Wisdom Teeth Removal

The healing time for a wisdom teeth extraction surgery varies depending on what kind of sedation you had, if any, and whether the surgeon needed to cut through skin or bone to remove the teeth. Some people are able to resume normal activities the same day, while others will need to take it easy for several days. Healing should be complete within a couple weeks at the longest.

Pain is something many people are scared of with this type of surgery, but it can be managed easily. Some people will have a local sedation, in which all you should feel is pressure, not pain. You may also be offered IV sedation, that would leave you drowsy and out of it but awake, or being put under general anesthesia, so you would sleep the entire surgery. In any scenario, you should not feel pain during the procedure.

As long as the wisdom teeth come into your mouth without impaction and have as full a function as your other teeth, they do not need to be removed. If you have an infection, unrestorable decay, delay of another tooth, orthodontic reasons, and more, than the wisdom teeth must be removed.

Because your body considers a wisdom teeth removal to be a traumatic event, it tries to heal the area as soon as possible. As strange as it sounds, inflammation and swelling actually help the healing process. However, not everyone gets swollen, and some get swollen more than others.

Some people choose to remove all four wisdom teeth whether or not they are visibly impacted, just in case damage occurs later.

It depends on your insurance. Talk with both your health care and dental insurance providers and find out exactly what is covered and how much. Wisdom teeth removal is under the heading of “oral surgery”.

An oral surgeon or dentist will make a small incision into the gum area and pull out what is visible from there. If necessary, he or she will remove part of the bone surrounding the broken tooth. X-rays are taken of your mouth before the surgery, so the surgeon knows exactly how many pieces to look for and remove, and where to find them.

Depending on your individual situation, such as how impacted or broken your wisdom teeth are, the extraction could take anything from thirty minutes to several hours. Recovery time also depends on how the person reacts to anesthesia, among other factors.

Because the wisdom teeth removal procedure is a surgery and requires cutting into your gums, pain is to be expected. If necessary, pain medication can be prescribed for the first few days. After then you may still experience pain from food touching the inside part where your wisdom teeth used to be until your body heals that space by sealing it up.

You can begin eating as soon as you get home from the procedure, but stick to soft food such as thin soup, pudding and gelatin.