My Experience

I had my wisdom teeth out relatively late (age 23). I went in to meet with the oral surgeon and he talked to me for 10-15 minutes about the procedure, the anesthetic and the recovery and then asked if I was ready. Since I seemed relatively calm, he asked whether I wanted to have the nitrous gas mask. His opinion was that it was mainly useful for those patients who are very nervous about the procedure. Since I didn’t seem nervous, and because he said the mask has the potential to make things take longer/be more complicated, we agreed to forego it.

I was put into the dentist chair, and the oral surgeon and his assistants (I was in a teaching clinic, so there were two fourth-year dental students assisting) numbed my gums with a topical salve then injected the area with Novocain. While we waited for it to take effect, the oral surgeon laid out his instruments (scalpels, mirror, and something that looked like a bottlecap opener), and the dental students made jokes about giving me a shave while I waited. I was also offered and accepted a hand mirror with which to observe the procedure myself.

Once the anesthetic had taken effect, they began to cut away the gums from the impacted tooth, then worked it back and forth with the bottlecap opener to be able to cut away the root. There was some pain (at one point I asked for additional Novocain – which you should do if it hurts), but mostly pressure and odd sounds (crunch and tear) as the teeth came away. They had some difficulty with a particularly stubborn tooth, and at one point, it felt as if my jaw was being pulled slightly off-kilter.

All four wisdom teeth were taken out, they put 2 or three stitches in the bottom gaps, left the top ones open (they heal and drain more quickly, apparently), then gave me a squeeze bottle with a bent tip to irrigate the extraction sites after meals (don’t let food build up in there!) and said to eat liquids and very soft foods for the first few days (yogurt, soup, milkshakes, pudding). And to take ibuprofen for the pain and swelling as needed.

Frankly, I had no swelling and very little pain. In fact, after the procedure, I went to visit a friend at work (I’d taken the day off, just in case), and she didn’t notice anything because she asked when I was going to have the extraction done. We went to lunch, and I was back to work the next day, and did experience some sensitivity to hot and cold liquids and foods, but overall, it was a very easy procedure and a quick recovery. I suspect that those who have it done under anesthesia have more of a drug hangover and recovery issue to worry about as well. I had my stitches out in a week or so (or they dissolved).