To say goodbye to my final wisdom tooth, I thought it might be helpful for others—and myself—to document the experience for a final time. This blog has been started a day before my extraction date and will be posted once I heal, or after a week passes, whichever comes first. This is NOT medical advice or anything, I'm just yapping about my own experience and healing!
Pre Op / Day 1 / Day 2 / Day 3 / Day 4 / Day 5
1 day before extraction: I am terrified! Despite knowing full well what to expect, this extraction in particular comes with a lot of complications. It's a lower extraction which generally comes with higher risks (especially for dry socket) and it is completely horizontally impacted which will require drilling/cutting through my jaw bone to fully extract the tooth. I will require stitches after the fact which doesn't particularly frighten me; I had to get them for my previous lower extraction too. Oh, also, I'm a heavy smoker! For previous extractions I managed to hold off for 24 hours before smoking again, but I'm extra worried about smoking for this extraction given the invasive nature of the surgery. I probably won't last longer regardless... Please don't preach to me about quitting, I'm addicted, it's bad I know.
The only saving grace I have in regards to this extraction in particular is that my tooth is 'off the nerve' which I have since learnt is incredibly lucky. Means I have less chance of losing feeling due to nerve damage and such!
To prepare for the extraction, I have bought a lot of liquids. I got some meal replacement drinks, banana flavored, and some yoghurt to get me through the first two days. Following on the third day, I have some pancakes, mashed potato, and these little chicken chunks that are easy to chew. I have water for taking some pain meds, but my dentist says I can drink soda immediately if I want... I'm just being extra cautious! I have also made sure that my sleep schedule aligns so that I'll be wanting to sleep after surgery, mostly so I don't have to stay awake choking for a cigarette as soon as surgery is done, and I can hopefully sleep off the worst of the immediate healing, allowing the blood clot to form without constant interference. I have an ice pack in the freezer waiting for usage tomorrow, and a hot water bottle on standby after 48 hours to switch for better blood flow.
I will document pain, sleep, eating timeline, and smoking instructions for those concerned. I keep having panic attacks because I know that the healing process is dreadful, but it should only last a week for the worst of it!
Good luck future me! I'm sure it'll be fine like the other three extractions.
Day 1: That was so fucking traumatic holy shit... Like I knew it would be the most difficult extraction, and I was somewhat prepared, but that was an experience I hope to never have again! Not to scare anyone, but it really was such an awful experience...
It took almost an hour and I was choking on my own blood for the majority of it. The sound of the drill was distressing and I physically recoiled at the sound of my tooth cracking in my skull. Part of my root didnt wanna come out and the dentist (of which there were three btw, it was that complicated) almost gave up on extracting it. They did manage to get it out though, so the whole tooth has been removed root and all. It came out in tiny pieces because of how much they had to break it, and it was a bit decayed too due to being impacted.
They gave me an ungodly amount of stitches and four rounds of anesthetic (the first round numbed me up, but they had to numb up several different areas). I have been coughing and burping up blood for the last hour since getting home which makes me nauseous, and my cheek is about the size of two golf balls.
I'm going to try and nap now while the anesthetic is still working. I keep needing to lick a paper towel because my tongue is soaked in blood from my saliva and from bringing it back up, but the extraction site doesn't seem to be bleeding anymore after applying an extra gauze for 30 mins. I only got given one extra gauze which I used as soon as I got home, and then I left the site alone to bleed and clot when it could. As for why I'm licking paper towel, it's because you're not supposed to spit, and dribbling isn't clean enough. I'm going to be in so much pain in a few hours, so I've prepared water and codeine. Using an ice pack has significantly helped swelling so I will place one on my cheek as I nap sitting up.
Notes:
Day 2: I had to take 2 codeine at 7pm yesterday because I was sobbing from the sheer amount of pain I was in, but on the plus side, those 2 pills helped enough to let me sleep at 8pm and I slept all the way through until 2pm today which is 18 hours. My mom was actually so concerned about my mental state last night because I was sobbing so much LOL. I have ate two chocolate yoghurts, but swallowing is pretty painful right now so it's difficult to eat. I'm drinking soda because its yummy and it's helping to settle my stomach. All night I was bringing up blood but that has stopped and the bleeding from the socket has stopped too, leaving only light pink saliva which has stopped now too. My jaw feels bruised. I can feel a headache forming so I'll take one more codeine.
I caved and had a cigarette at exactly 24hrs post op. Immediately after I tried to eat an iced donut but I only managed half because it hurts to chew at the moment. I'll take a pain med after salt rinsing now because eating has prompted more pain.
I haven't napped because I feel pretty much back to normal besides a tender jaw that's twice the size and some difficulty swallowing. I can't see the blood clot but I think that's because they stitched over the hole and it's pretty much covered behind gum and cheek, which is normal btw. They stitch your cheek to your gum to help healing, the stitches are dissolvable.
