I had mine out two weeks before I started college. I slept a lot the week after. I actually had 5 teeth; it was where the 5th one was the hurted the most for the longest time.

I only had two removed at a time (another was removed by an oral surgeon later) and I just wen't with the novacain and nitrous. It was no picnic, but after the drugs kicked in it wasn't so bad.

General anesthesia is a piece of cake. When I went under for the kidney stones, I just remember starting to count backwards and then being out like a light, then waking up again a little sore and tired.

I got a lot of valium. It was nice.

I was planning on spending saturday in my pajamas watching all of the extended cuts of LOTR, eating mashed potatos and drinking rum, bananna and ice cream smoothies.

I had my wisdom teeth out under general anesthetic. I don't remember what it was like, but afterward I was so groggy that I had to be carried to the car, out the back door of the dentist's office.

For the rest of the day I sat in my bed, bleeding, mildly disoriented, listening to Pink Floyd while drifting in and out of sleep. Good times; good times.

I had mine out when I was in 10th grade.

My sharpest memory is coming out of the hospital in a wheelchair, and my parents handed me a paper bag which I thrust angrily back at them because I was convinced it was doughnuts and I DID NOT WANT DOUGHNUTS.

When I woke up in my bed hours later, my mother showed me the Snoopy stuffed animal that the bag had actually contained, and asked why the hell I had been so adamant about refusing it.

I have *no* idea where the doughnut thing came from.

Recovery wasn't bad, really. Swollen for a bit, had to use a weird syringe thing to keep the new holes in my jaw clean, which was kind of gross but in a neat way.

Haven't had wisdom teeth removed, but I've been under GA several times. It's weird; it's "missing time". The doctor tells you he's giving you something to relax and in the next instant, he is telling you that the procedure is over. And you're all, WTF?

The first time I had GA I had no nausea at all. The second time I vomited all afternoon.

GA didn't put me under all the way for the wisdom teeth. I actually popped up when they severed a nerve, so it was a good thing. I had localized tounge numbness for about a year, but it could have been worse if I hadn't been in twilight time instead of nightey night, because they wouldn't have known they were slicing me up. I remember on the car ride home thinking what a beautiful day it was, though.

I was told I needed all my wisdom teeth pulled under general anaesthetic, but I didn't like the idea of that so I cancelled the operation. Anyway - about three years later I broke a tooth and had to go to a dentist and they said I should get two of those four removed, and they could do it then with a local anaesthetic. I agreed.

Turns out that my teeth have really strong roots. He also told me that my little tooth (as I call it) is actually a baby tooth that never fell out. Weird. This is why counting my teeth in the past always turned up a puzzling extra. Anyway, I've got weird strong rooted teeth. I remember taht at one point the dentist was kneeling on my chest pulling with all his might with a nurse standing behind him also pulling.

"Oooh - It's a tough one this" he said. It took ages for him to get it out.

There was also a great moment when a huge splash of blood squirted out of my mouth and onto his face. He blinked, wiped and asked the nurse for a face-mask.

So now I have two of my wisdom teeth left. One of them is OK, but the other seems to be hidden away. I'm positive that it'll cause problems later on in life but it can wait.

I only ever had 2 and they were taken out when I was in grade 12. It was done in my surgeon's office I think under local anaesthesia because I have fuzzy memories of a pseudo-ouf-of-body experience. I remember feeling like a wet noodle afterwards because I couldn't stand without my mother's help and crying because I was so frustrated.

I had codeine to see me through the pain after the anesthesia wore off and the plastic syringe to squirt out any food that got stuck in the holes. Oh, and I looked like a chipmunk for a couple days.

The one good thing was that I got to stay home the next day and watch soaps.

I had mine out one summer when I was home from college. It wasn't a big deal at all. That was also my first (and only) time under general anesthetic. The doc put the needle in my arm, told me to start counting backwards from 10, and after nine I said, "Whoa, I feel it."

Next thing I knew, I was waking up in the recovery room. My mother was there, and I asked her if I'd been snoring. "Just a little bit," she said. I was really embarrassed, told her she had to promise me she'd wake me up if I started snoring again.

The worst part was when I sat up, a bunch of blood came dribbling out of my mouth and onto my jeans. But I was still so groggy, it wasn't even gross -- just more embarrassment.

No wait, actually, the worst part was that a day or two later, when I was finally less comatose from the Vicodin, my mom told me that she and I had talked for the entire 30-minute drive home, but she wouldn't tell me what we talked about. To this day, she still won't. I don't know if she's just trying to make me paranoid, or if we really had a conversation that I'd rather not remember.

Oh, but wait, the other worst part is that I've had jaw problems ever sense. Yep -- lost the teeth, gained the TMJ.

I had that experience with GA, too. I was also tired for WEEKS! It was probably 6 weeks before I felt totally well. I was also nauseous afterwards, but didn't throw up. And the nausea might have been from anything- Percoset(?), Morphine... who knows.

I don't know how deep they'd have to put you under for teeth- maybe not so much. (Mine was kidney surgery.)

They pulled that "something to help you relax" line on me, too, btw.

