Briar's Positive Wisdom Tooth Surgery

Hi friends!

Do I have a delightful post for you all today!

I will be sharing everything possible about my wisdom tooth surgery and recovery because I know a lot of you have already reached out to me, telling me that it makes you nervous, and I want to share that there isn’t too much to be scared about.

At the same time, I will be fully honest, so if you know this will make you disgusted, it’s probably best if you skip this one today.

Back in April, I had a consultation where they would go over some things about the surgery and decide if I was a good candidate for the procedure.

I have a below-average-small mouth. They pretty much looked inside and were like,

“Yeah, you don’t stand a chance if we don’t take these out. You will have issues with them in the future.”

My top two were through my gums, and both of them already had cavities, so it was almost like removing all four of them would be a fresh start.

At the consultation, they told me that I would have three options:

1. Stay awake for the procedure and get local numbing to the area.

2. Stay awake, get the numbing, and get laughing gas.

3. Get the anesthesia.

Anesthesia has always freaked me out a little bit(or a lotta bit), so I figured I ought to avoid it if that was possible.

The idea of me on drugs like laughing gas also worried me, but I figured that was probably the best middle ground option. I’d rather be on drugs and relaxed than not have them and be petrified.

I ended up deciding on option 2. After I made the decision and told my friends and family, everyone told me I should have just gotten the anesthesia.

I held my ground and said it would be fine… but the problem with telling people you’re getting your wisdom teeth out is that everyone has a horror story about it.

I have heard some wild stories about people getting their wisdom teeth out these last several months. I will admit, it did get to me a little bit, but for the most part I tried not to think of it…until…

The day before.

Sunday was my last day of wisdom before all four of my beloved teeth were going to be taken from me.

I was starting to get nervous.

I also did everything in my power to chew as many foods as possible before I’d be stuck on a no-chewing diet.

I accidentally ate two burgers that Sunday. I had eaten a cheeseburger for lunch, and for supper I meant to get chicken strips. I am so used to ordering the same thing at Culver’s that I forgot I didn’t want another cheeseburger XD. Oops.

That night, I decided maybe exposure therapy would help. I decided to watch wisdom tooth demonstrations on YouTube so I would know exactly what would be happening in my mouth.

Probably not my wisest moment… but I actually felt better after seeing the whole process. The stitching part did weird me out, and the drill saw cutting up the bottom teeth was also disturbing, but at least I would know what was going to happen.

I didn’t sleep the greatest that night in anticipation of what was to come, but I was able to get lots of rest before I drove down to my parents’ house to await my doom.

A couple of years ago, a close friend of mine solemnly had this conversation with me:

“Briar, I need you to promise me something.”

“Yes? What?”

“I need you to drive me home from my wisdom tooth surgery. I will do the same for you.”

“Like a pact?”

“Exactly.”

So we made a pact.

Alas, she broke the pact because she forgot about it and had to work, but it ended up being fine🤣.

I will still uphold my promise by driving her home from her surgery when that happens LOL😉.

My mom and I got to the dental surgery clinic and waited in the lobby. They had this obnoxious video playing on repeat in the background with cringey interviews of the doctors.

“I always try to keep my environment as calming for my patients as possible because I know a lot of people can be a little nervous coming to see me.”

I think I audibly chuckled.

In case you were wondering, yes, I was finishing up the 8th volume of Emma M. Lion in the waiting room. 5-star series. I need volume 9 ASAP.

I digress.

“Briar?”

I took a deep breath and stood up.

It was time.

I left my belongings with my mom and took the short journey to the room where I would meet my demise.

A stately dentist chair was placed in the center of the small room with trays of neatly displayed sterile tools.

“I just need you to sign these consent papers before we get started.”

I skimmed the papers before signing and noted that they explained, in detail, every possible complication that could occur.

With another deep breath, I finished the last signature.

“Okay, I just need you to sit in the chair with your head back, and I’ll get you started on the nitrous oxide. You may feel like you’re floating or your legs are tingly; don’t worry, that’s all normal.”

She put a gas mask over my nose and put some long sticks of gum-numbing gel all over my mouth.

The strangest part was definitely having my mouth numbed. It felt HUGE! I was convinced my airway was blocked and I wouldn’t be able to breathe, but I knew that it was all in my head.

Once I talked myself out of it being dangerous, I decided to embrace the anomaly and concentrate on how weird it felt.

