Ok I just had all 4 pulled at once 1 of them was sort impacted.

IT WAS THE WORST THING I HAVE EVER DONE IN MY LIFE.

The actual procedure is not that bad, I got to the office, sat in the chair got a prick of pain counted too ten. I woke up the doctor told me that I should keep my mouth shut and try not to eat food for a day. Change the bandages in a few hours. With that I stumbled out of the office. Once I got home I was happy playing games and then the drugs stopped working... the pain was crazy. If I moved my jaw, like when I curse the bastard who killed me it was like someone shoving a nail in between my teeth.

The first day I did not eat anything, I figured that I drank enough blood that I would live forever. The 2nd day the pain was still there but I could move my mouth a tiny bit, but still not enough that I felt like eating. Stayed the whole day in bed after switching out my pillow as it became a blood mess over night. The 3rd day the bleeding stopped and I could open my mouth about 1 inch, I could not chew anything so I made my wife get me pudding and jello, I ate one pudding and that was about all I could stand as far as jaw movement. The 4th day I could still only open my mouth about an inch but all pain had gone but I still had a low grade headache.. I ate about 2 cups of pudding, my wife ate all the jello!

5th Day, I could eat solids.. slowly ever so slowly.

I would take a week off cause its horrible I tell you. I also still have holes in my jaw so sometimes if I eat fries of potato chips I get crap stuck in the holes. Also I had a tooth fragment come out one day.. it was gross.

So take a week off, lots of drugs.. good luck playing games. But I did lose 5 pounds it's great diet I tell ya!

All I can say is that when I had my first wisdom tooth pulled, I was actually in far, far less pain after the fact than prior to the extraction. But then, the tooth was severely broken and rotten. Worst pain I've ever had in my life, so bad that I would lie awake curled in a fetal position wishing I could just pass out or something.

I had a second one pulled about a month or so after the first. Didn't have much of a problem from that one either. In fact, I still have most of the vicodin the doctor prescribed me (this was a year and a half ago, I should throw them out now - label says to dispose of them after 4/30/2008).

I had five, and the only bad effect I remember was some nausea from the anesthetic.

As DrunkenSleipnir said, avoid the dry socket. Use the little syringe if they give it to you, and follow their instructions. Dry socket is not fun. An ex-girlfriend actually lost feeling in one side of her face thanks to nerve damage stemming from dry socket.

Make sure there's an anaesthesiologist present doing only what he/she is supposed to do - monitoring you, adjusting, etc. The dentists should be doing the dentistry, and have that person do the sedation !

I'd say you should take 2 weeks off work.

Plan on using a lot of painkillers. Try to choose ones that will damage you less over time

Research some semi-liquid foods you won't be bored of eating for days upon days.

DO NOT SUCK ANYTHING THROUGH A STRAW OR IN ANY OTHER FASHION.

If your tongue finds something that feels like a seed stuck where a wisdom tooth was, DON'T TOUCH IT. It's the stitch that will dissolve by itself when its time.

Be very gentle and follow given instructions for brushing your teeth.

If your bleeding continues at a rate that is no longer minor, go back to dentist - they know how to stop it.

A lot went wrong for mine and it still wasn't the end of the world. Local anesthetic only and the doc had to break up the bottom ones before extraction. He left in a chunk of tooth or bone which infected the gum and had to be cleaned up by an oral surgeon later. Dry socket and an apparent natural immunity to percodan too.
You'll be fine.

Ok now that's just milking it. I had 4 teeth at once, one impacted, two had to be cut in to little pieces and pulled out around the nerves. What was different for me from what others I knew had was that they completely put me under (it was at an orthopedic surgeon) and gave me a steroid to avoid swelling later.

I spent the afternoon in bed resting, no real pain, taking advil (gave the percocet to friends) and went to work the next day because I didn't feel like staying home. No swelling, minimal pain, drank Ensure for the first couple days. Basically I assumed everything (eating, pain) would be worse so it was no big deal at all. I firmly believe the steroid was key to avoiding post-op swelling and pain--ask about it.

I had something similar with the first one. Not a chunk, just a tiny shard that was embedded in the gums. Didn't have to have it removed though, it eventually worked it's own way out. It bugged me for a few weeks, and I thought it was going to be huge. When it finally dislodged, it was barely as large as a sesame seed.

I got all four out at once, like several on this thread. I put the experience about on par with having a tumor in my parotid gland removed, except with the wisdom teeth I was in and out of the doctor's office in 2-3 hours, while I spent all day at the hospital with the tumor. I don't take general anesthesia well......

Same here, in my mid-twenties, and I had two or three of them impacted--my jaw wasn't big enough, and they were causing me bad headaches all the time. They did wave information at me about how I might not wake up from the required anesthesia and how accidentally nicking a nerve could leave me perpetually drooling or without any sensation in my face for the rest of my life. It took most of one morning to actually do it, and I was on enough pain killers that it never felt painful after. I remember it feeling weird not being able to close my jaw completely and repeatedly changing blood soaked gauze in and out of my mouth for the first day without feeling any pain. I also enjoyed how all the blood freaked out the friend of mine that offered to watch over me that day. I also lost feeling in part of my jaw for the day, but it came back. I got directions not to eat anything solid for a week and of certain foods and straws to avoid until after the holes closed up, but it went fine otherwise.

Well, except that in preparation for not being able to eat solids or chew for that week I stocked up on apple sauce. I can't even look at the stuff any more.

Mine was relatively painless. I went in fresh back from college, went to sleep, woke up with a mouth full of gauss. But mine were not severely impacted.

For me, the worst part was the all liquid diet for like a week and a half. A man can subsist on heavily blended sous for so long. And the inability to brush my teeth the whole time, for risk of losing a stitch in my gumline, was not pleasant.

So far I've had two removed. I was going to do all four but the dentist recommended I didn't simply so I'd have a side to chew with easily. I was awake and just had a local. One came out easy enough but they had to bust the other into bits. But it was fine. I couldn't even tell when the local wore off, pain-wise. There just wasn't much. I was a little sore from the yanking on my jaw, but otherwise fine. I bled all over my pillow the follwing week and had a bearly detectable pain which ibuprofen would resolve. That turned out to be dry socket. Meh.

I'm so glad that my mouth is big enough to keep all my wisdom teeth in.

I had two impacted and had them removed a few years back. The surgery itself was fast and painless (IV FTW). I swear one them was the size of my thumb nail and I can't believe it wasn't causing any discomfort being that was laying horizontally under my gum.

Just follow the instructions and be sure to take care of the scoket. You really don't want to f' it up...

I haven't seen this advice yet: Make sure you're not allergic to the pain medication they give you. I was. I didn't know beforehand, either - I found it out after the surgery. All 4 wisdom teeth removed, and then dealing with pain, dizziness and constant vomiting afterward? Not fun. Most miserable experience of my life.

I'd actually suggest against relying entirely on ice cream, as dairy may upset your stomach if you're already contending with nausea. So get a suite of soft foods: sorbet, broth soups, pudding and apple sauce, etc.

Good luck! Hope the surgery goes well.