Wisdom tooth extraction recovery medication can be taken as prescribed. Rinsing with warm salt water, avoiding hot liquids and solid foods, and also managing swelling with ice packs are important. Sutures can be used and will thus be removed later. It is important to avoid smoking and also monitor for fever.
Wisdom teeth, or third molars, are indeed the final adult teeth that erupt in one’s mouth. They do come in between the ages of 17-21. Several people do not have enough room for wisdom teeth, which is why they need to be removed.
Most people do recover in 3-4 days from wisdom tooth extraction recovery surgery, but full recovery can take a week or more. Complex extraction of impacted wisdom teeth that have already been causing symptoms can require a longer healing time, closer to around 2 weeks.
Several questions arise in the patient’s mind, like:
How painful is wisdom tooth extraction recovery pain?
Several people have little discomfort, mild pain, and swelling for about 3 days after wisdom teeth removal. Unless the person develops a dry socket, he or she needs to feel better within 3-7 days.
How long should the patient take off work?
Usually, the dentist will advise 1-2 days off to recover from wisdom tooth extraction. It is important to not only follow the dentist’s and surgeon’s instructions but also to support fast healing by following a few easy tips.
Day of Surgery: What to Expect?
Wisdom tooth oral surgery is an outpatient procedure that usually takes 45 minutes or less.
There is no need to stay anywhere overnight. If only receiving local anesthesia (for non-impacted wisdom teeth), the patient can drive to and from the appointment. For surgical extractions with moderate to deep sedation, the person will require a ride to and from their oral surgeon’s office.
Depending on which anesthesia options he or she chooses, the first day of recovery can be slightly different. Local anesthetic and conscious sedation are, in fact, less taxing on one’s body than deep sedation.
Waking Up
To avoid wisdom tooth extraction pain, a local numbing agent and light sedation are used. The patient probably will not be fully aware during the procedure but can typically leave soon after the extraction is complete.
Wisdom tooth extraction pain is due to eruption through one’s gums and embedding in one’s jawbone. During this procedure, the patient will indeed receive a little form of general anesthesia on top of local anesthesia near the extraction site.
After an impacted wisdom tooth surgery, it can take longer for the person to wake up from general anesthesia. He or she probably will not remember anything about the procedure, being moved to a recovery room, or the few minutes before the procedure begins.
Going Home
When initially waking up, the patient will notice that his or her mouth is numb. The feeling will come back over the next several hours.
There can be blood in one’s mouth during the first 24 hours of recovery. Resting in the evening helps after surgery, and also canceling any strenuous activity.
For impacted wisdom teeth surgery, the patient has to have a few additional things to do on the day of one’s surgery:
- The surgeon will give a gauze pad to keep over the site of the extraction for anywhere between 30 minutes to about 4 hours. He or she may also receive additional gauze pads to use over the next few hours. Change gauze pads every hour for the length of time recommended by one’s dentist.
- The surgeon can instruct the patient to fill prescriptions for painkillers or antibiotics on his or her way home so that he or she can take them as soon as possible.
- If over-the-counter painkillers are suggested in place of prescriptions, then the patient will probably be told to take them as soon as he or she gets home.
- The patient needs to begin using an ice pack soon after surgery on the side(s) of one’s jaw where teeth were extracted.
Conclusion
Wisdom tooth extraction recovery can be uncomfortable and be accompanied by nausea and vomiting during the first 10 hours after the surgery as a result of swallowed blood, sedation, or general anesthesia. If continuing to vomit, calling the surgeon helps.