It's not for me, I wasn't born with wisdom teeth. It's for my dear son. He's 19 and, for those that don't know, autistic. He's having 3 wisdom teeth and one previously root-canaled molar removed on Wednesday morning. I imagine he'll have an easier time with it than I will. I'm going to be a mess. They told me he will be off work for one full week. He's not going to like that at all.

What should I expect and how should I prepare?

In the ~40 years since I had mine out, my memory might be fuzzy, but I don't remember needing a whole week off. I had some discomfort and bleeding, as you'd expect, but nothing lasting. Maybe a couple of days. I was also knocked out for the procedure. I would recommend this, because I think they used a miniature air hammer to chisel the teeth out.

Has he got any PTO - vacation or otherwise - coming? That might help.

Surgery as in a hospital? Had mine out around that age (1977/78), put under. Not much pain, but threw up a bit of blood that made it's way down my throat.

My son is autistic as well. He had them out a couple years ago. He did pretty well after the the juice wore off. Made him quite a few smoothies, which he was good with. He was only uncomfortable for a couple of days. One thing about autistic kids, they're pretty pain tolerant.

I just had a wisdom tooth removed last week.
It was the most incredibly painless experience I've ever had at the dentist.

When I was a kid I had 9 teeth pulled in two sessions. It was horrible.
Lots of pain and screaming.

Nowadays however... They put some goop on a q-tip and rubbed it on my gums. It does some basic numbing.
Then they took a needle and gave more complete numbing. Needle did not hurt due to the goop applied earlier.
They let it sit like that for about 10 minutes to let everything take effect.
Then the doc took 2 metal sticks and simply applied some side pressure to the tooth.
No pain - just simple pushing. He held this for about another 5-10 minutes.
Then he grabbed some wacky looking pliers and fiddled around in my mouth for a few seconds...
"OK well the tooth is out. Now I just need to do some cleanup of excess tissue"

I was shocked. I never even felt the damn thing pull free.
It was amazing.

Edit to add:

I missed 1 day of work.

quote:

Originally posted by JR78:
... One thing about autistic kids, they're pretty pain tolerant.

Yeah, you ain't kidding. Marky had a cracked molar and never complained. That crap hurts.

I had mine out in the Army, I was chewing on Aspirin for about a week before ...the pain sucked.

My dentist was great, I remember ...barely... feeling as be broke the teeth up...no pain though.

I was back at work in 2 days and could have done it in one but my Sec Sgt would not let me.

I was 21 I believe.

Good luck, I can't imagine being a parent in your situation going through it.

quote:

Originally posted by Floyd D. Barber:
Surgery as in a hospital? ...

It's at his regular dentist but he will go under general anesthesia.

Had mine out when I was about 27. Only had three of them.

Doctor gave me locals and some nitrous. Offered me valium which I turned down.

The first two he got with a pair of vice grips, the sound that echoes in your skull when he clamps down on your tooth is not for the faint of heart.

The third tooth had to be cut out. Cut open the gums, Dremel tool to cut the tooth into quarters and then remove the quarters. Could smell the burning bone.

Everything was fine until about 2 hours after when the locals started wearing off. About a day or two of Rx pain med pain and then just Tylenol.


I'm guessing they'll put him under so he should be fine. Just make sure he takes his meds.

No straws.

I had one taken out by air force ,one taken out by ship board Quack one taken by orthodontist and one taken out by an old local den.
they all were different.
Air force was the worst,leaked blood for a couple days

I just had mine out a couple months ago; I'm 34. I only had top wisdom teeth. The annoying part was having to bite on gauze (replacing every 45-60 mins) until the clots formed and the bleeding stopped. Took about 9-10 hours total. The clenching of my teeth caused a bit of a headache. Pain was gone after a day or two. I took the day after off of work, but after that I was fine. Healing was mostly complete after a week, but the holes still haven't completely closed up.

The process itself was very quick, except one root broke off and took a little doing to get out. The other tooth came out in about 20 seconds.

Ice bag will help with swelling & discomfort.

I think different people have different reactions, like pain tolerance, or even the level of pain. I had all four of mine pulled in one siting, and it didn't really affect me much afterwards. But I was young and I think they put me under. But the recovery was a non-event if I remember correctly.

quote:

Originally posted by mark123:

What should I expect and how should I prepare?

Traditionally, you might want to get a crisp $5 bill to put under his pillow.

I was 16 when I had mine extracted. They put me out. I tried to impress the pretty nurse by walking to the recovery room on my own and promptly walked into the wall. Mom drove me home and told me I was either walking up the stairs on my own or sleeping in the car until my dad got home because she couldn't carry me up the stairs. I made it on my own. I spent a long weekend on the couch with a swollen face and a bag of frozen peas. I don't remember the pain being bad but I have a higher tolerance. Frozen peas work because they conform to the face better than a bunch of ice cubes. Take the meds and follow instructions.

quote:

Originally posted by wrightd:
I think different people have different reactions, like pain tolerance, or even the level of pain. I had all four of mine pulled in one siting, and it didn't really affect me much afterwards. But I was young and I think they put me under. But the recovery was a non-event if I remember correctly.

I had mine removed when I was 17 or 18. Just a local anesthetic was used. The worst part was the shots, and I also remember thinking my jaw might separate from my noggin when the doc had to split my lower teeth with some sort of tool and a lot of downward pressure.

Later that day I installed a new stereo in my car, so I felt pretty good.

I have an excellent dentist, and he has always referred me to specialist for root canals and extractions. I see an oral surgeon for extractions, and an endodontist for the root canals.

Perhaps it is because they are specialists, but they have always been fast, pain free, and with zero complications afterwords.

I had my wisdom teeth removed while put under, and another molar removed with gas. The gas made me very anxious/paranoid. If he's going to be put under, he shouldn't eat that morning. No sucking out of a straw for a bit either. Outside of that there'll be some blood for a short while, and you deal with that by biting on some gauze.

"Follow the instructions..."

Especially the one to NOT use a straw to drink the wonderful milkshakes/smoothies/etc.

The suction required to make the straw draw the thick semi-solid into the mouth is enough to break the seal of the blood clot in each tooth socket... this will lead to the unhappy "Dry Socket(s)" and resulting pain and extended recovery time.

Good luck, Marky! You got this covered!

Don

I had three removed when I was in my 50's, it was no big deal.

Much less stressful for you than dealing with some of your lawn customers. Follow the written instructions and there should not be a problem. Pain is variable depending on whether or not they are impacted or not. Most people his age are back at work in a couple of days unless the job involves lots of heavy lifting. Keep the ice packs going as instructed. Ibuprofen handles most of the pain. Sometimes short term opiates are used. As noted no sucking on straws or smoking. Good luck and let us know how it goes.