How bad is getting your wisdom tooth removed?.

[Social_Outlaw]

I just turned 17 11 days ago, and I guess I got a late birthday present lol. my gums are swollen on the bottom far right of my mouth and I can't really eat any foods since it hurts so bad. It is currently covering my tooth. Is there any solution to stop the pain/swelling?, and on a scale 1 to 10 how bad is it getting removed?.

 

[ScarletCrystals]

Hmm, it wasn't that bad for me. I had both top and bottom left done at the same time and the swelling went away after 2-3 days.
Try rinsing with salt water 3 times a day to reduce infection/inflammation.

My experience was...2 maybe? Got it done in the morning and went back to class in the afternoon.

 

[Ryupower]

i had a some teeth pulled, it not that bad
the going to be some swelling you get pain meds prescription and antibiotics prescription
there will some bleeding
you might need to go back where you go it pulled for the to check on how it healing after a week

 

[Clydefrosch]

that entirely depends on how your teeth are coming out and how they're formed and how well your dentist knows what he's doing.

some people have ridiculous wisdom teeth that can be pulled out like they're baby teeth.
others
others seem to almost be stuck to the bone and another tooth and are hard to remove.

are your wisdom teeth even showing? if yes, how much? because if they're only partially out, you're probably end up getting them removed surgically, which is a real pain. to do that, they cut really deep and cuts heal bad. theres also a bigger chance for infections which prolong the healing time. surgery also causes more swelling afterwards.
on the pro side, you're usually out cold during the removal and they often just take all 4 at once while they're in there.
but depending on how well things go, you're gonna feel that for a few weeks if you're unlucky/have complications.


if they're all out like the rest of your teeth, it can be easy or hard, depending on how they're formed and if they get stuck under another tooth. but after a normal pull, you can pretty much go to school right afterwards (but you dont have too, you can usually get a slip because you feel whoozy afterwards or something. at least you can stay away from sport, the strain could end up cause bleeds.
and unless the dentist is really bad, things will heal up rather fast, as long as you keep it clean (salt water against infections, no milk products, no smoking etc)

the pain in general is often ok during the removal, that is, if you get anesthetized. i got like two injections (i had to ask and pay for the second one, its worth it i believe) and only felt the pressure on the jawbone while the dentist tried to strongarm the tooth out. that felt scary cause i dont have the strongest bones, but not painful.
got a bunch of pills for the next few days and after a week it was mostly back to normal.


anyways, if your tooth is infected, they cant remove it right away anyways, you'll have to take a weeks worth of antibiotics (dont just any ones, dentists use a special brand thats stronger on the tooth related bacteria) and maybe a drainage before they can think about removing it, cause otherwise no injection in the world will stop pain and things get infected afterwards for sure.
so go to the dentist soon, so he can check that up and start the treatment soon.

*all that is how its usually handled in germany, under Statutory Health Insurance - apart from the second injection of painkillers, i paid nothing for the removal of my wisdom teeth. it may be different/more expensive in the us though. maybe regulations are different and they just go for the tooth no matter the infection level.


as a tip on how to cope with swollen gums, i usually used one of those cotton rolls that dentists use
http://www.zahnarzt-praxis-halle.de/wp-content/uploads/praxisfotos/watte.JPG
alternatively, make something similar out of kitchen roll.
make them wet and use them to push away flesh from between your teeth and wedge them between teeth and cheek. its hard to explain but the important thing is to get stuff away from your teeth so you dont bite on it all the time.
it may feel weird and uncomfortable for a while and it looks really dumb, but it helps, biting only causes more swelling and pain which in turn makes everything take longer to heal

 

[Issac]

Swollen gums hurt bad, but it's normal when the wisdom teeth decide to pop up. I used to rinse with a little bit of vodka (alternatively, dip a cotton ball in vodka and put it on the gums).

All of my 4 wisdom teeth are almost fully up now (just a little flap of the gums lay on top on the bottom two). I don't have to remove them at all, and maybe you don't need it either?

When I was younger I had to remove a tooth though, the fourth to the left on the bottom. It was a baby tooth, but it sat there hard as hell and wasn't due to fall out for several years... it hurt really bad and I'd say it was 8/10 on the pain. BUT I have to say that it was a violent and stupid dentist. (And then I was lacking a tooth for a couple of years, so the surrounding teeth thought "Nice! Now we have some more space!" and when the new tooth finally came it didn't have enough space so it went on the outside... so now I look like an orc! )

 

[WiiCube_2013]

Here's a real life story of a tooth that I'm glad I got it removed:

I had a tooth on the bottom left or right (can't remember any more) which was all black and the breath smell was horrible for me and others, then I went to the dentist he gave me some anaesthesia to relax and there he went.

The worst wasn't the removal but that noise as I hate loud noises near me.

 

[Hielkenator]

I do not recommend getting it removed with the use of a shotgun....
Otherwise, no problem.

 

[Thomas83Lin]

I've had all but one of mine removed, out of the three one hurt bad. The other two didn't hurt at all. So it really depends on your teeth.