Notes
Day 3: I went to sleep around 3am and woke up at 1pm, almost at the 72 hour mark! I woke up once during the night because I was sleeping on the extraction site side and my teeth were clenched so I was in a little bit of pain, but after fixing my position I slept some more. When I fully woke up I have little to no pain and it feels like one of my stitches is dissolving? That's a little concerning to me but google says its ok and normal, so I'm trying not to worry about it. I'm using a warm cloth to hold against my jaw to try and lessen the swelling now that I'm at 70ish hours post op. I think you can do it before now, but I was asleep for most of it. The dissolving stitch feeling might just be peak swelling, like my cheek/jaw/gums/tongue/throat are so swollen that they're 'crowding' the extraction site? Anyway, it's deffo not the blood clot moving so it's just more of an annoying feeling than anything. Hopefully the warm cloth helps to lessen this feeling!
Okay, so I called my dentist with some questions regarding taking pills and after describing my swelling they decided to do a check up on me. At the appointment, my dentist said that my gum and clot are both very healthy and that the swelling is to be expected, but given how difficult and complicated my specific extraction was (a horizontally impacted lower) he's giving me antibiotics just as a precaution. He doesn't see any signs of infection but just in case, I've got some. I am also advised to keep icing the area for two more days, and if swelling gets worse during the next two days then I've to visit them for some cleaning of the area and a second check up. He did reassure me that it all looks like healthy and normal healing however, and that I might just be taking a little longer than usual due to how complicated my extraction was. He says that the stitches are a bit loose, but that's somewhat expected given that I'm 3 days into healing and they're dissolvable ones.
Moving easier, sleeping better, haven't had to take any pain medication today. Dentist said no more ibuprofen though for some reason? I suppose it's because I've been given antibiotics instead. I'm allowed to take paracetamol if I feel the need, but I haven't yet.
Notes
Day 4: I slept for 8 hours and woke up to a tight jaw. Not the bone, I can still open and close it just fine, but the skin over my cheek and jaw feels very tight... Like the swelling has been squashed to a larger surface area? Not painful by any means. Swelling could still be peaking today so I'm not worried about it. It does not feel as tender today! I feel very normal today besides caring for the annoying remaining healing habits like salt water rinsing, icing my cheek, eating taking longer, and smoking a bit slower. I can smoke more normally now, as in lips wrapped around, but it has to be slower drags regardless.
After icing a bit this morning, my cheek doesn't feel as tight. I've ate a yoghurt but my appetite still isn't as strong as it usually is, so I don't mind eating a bit less. I managed to walk to the shop no problem today which makes sense because I took the bus and walked to my dentist appointment yesterday with no problems either. My swollen cheek/jaw doesn't feel as warm today either, but I think I'm going to stop icing it to hopefully help the tight feeling. I'm going to take one ibuprofen instead to see how that helps.
After no ice and one ibuprofen, my swelling has reduced even further so I'm happy, but not sure what has helped. Natural healing, no icing, the antibiotics, the ibuprofen? Who knows, but moving forward I will continue with no ice, one ibuprofen a day if needed, and the course of antibiotics I was given. I'll let myself naturally heal for the most part from now on.
Notes
Day 5: Gooood morning! I only slept 5 hours today because I forgot I had to wake up semi early for something, but my lack of sleep hasn't felt bad or anything. There's a disconnect today, in that I feel completely normal, but my body mechanically isn't working as I feel, leaving me a bit frustrated. I still have some swelling, but it has reduced and more importantly... It feels better! No longer is my jaw/cheek tight, and the bit of cheek they stitched to my gum no longer feels like it's going inside of my extraction site hole, leading me to believe it is less inflamed internally too. The hole itself looks to be closing already, though I can't properly see it due to how extensively I got stitched up. No pain anywhere at all still. I had some mcdonalds for breakfast but struggled to eat it because I had to cut everything up into tiny portions and I didn't really enjoy it... It did feel good to eat actual food for once! Especially because I woke up HUNGRYYYY omfg my hunger is back... I DO have greater range in my jaw, but it's like I get nervous when trying to eat and it locks up a bit? Weird.
In more good news, I can smoke normally now! No issues there whatsoever, and it is the only thing keeping me sane as I gradually make my way over the half way mark for healing LOL. I think I'll be able to eat better by the end of the week, especially considering everything seems to have taken a big jump for the better today. Though on the outside my cheek still looks a bit swollen, I internally feel so much better and more able. Here's to a smooth transition back to normalcy from now on!
Notes
And I think I'll end it here! All that's really left is for my hole to close up which will take at least 2 weeks, and for eating to become more comfortable. Assuming that nothing goes wrong which I don't assume, given that all signs point to healing; lowering swelling, virtually no pain left, and 5 days post op without dry socket. I imagine any more entries will just be me repeating myself, though I'll return here if anything major changes like if I get a post healing infection or something.
Here are some final notes that may be interesting to take into account.
Here's hoping that the positives continue and I can return to my normal life by this time next week. Thanks for reading!
Thought I'd pop in with some updates since I'm still healing. I'll update this for as long as it takes for my mouth to heal, but not as consistently as above.