Mine was when I was in 12th grade. They were coming in, not impacted yet, but I was still on my dad's insurance until I turned 18 so we decided to go ahead and do it. I had the GA, and yeah, the losing time thing is weird. I freaked out when I woke up because I thought I was still in the surgery. Afterwards, I don't know what drugs I was on, but I said some embarrassing things to my quasi-girlfriend in front of my dad.

Oh, and one of my classmates called me "Alvin" for a couple weeks afterwards because my cheeks were swollen up like a chipmunk.

One of mine is WAAAY impacted. In fact, in the x-ray, it appears to be growing sideways, and it's actually kinda horrifying. Sort of like Lisa's teeth in the Springfield Nuclear Plant dental plan/union strike episode.

All four of mine were impacted, and I had the out under GA when I was 17. The y gave me too much anasthetic and I was in shock when I came out. Scared the holy shit out of my mom. But my recovery was fine.

You'll need a LOT of sleep. Keep warm! And drink lots of non-sugary fluids. Rinse every four hours with warm, mild salt water VERY VERY GENTLY. VERY! Cannot stress that enough. Don't disturb at all the red bloody clot you see in the hole; it's protecting all that raw tissue and exposed nerves and shit.

I would advise you that if you can get behind the idea of doing local anasthetic with a sedative, I would highly recommend that you do it. GA is incredibly hard on your body; many of your internal organs shut down for several hours, as if you'd died. It feels like a piece of cake (knocks you out really fast!) but it truly is a major deal.

If you are doing GA, it really should be done in a medical center, and not a small clinic.

You'll be fine.

Hey, and let me know if you want some chicken soup or something!

I just had all four of mine out in the spring. It was waaaaay easier than I thought. One minute you're talking to OS, next thing you know, you're getting after care instructions. If you're lucky, you get to treat yourself to a nice vicodin haze for a few days and all the pudding you want! Good times. Good times.

DO NOT DRINK THROUGH A STRAW afterwards. DO NOT SMOKE. AND DO NOT GIVE DONUTS TO OCCHIBLU!

I had mine out in college just before the first Gulf War. I had very little money, so I couldn't afford GA, and all that I was given was A LOT of novocaine, so I was compis mentis the whole time.

The uppers were fine, not impacted, they each came out with a good yank. The lowers were impacted, and after some cutting the doc said, "This might jar a little," and he put a no shit chisel in my mouth against my tooth and hit that chisel with a no shit hammer...a couple of times. It was fucking terrifying. When he did the other side I was a bit more prepared, but I DID NOT LIKE IT.

I'm glad you're getting GA.

i somehow got lucky. my wisdoms never cut, and all four grew toward the back of my mouth.

Oh yeah, good point, NO SMOKING. But you'll probably be all hoppped up on codeine or what have you.

I haven't had my wisdom teeth pulled, but I had 4 bicuspids pulled before I got braces in high school. It was pretty easy, actually - local anasthesia. The dentist got what looked like blunt-nosed pliers (they call 'em dikes down here in Texas, by the way. That's strange), grabbed the tooth, wiggle wiggle yank. It felt weird - like the tooth shouldn't be doing that, but it didn't hurt till after the novocain wore off. The bleeding took a while to stop, but the nurse told me to put some wet teabags over the roots, which helped. They gave me a perscription for codeine, but I only needed one on the day of. After that, I was fine. Of course, none of the teeth were impacted, so that may be why my experience was so mild.

Eww, muddgirl, that reminds me of the one tooth I had pulled under local anesthetic. It was a baby tooth, a molar, that refused to come out. (I think I might have already been in HS, but the sucker just refused to vacate.)

The dentist went at in with pliers, but instead of pulling it out he ended up squeezing so hard that it shattered. It didn't hurt (that I remember), but it was a very, very bad feeling. He spent the next 20 minutes picking shards of tooth out of my mouth, but I still kept finding them for days afterwards.

I need to stop reading this thread.

gah! That's like, my worst nightmare. I'm serious, I have nightmares about my teeth breaking and crumbling in my mouth, completely painless but still creepy.

I had mine out a few years ago. The actual procedure was super easy, piece of cake. Not very exciting, though. As others have said, it's just ten, nine, eight, ooh... time to wake up? What?

I personally felt supremely rested, but groggy when I came to. My mother made me wear bags of frozen peas on my cheeks constantly, swapping them out when they warmed. I hated her for it at the time, but I did not swell at all. I couldn't eat mashed potatoes for a day or two. You get really sick of not being able to eat solid foods, so make sure you have some variety.

I only got giant horse pills of ibuprofen, no fun drugs for me. "Irrigating" is really gross, but kind of satisfying in that "ew gross ahhh" sort of way. If you follow all their directions, you should be fine.

Enjoy all your sleepy-time! May you recover quickly, and swell not at all. And may you not have weird recurring paralysis dreams involving moldy mummies.

My mother made me wear bags of frozen peas on my cheeks constantly, swapping them out when they warmed.

It just so happens that I have a bag of frozen peas in the freezer from last summer, which were dedicated exclusively to the purpose of "personal cooling" on really hot days. I can get more mileage out of them yet!

Frozen peas. And have lots of pudding in the house.

And if possible have someone to babysit/pamper you the first day or so...you will be pretty out of it the first day.