I sat there like that for a few minutes and noted that I didn’t feel any different from the nitrous oxide at all. I was very thankful for that. I would not have liked floating.

“I will go over all of the after-surgery instructions once I take you off the laughing gas. Some people find that they don’t remember anything while they are on it.”

I seriously didn’t feel any different while on the laughing gas; I think it may have been because the mask was hardly fitted well, and it kind of just hovered above my face.

I did not mind, though, because feeling unlike myself was the thing I was most worried about.

The doctor came in for the first round of numbing shots.

“Do you have any questions for me before we get started?”

That’s when I remembered the very important question I had been wanting to ask:

“Yes! I was wondering if I can keep any teeth that aren’t getting sawed up?”

He kind of just blinked a couple times and said, “Um, yeah, I don’t think we can let you keep the teeth unless it is for religious reasons.”

I was quite disappointed, and I almost said:

“Well, God gave me these teeth, and therefore I should be able to keep them!”

I kept my mouth shut and just let them have the teeth.

I wasn’t sure which religions require that you keep your teeth, and I assumed I probably wasn’t wearing the appropriate outfit to pull off a lie like that.

Oh well.

I was informed that the numbing shots were going to be the most painful part of the entire surgery. He was right; the needle jabs into all four corners of my mouth were not pleasant, but it wasn’t too bad. He stated:

“Wow, you’re doing way better than most patients do.”

I have a very high pain tolerance, so I was pleased with that compliment.

He left for a few more minutes to let the numbing kick in more before he did the second round of shots. My mouth kept feeling like it was getting bigger.

He came back and jabbed me a few more times. Then he said:

“These next two are going in the roof of your mouth. This is going to be the most painful part, okay?”

Yep. It was the most painful part. The other ones I didn’t even flinch; these ones I had to scrunch up my eyes and press my hands together. But it was over very quickly.

I was told that if I ever felt anything sharp and painful during the surgery, all I needed to do was raise my left hand.

They stuck a wedge in one side of my mouth.

That’s when I realized that the surgery part had already started!

I hadn’t even noticed!

He was slicing up my mouth, and I seriously couldn’t feel anything. It’s an unusual experience for sure.

“Have you ever been told you have a really small mouth?”

I attempted a laugh with my mouth wedged open.

Yes, I have been told.

I think he repeated I had a small mouth at least a dozen times throughout the whole thing.

He told me that the bottom two wisdom teeth would need to be sawed into pieces. The sawing part was uncomfortable only because it was loud.

Really loud.

I could feel the pressure, and I could hear the popping and cracking, but it was so amusing to me because I couldn’t feel any pain.

Maybe it was the nitrous oxide doing its job, but it wasn’t scary at all.

The doctor was also super good at explaining everything to me before it happened. He would say, “You’re going to hear a big crack,” and sure enough! I heard it crack!

People online acted as if it was the most traumatizing thing, but it’s really not.

He also frequently asked if I was doing okay.

“Are you doing good?”

And because I couldn’t really talk, I’d just make the sound:

“Uh huh!”

Once he finished the left side of my mouth, he exclaimed:

“You’re halfway done!”

I don’t know if it was the nitrous oxide or if I would have done this otherwise, but I clapped my hands and tried to say, “Yay!” with my mouth open🤣.

Knowing myself, I probably would have done that regardless of what drugs I was on.

Then he started on the right side of my mouth.

He got out the saw thing just like before, but this time, I could feel some sharp radiating pains. It wasn’t excruciating to the point of freaking out, but it was enough pain that I did raise my left hand, and he stopped immediately to give me another numbing shot.

He resumed, and I was back to no pain.

Perhaps that sounds scary, but it really wasn’t all that bad.

When he was sewing up my bottom two, it was the strangest thing because I could feel the excess thread on my face, so I knew that’s what he was doing, but I literally felt nothing when he actually stitched me up.

They folded two pieces of gauze and put them in each side of my mouth.

Just like that. It was all over.

The whole thing took about 30 minutes, and then I was taken off the laughing gas and put on oxygen.

It only takes about 10 seconds for the nitrous oxide to wear off, so she started explaining all of my post-surgery instructions right away. The laughing gas did make me really dizzy because I was having a really hard time concentrating on anything she was saying. At one point she was like:

“Are you doing okay?”

And then I made a motion with my hands to indicate that I felt dizzy. She had me lie back down for a minute before resuming her instructions.

