My Honest Experience w/ Wisdom Teeth Removal and Recovery
I'd like to start off by saying that my x-rays showed my wisdom teeth were not impacting, or were barely impacting my other teeth, and overall my surgery was short, only around 20-25 minutes total. I understand that everyone experiences surgery and recover in a different way, and I will respect that.
Leading up to surgery I wasn't that nervous or scared, I just wanted to get the procedure over with and carry on with my life. I did research a few tips for before and after surgery, and I really wanted to be put to sleep for it, as I didn't want to feel a thing. The day of the appointment I found out that I would be getting general anesthetic inserted into my gums via needle, and I was honestly very nervous. My heart rate and blood pressure were through the roof, and I'm surprised they continued on with the surgery. IF YOU CAN I would recommend that you do IV Sedation, as it puts you to sleep for the procedure so you don't feel anything, and you don't have to worry about the procedure.
They started the process by inserting a decently large needle into different places on my top and bottom gums, which did hurt due to the amount of pain receptors in the mouth. Once this was done, my mouth essentially fell asleep and was hard to swallow, but not painful. I waited in the operation room for about 20 minutes, before the surgery started. This is where pain escalated, as I quickly noticed I could feel them working on my bottom teeth. I couldn't feel the incisions made on my gums, but I absolutely felt them cranking and removing the teeth, which was probably one of the most painful experiences I have ever had, although it was very shirt lived pain due to the numbness. They moved on to my top teeth, and I could not feel them being removed at all, the procedure for the tops was over in about 5 minutes.
RECOVERY:
I am currently on Day 4 of recovery and it has gone exceptionally well. There has always been a lingering fear of dry socket, however if you don't smoke/vape, irritate the extraction sites, be careful with what you eat, don't use straws etc, then you will be just fine, obviously the risk is still there to get dry socket, but if you follow basic careful steps, risk is essentially eliminated.
I would say I have healed faster and better then most, due to an easy procedure, and aftercare of my mouth, however everyone heals differently. I finally got to eat real food today (Chipotle bowl), and I played pickleball at the park for a few hours yesterday with friends. Don't be terribly worried for the days after surgery, as it's more so annoying than it is painful. Even though pain and soreness mostly went away starting yesterday, I am still taking the medications and ibuprofen/acetaminophen as extra precaution.
AFTER THOUGHTS:
I cannot truthfully say whether or not pineapple juice helped me, but my swelling has reduced greatly by Day 4. No matter what you do to try and reduce pain or swelling for after the surgery, it will probably work just a little bit. If i'm honest, I believe using an ice pack the first two days is more impactful by far then pineapple juice. At this point in time, I am probably 80-85% active, and there is still risk I get dry socket, however it is virtually none.
For everyone reading that is about to get them done, or has got them done, please ask me any questions about my experience, or let me know how yours went! Hopefully this adds some stress free clarity for you all.