How to Survive Wisdom Teeth Removal

The best way to care for yourself after wisdom teeth after extraction is to follow your oral surgeon's post-operative instructions carefully. It is important to have someone around to help take care of you, especially if you are on pain medication and less than alert. It is much easier to follow a dosing schedule for medication and to change your ice packs when there is someone there keeping track of it for you.

Before the surgery

If given the choice, try to schedule your surgery on a day close to a weekend. That will give you time to recover and you can miss the smallest amount of work or school possible. It will also allow you to relax with no where in particular you think you have to be. Tell your friends and cancel plans and activities for the weekend, assume that you will be incapacitated for a few days; you will need the rest.

Arrange for a driver to bring you to and from your surgery appointment. This person should be there to receive important instructions on how to take care of you after the fact, and will be able to transport you home. Many dentist offices require you to have an escort and will not let you take a taxi home.

Think about what you will be eating after the surgery and where you will be set up to recover. Go to the grocery store and buy your favorite soft foods: ice cream, jell-o, smoothies, mashed potatoes, soups, juice, water, etc. It does not matter what you buy but try to give yourself a variety - you will be tired of the same type of soup if you've eaten it for several days straight.

The night before the surgery, lay out the things that you will need (such as medications, trash can, tissues, favorite movies) around where you will be recovering, so that you won't be trying to find everything after you come home.

Day of the surgery

Follow your doctor's instructions regarding the medications prescribed, and whether or not you will be able to eat beforehand.

Wear comfortable clothing and non-heeled shoes. If you are going to be put out with anything other than local anesthetic, you will not want to navigate your way through the dentist's parking lot afterwards in stilettos. Trust me; you will not be looking your best after this surgery anyway, so dressing up for it is futile.

Immediately After Surgery - Day 1

The pain that you will experience will vary depending on the difficulty of the surgery, and the method the dentist used to take the teeth out. It is normal to have sharp, dull, achy or pointed pain at this point, and you may have some facial bruising. It is important to keep ice on the face to minimize swelling. Some oral surgeons provide a sling that has ice packs that go in it, which is a great tool. You can also make a sling out of socks or a long-sleeved shirt; just try to keep some kind of fabric between the skin of your face and the ice. Make sure that the ice is consistently changed so that your jaws remain cool at all times. This will help with some of the pain as well. Depending on the dentist, they recommend that you keep the ice on your face for 1-2 days.

You will probably be given gauze for your mouth which will have to be changed about every 1-2 hours. It is also helpful to take it out before eating. It is normal for the surgery sites to bleed or ooze for about a day, but more active bleeding after the first day should be assessed by a call to your dentist.

If you are prescribed narcotics (such as Percoet, Vicodin, or Oxycodone) it is essential that you eat something or your stomach will become upset. Most of the time before surgery involving intravenous sedation you are instructed not to eat or drink, so taking these medications on an empty stomach will make you sick if you do not eat something after surgery. In general, it is best to take the least amount of pain medication needed to be comfortable. Don't jump into the heavy drugs unless the lesser ones are not working.

You will, most likely, want to eat a liquid or soft-food diet immediately following surgery. Do not use straws when you eat because this causes suction in your mouth that can dislodge your clots prematurely, which causes dry sockets. It is also imperative that you do not smoke at all during this period of time.

After eating, getting fresh ice for your sling and taking the appropriate medications, you will likely want to sleep. Make sure that someone wakes you up, if necessary, to give you your medications on time. Avoid strenuous activity, and just relax and let your caretaker help you.

After surgery - Days 2&3

Depending on your dentist's instructions, continue icing the jaw for another day to minimize swelling. Continue to take it easy, and avoid strenuous activities such as working out, heavy lifting etc. Your body will be diverting its energy to healing you, and you don't want to use up your energy on non-essential activities.

If you are still on narcotic pain relievers, do not drive or operate any dangerous equipment. You may not think your abilities are impaired but they can still be a hazard.

Relax, watch your favorite movies, and continue to manage your pain with medication if necessary. Gauze should not be needed after the first day, but if the surgery sites are still oozing a little, gauze can help the bleeding to stop.

Begin rinsing with warm salt water several times a day. Do this by tilting your head from side to side and swishing the salt water around in your mouth. Avoid really strong spitting or vigorous rinsing as this may dislodge your clots.

Dry Sockets

One thing that everyone fears with wisdom teeth extraction is a dry socket. Most of the time, this occurs on the third to fifth day after the surgery. It manifests as increasing, broadening and sharpening pain (usually associated with the bottom teeth) that can be anywhere from dull to unbearable.

A dry socket simply means that the clot that is covering the place where the tooth was extracted has come off before it was healed. This causes the hole where your tooth was to be exposed to air and it can become "dry." This exposes sensitive nerves near your bones that are not used to receiving painful stimuli. This is why the pain of dry sockets is usually broad, pulsing and difficult to locate, sometimes radiating to the ear or down the neck.

There are a lot of reasons why you can get a dry socket, including being on Birth Control pills and being a smoker. If you think you are developing a dry socket, call your dentist. It is impossible to predict who will develop dry sockets, but the treatment is fairly simple. Your dentist may provide a medicated dressing for those affected sockets, which doesn't help the wound heal but at least helps to cover the open hole which lessens the pain.

The most important thing is to take it easy and to listen to your body. You will need rest, care and to carefully care for your mouth after surgery. If you follow the instructions given to you and the guidelines here, you should be back to your daily routine in no time.