Once she made sure that I wasn’t going to pass out, I was given the all clear to sit up and try standing.

I was fine by that point, and I walked back out to the lobby with a smile on my face.

I was done!

My teeth were out!

We drove back home, and I took out my whiteboard and dry-erase marker to share the tale.

I know I wrote in this note that I would have no issues with not speaking:

But it was way harder than I thought because I was so excited to talk to everyone and tell them everything that happened.

The numbing lasted for 8 hours total. It was so odd to be numb. I could pinch my lip and not feel a single thing.

The dental assistant had mentioned that she would write me a prescription for strong pain medicine if I needed it.

I never ended up needing anything more than ibuprofen.

The first day I took 400 mg of ibuprofen every 4 hours. The second and third day I took 200 mg every 4 hours. Yesterday (day four), I took 200 mg as needed, and today (day five), I haven’t taken anything at all.

Let’s talk about what day one recovery looks like.

I ate a couple of smoothies, and that was pretty much it. You have to eat only really soft, blended foods for the first couple of days to keep from disrupting the blood clots.

If you lose the blood clots, you can get something called dry socket, which is apparently an extremely painful condition where you have to go back to the dentist for them to help you.

The most annoying part of day one was changing out the gauze. Every 30 minutes to 1 hour, I would change it out, and each time I took them out, they would be soaked with blood.

I was convinced my mouth was going to bleed forever.

I was pretty much in zero pain. I did have a mild-to-medium headache that lasted a couple of days, but other than that, I stayed pretty pain-free.

I told my mom at one point:

“I think everyone is just dramatic; this is really easy.”

And she said:

“You seem to be doing unusually well; I don’t think everyone has it this good.”

Whether this was the norm or not, it is possible for it not to be painful, so take heart if you are going to need this surgery soon.

Bedtime rolled around. I looked it up and learned that you’re supposed to sleep without gauze in your mouth. My left side was still bleeding a decent amount, but I followed the instructions.

You’re also supposed to sleep propped up so your head is above your heart.

I slept quite soundly that night, but I could taste the blood in my mouth all night long. It wasn’t my favorite, but also not all that bad.

By the morning, my two bottom teeth had blood clots, and I no longer needed gauze in my mouth.

My face was swollen, but I was still feeling pretty great!

Everyone had been warning me about “Day Three.” I was told that would be peak inflammation and I would be in the most pain that day.

It honestly wasn’t much worse than day two. I was more swollen, but the only way it affected me was by making it harder to open my mouth all the way.

My mom and I had left the house that afternoon because she had a meeting with a friend of hers, and so I tagged along.

I got to eat French fries, which was the first solid food I had eaten in days! I was so happy!

My social battery died very early on in our excursion, and then after a long series of events we didn’t get home until almost midnight… so I was not doing well, but I think that had more to do with exhaustion and heightened aversion to loud/repetitive sounds.

Part of the reason we got back so late was that we watched the EAA show from a parking lot in Oshkosh(we didn’t pay to get close to the show).

Even though we were far away from the action, it was still awesome.

For whatever reason, the EAA is the largest air show event in the entire world… it also happens to be relatively nearby to where we live, so we decided to check it out.

Who doesn’t want to see airplanes do crazy stunts with a bunch of fireworks coming off of them?

So yes, day three was technically my worst day, but that had less to do with my mouth and more to do with not being able to rest.

Yesterday and today were much better! My swelling has started to go down, and I have been eating more solid but soft foods that don’t require a lot of chewing (waffles, mashed potatoes, oatmeal, etc.).

I must say, I have been very hungry throughout these last few days. That’s one of the worst parts. I think I lost 5 pounds this week… which is not good at all considering I already don’t weigh much. It’s a challenge to eat enough when you can’t chew.

I would recommend that anyone who is getting this surgery have a meal plan for the week already set with recipes that have enough nutrients to properly sustain you.

In conclusion.

I had a much better experience than I was expecting.

I give my surgery a 5-star rating.

If you are going to be getting your wisdom teeth out soon, you genuinely don’t need to be scared.

If they give you the option to be awake and you generally do well with medical stuff, I would highly recommend that option. It was very cool to witness the whole process.

And with that, I shall end this blog post!

Thank you all for giving this a read! If you made it through the whole thing, don’t forget to like this post and maybe even share it with a friend who is scared about getting their wisdom teeth removed❤️.