 

[Veho]

biting only causes more swelling and pain which in turn makes everything take longer to heal

This is the worst

And I get it every few months. One of them grows by a tiny fraction, then my gums get swollen and start hurting, then I start biting the inside of my cheek accidentally, then it get swollen and starts bleeding, and the more swolen it gets the more often I accidentally bite it... Argh. And then when that subsides, another wisdom tooth grows a bit and everything repeats all over again.

And they say I take after my grandmother, whose wisdom teeth finally stopped growing when she was 60

 

[Smuff]

Can only echo what others have said - depends entirely on how your wisdom teeth are growing and also on your personal pain threshold levels.

One thing I can say for sure though.... the ongoing pain of delaying getting them seen too will be far worse than the brief pain (however bad it might be) of getting them ripped out.

 

[Arras]

I had one tooth ripped out which was one of my primary teeth/baby teeth/whatchamacallits. For some reason the roots only dissolved on one side of the tooth and the other was just stuck. It was all wobbly, nasty stuff kept accumulating under it and it generally wasn't nice. Then when I got it removed the dentist gave the anesthesia about three seconds to work so it didn't do shit. It's rather painful.

 

[Clydefrosch]

This is the worst

And I get it every few months. One of them grows by a tiny fraction, then my gums get swollen and start hurting, then I start biting the inside of my cheek accidentally, then it get swollen and starts bleeding, and the more swolen it gets the more often I accidentally bite it... Argh. And then when that subsides, another wisdom tooth grows a bit and everything repeats all over again.

And they say I take after my grandmother, whose wisdom teeth finally stopped growing when she was 60

i get a bad swelling at the top right corner every now and then from a cut by some buns crust or chips or something. but i got used to putting the wet cotton there to keep everything in its place the moment i realize its happening and that helped a lot.

 

[Essometer]

If your x-rays look like this, it´s going to hurt like a bitch. I speek from experience, since my
left side widom tooth looked like this.

 

[Densetsu]

Gum inflammation can be prevented (and reversed) by flossing regularly. After flossing, immediately rinse with mouthwash for about a minute. That will give the mouthwash a chance to work itself into the gums after you've just cleared the gaps between your teeth with the floss. Then swish water until you stop bleeding. It'll hurt and bleed a lot if you haven't flossed in a while, but after you do it, the pain and swelling will stop right away. If you repeat the flossing/rinsing process, you'll be able to floss a little harder each time and feel less pain. You want to reach a point where you can floss without your gums bleeding/hurting, though that will take a few days of consistent flossing.

 

[Guild McCommunist]

Well I had mine removed when I was around a senior in high school I think, so quite a few years ago.

As context, I'm horrified of dental work. It's not as bad as when I was younger but I still get very anxious and apprehensive about dentistry. Still can't get braces done for that reason.

Anyway, went to the oral surgeon and I was put under. Woke up a bit foggy, don't remember getting to the car, woke up in the car outside the pharmacy as my dad got my pain killers, then remember waking up in the car at my house.

My dad said I should take the pills at this time and called to make sure. I felt no pain but he said I should. So I took one. Never took another one after that, really had no pain from it.

You'll be swollen for a couple of days which sucks, just ice it when you can. But for weeks my jaw was sore, eating hurt but it's not horrible. After that it was all fine.

A friend of mine had all these issues though after his like infections and dry sockets and whatever and said it hurt really bad. Everyone has a different experience.

 

[Veho]

Gum inflammation can be prevented (and reversed) by flossing regularly.

Den, his gums hurt because his wisdom teeth are growing, flossing won't help there.

 

[Joe88]

But its really notthing big, Ive had far worse done though

 

[air2004]

I had one removed several months ago , it was the type right one. The worst part of the experience was the needle , she must have used it at least 8 times . After I was numbed up , it wasn't that bad .
The crazy part was I could hear her digging in my mouth. It sounded like someone scratching into a rock , then I heard what sounded like 4 pops then I seen her pulling it out.
The swelling went away after about 48 hours . She gave me vicodin for the pain , downside to the vicodin was it made my stomach feel like it was cramping up after a few days of use.
I looked online and it said that is a side effect some people may experience .

 

[The Catboy]

I had mine removed. Overall it wasn't too bad. The worst thing about it was trying to eat for the next few days. Everything tasted like a copper penny. I was also mostly high on some pretty strong painkillers most of the time too.

 

[Guild McCommunist]

Also I should realize I'm one of the only people to get put under for my wisdom teeth. I refused to do it conscious.

I forgot to also mention my fun story. So I got back from the dentist and was all swollen. Nothing was on TV except Tora! Tora! Tora! so I watched that. But my mouth kept filling up with blood so I would periodically go to the bathroom and spit it all out while I kept a cloth near me that would take out all the congealed blood.

Eventually my dad called and I told him what was happened and he's like "...You should probably put gauze in there." Because like the idiot I am I took it out because it was bloody and didn't change it. So I did. But not before I was really pale because I lost a bunch of blood.

Good times. Also ruined a T-shirt because I opened my mouth not realizing it was full of blood and it all just poured onto my shirt.

Sounds horrifying but it was actually kinda funny.