known as your “third molars,” because they can be found in the way back of your mouth behind your other molars. If you’re one of the lucky ones to not have any wisdom teeth, or not have problems with them, then this article will probably not serve any use to you. However, if you have problems with your wisdom teeth and are planning to have them taken out, please read on. I will share my personal experience getting all 4 my wisdom teeth removed.
When your wisdom teeth are impacted, this means they are coming in crooked or not coming through the gums at all. They may cause some pain and bother you a lot. It’s important to get your wisdom teeth taken out if they are causing problems now, because they could cause more problems later on in life. The younger you are, the better. Also, if you plan on getting orthodontic work done in the near future, such as braces or Invisalign, I would suggest getting your wisdom teeth out because they may push your teeth out of alignment once the braces are off your teeth. That’s the problem I ran into. I had braces for 2 years, and when they came off, I had beautiful teeth. Then my wisdom teeth came in, the top 2 were impacted and they pushed my top front teeth out of whack, causing me to have crooked teeth again! That’s why I’m now going through Invisalign treatment, since my wisdom teeth are now gone!
Before deciding if your wisdom teeth need to come out, your dentist will take some x-rays of your mouth. It will show all of your teeth, and give a good idea how your wisdom teeth are coming in and if they really are a problem. If your dentist office does not already have an oral surgeon working there, you will be referred to one. You will make an appointment to see your oral surgeon, and discuss the surgery. You will discuss risk factors, medical history, and all that good stuff. The oral surgeon will send the x-rays out to your dental insurance provider, to make sure that your wisdom teeth procedure would be covered under the insurance. Sometimes it’s not completely covered, and you may have to pay out of pocket expenses. If you are not covered at all, the cost of surgery can get very expensive, ranging up to a couple hundred dollars per tooth! It takes about 2 weeks or so for the insurance company to make a decision and review your case. Then they will call your oral surgeon with a yes or no answer, and you go from there. You schedule your surgery whenever is best for you.
A couple days before you are scheduled for surgery, the anesthesiologist will contact you and tell you some very important information. He/she will explain to you that you may not eat or drink anything but a sip of water after midnight on your day of surgery. You want to have an empty stomach when you go under, because the last thing you want is to throw up while they are taking your teeth out, and wake up in the middle of the procedure! You should wear cool, loose fitted clothing when you go in for surgery. And you MUST bring a responsible person over the age of 21 with you, to drive you back home once you are finished. Make sure that somebody will be there to stay with you at home also. You will be very groggy and out of it after you wake up, so you definitely will not be in any condition to drive home yourself.
OK, so it’s the day you’ve been waiting for, surgery day. Maybe you’re even a little nervous. There’s nothing to be nervous about, you’re doing your mouth a good deed! Arrive about 10 minutes early, just to make sure you’re there and on time. Your oral surgeon will come in, look over your x-ray with you, and explain what is going to happen. Next, the anesthesiologist prepares you by inserting a needle for the IV. I had general anesthesia for my surgery, with a needle inserted in the top of my hand. I fell asleep very fast, I don’t even remember falling asleep. I have no recollection of how long the procedure actually took, but my boyfriend who was there with me told me it only took about 30 minutes. The time it takes for your surgery can vary, though. The oral surgeon will also stitch up the extraction sites, either with dissolving stitches or ones that you will need to have taken out. I had the dissolving ones, which went away in about 2 weeks.
After the surgery, you should be placed in a room while you wake up and come out of the anesthesia. They should not let you go home until you can walk steady on your feet. You will have pieces of gauze packed in the back of your mouth to stop the bleeding and let it clot. Do not take them out yet, they need to stay in for about an hour or so.
Once the numbness wears away, you will probably feel some pain and discomfort. Your oral surgeon will prescribe you pain medicine for this, such as Vicodin or Percoset. You should also be prescribed an antibiotic to keep you from developing an infection. Be sure to complete your course of antibiotics, and to take the pain medicine only as needed. You may not even finish the entire prescription of pain killers if you don’t need it. There will be some swelling, and it may be difficult for you to open your mouth or talk. Try not to talk a lot for the first few hours after surgery, you really should only be resting in bed! For me, the swelling was the worst on the 2nd day after surgery, then it started to go away. You will look like you have a mouthful of food! Don’t worry! Bleeding should stop soon after you take the gauze out, and should not occur 24 hours after surgery. If it does, bite down on tea bags to stop the bleeding. If it still continues, see your surgeon immediately.
At this point, you will probably not be in the mood for eating or drinking. Drink as much water as you can, fluid intake is very importatnt. The best foods to eat while your mouth is healing are soft ones such as Jell-O, pudding, mashed potatoes and applesauce. Do not suck anything through a straw, as this may dislodge the blood clots. Also, if you are a smoker, do not smoke for at least 48 hours. This may cause a really painful condition called dry socket. After the first 24 hours, you should be rinsing your mouth everyday with a salt water solution to make sure it stays clean back there.
I had my surgery on a Thursday, and was feeling fine to go back to work on Monday. However, you will probably not be back to eating hard, solid foods for about 2 weeks after surgery. At least that’s how long it took for me. Remember to follow up with your oral surgeon to make sure you are healing fine and everything is clean in the extraction sites. I am so glad to have had them removed, and I will never have to worry about it again. I also feel like I have less headaches and my jaw doesn’t hurt as much since they’ve been out. I do think it was worth the 2 weeks of “baby” foods and discomfort to have a lifetime left without wisdom teeth bothering me! Good luck!
*For oral surgery, I recommend Dr. Pasqual & Associates in Waterdam Plaza, McMurray PA (724) 942-3611*
