Afterwards, take the drugs they give you and sleep forever. That's what I did and it was greeeeeat.

i had mine done 2 at a time ages ago--first one side, then a few weeks later, the other side. they didn't tell me not to smoke, but that's prob an antibiotic thing, i think.

horrible. if they'll give you gas or knock you out, do it. they just gave me novocaine (i've never had gas at all), and i'll never forget the sound of them breaking the teeth into pieces to get them out--my jaw didn't have room for them to just yank)

i looked like a chipmunk for a while, so i'd cancel any big plans. : (

Well, the bad news is that they are taking out all four at once. The good news is that they're perfectly developed and not impacted. He tried to talk me into just having novocaine, but I insisted on being knocked the hell out.

I am severely dreading this. I'm also worried about the painkillers. I have a Keith-Richards-like tolerance to prescription drugs, so if he's not willing to pony up copious amounts of heavy scrip, I'm screwed. (Although I have an excellent GP who would likely be willing to drug me up if this guy won't.)

Good luck, jrossi.

they gave me tylenol with codeine afterwards (tylenol4 or something)--that part was fun : >

i've heard that if you're knocked out, it's better.

I have a Keith-Richards-like tolerance to prescription drugs, so if he's not willing to pony up copious amounts of heavy scrip, I'm screwed. (Although I have an excellent GP who would likely be willing to drug me up if this guy won't.)

That is one cooool statement jrossi4r. I feel like a kid who just read Jim Carroll for the first time!

Good luck! I hope there's someone around to watch the kid so you can sleep.

I was knocked out for mine. And I had mad impacted teeth and they had to open up the side of my jaw. Actually, I was in day surgery, is that what you mean by knocked out? Or are you just having gas? The only downside to being knocked out is I think they are not as careful, so your mouth hurts a bit more afterwards. Of course, yours aren't impacted so that shouldn't be too much of a problem. Afterwards it doesn't hurt that much, it's just uncomfortable and you can't eat crunchy food for a while. Make sure you get good drugs and good luck!

Yeah, the smoking thing, for sure, don't do it. Thins blood, retards clotting, introduces bacteria. Afterwards the sucking action on a smoke actually creates a little vacuum pulling the healing tissue away from the sockets so that the aforementioned bacteria can get in. At least that's what I heard.

I got mine out in high school, smoked afterwards, and had two weeks of dry sockets.

Groovy drugs, though. I had novocaine for the operation (I've been knocked out enough without medication never to want to do it on purpose) and all 4 took about 16 seconds. But afterwards I got Darvon (or some generic version) and some aspirin-codeine pills that were okay.

Or maybe the Darvon was some other time I had strong painkillers and I actually had something else that time. It's all a bit foggy.

Par for the course.

I've never had mine out. I figure that they're not bothering me = they can stay right where they are, and so far *crosses fingers, says small prayer to tooth gods* so good. So I can give you no advice, just best wishes, good luck, and yeah, let's go fishing!

Yeah, I have all of mine too. My dentist smiled as he told me that I had a big mouth. Smarmy bastard.

I've had two of mine out. Local anathestic (sp!) only.

I need to get the other two out; they're becoming impacted.

If your teeth have already emerged, are they actually doing surgery or just going to pull them? The experiences are quite different.

I had the gas for mine, truth serum, whatever it's called. And the weird thing is that I was oddly halfconscious during the entire procedure. No pain --far from it -- but I was very aware of them yanking and hammering at my ja, in a vague and abstract way.

A weird aftereffect of the drug was that I wept for about the next 24 hours. I wasn't sad or anything; I just had tears coming from my eyes. I've heard others say they experienced the same thing. My mother's theory was that it was post-traumatic stress from the unconscious memories of being beaten the hell up in surgery.

Anyway, it's not all that big a deal even if they do need to dig the roots out of your jaw. I remember asking the doc what I could eat afterward -- I had heard you were only 'allowed' to eat soft foods like jello -- and he replied snarkily "You can eat whateeeever you want." Only later did I realize that the state of my jaw was such that I would only want to eat anything but soft foods like Jello.

I had all four yanked in one go, I highly recommend the nitrous and a good playlist.

But then, mine were easy and I was out drinking with my pals the same night.

Good luck!

Well, I just got back from stocking up on soft foods and soup. Mr. rossi is taking the day off tomorrow for nursing duty. (Which I'm actually kind of looking forward to. He's excellent at the caretaking thing.)

They're just pulling them, miko. They're administering an IV sedative, so it's not technically general anesthesia. Until then, I AM A PULSATING TANGLE OF ANXIETY! Thanks for the warm wishes, everyone.

I'm sure it won't be too bad. Just pulling is definitely a better scenario. But milk it for all the TLC you can get!

Note: I am terrified of dentists and pain. Believe me you, I am a wuss when it comes to pain.

I had two teeth extracted years ago. I didn't feel anything as it happened (just novocaine). I had a Tylenol 3 scrip just in case I needed it but I didn't. Two days after the tooth extraction the stitches came undone. I call the dentist and he said to just snip them the rest of the way and pull them out. They healed without any problems.

My new-ish dentist rocks. I just had 2/3 of a root canal done (the last part is Wednesday) and I've taken five or six Tylenol 3 between the two procedures. I can't tell you how scared/anxious/terrified I was about the whole process and I'm feeling rather blasé about it now. He's going to be taking out my last two wisdom teeth either Wednesday or soon after.

Smoking: I don't smoke so I don't have specific advice. But I've heard that smoking afterwards is a no-no due to dry-socket problems. I've never heard of not smoking before an extraction.

I had all mine out when I was 15. They gave me gas and started working just when I began to float away. I took the tylenol with codeine for a few days--it was like being catatonic--but then my dad stole the rest of the pills.

Good luck!

Hopefully the surgeon will do a good job - one of my friends was fine after two days, another was in agony for a couple of weeks. Be careful when you're on the painkillers - no booze (well, that is, if you get Tylenol; the acetophinomen will screw up your liver).

Icecream is good recovery food. A buddy of mine is getting his out on Wednesday and we're bringing him tinned soup, icecream, and the grossest baby food we can find (maybe cream of squid or something).

I had all four taken out when I was in HS, I was fine within a few days.

You'll be in my thoughts. Listen to what they say about NO SMOKING.

I may have a psychotic tolerance to pain, but I didn't find it too bad.
I had mine done in high school, freshman year or so, a day before halloween. I was out causing trouble and eating candy the next night. I don't think I used even half the pills they perscribed.

I only had three, all were impacted. yes, I'm a genetic freak. Or I'm one tooth more evolved than everyone else. Who knows.

The nitrous really helped. My dentist left it on the whole time, which must have killed thousands of brain cells, but I'm sure I kill more with beer in an average weekend.

I think a lot of it depends on your attitude. I was the first among my friends to get them yanked, so I didn't have any horror stories to listen to, and my mom just said "oh, it won't be too bad, you'll feel fine by the next day," so I went in assuming just that. (But then, I'm a big believer in one's mental state contributing to recovery. However, I also go dancing every weekend despite being told I'd never walk unassisted again at 20, so maybe I am a superhealing freak of some sort.)

I enjoyed watching the orthodontic surgeon rip and twist those suckers out of my jaw. His pliers made an exceptionally loud cracking noise each time... whee!

I absolutely refused general anesthesia -- I've never had it and I didn't intend to break my streak for something that didn't strictly require me to. Once the doc had my jaw numb he confided that most practitioners push GA on their patients because it's easier for them than the eight or so careful shots necessary to get the mouth totally numb.

I had it done, and while I'd like to tell you it was fine it was definetly not. I woke up during the procedure, and even said "I'm fully concious" with all the crap in my mouth and they're like "oh, you're supposed to be."

Then the novicane wore off before I was supposed to take the codine, and that sucked. Ugh, just not fun (and very painful) over all.

I actualy had to go back and get more pills, since it didn't heal up immediately. I didn't finish the last group, though.