I got my 2 bottom wisdom teeth removed July 16th, and it was so hard to do anything in general for a few days. I slept the majority of the time the day of, and the day after the surgery and I was lucky that I was able to find some hacks to work around doing some stuff that would have been painful or near impossible to do. So I’ve compiled them into a list, to document it and act as a guide for whoever is getting their wisdom teeth out next.
Best Tip: Follow the instructions the doctor gives you after the surgery
No lie, I was following those instructions to a T. As my dad told me, teeth and etc are not something to joke about. You don’t know true pain until you’ve had an unbearable toothache of some sort for days where you haven’t been able to sleep, eat or just relax. Some of these instructions include only having soft foods like pudding, jello, soup, shakes and etc.
However, my parents prepared an arsenal of soup, pureed soup and veggies, and various types of congee. The soup wasn’t as filling after about the second day, so we moved onto congee. Depending on the person, congee can take different forms; watery with soft rice bits to thick pureed congee. My recommendation is the latter because it avoids getting the little rice grains in the extractions sites or in between your lip and teeth, therefore less hassle. Pureeing congee is easy, try using a hand-held pulse/baby food machine. *Also make sure the congee is about room temp or so while your mouth is numb.
My mom also added white fish meat to the congee before pureeing it, so you get some meat/protein into you. You can also probably do this with vegetables but be mindful of those that might leave bits and pieces like celery and broccoli. My mom recommends carrots and bok choy stalks, because they can be cooked to the point of “melting” in your mouth. I feel like pumpkins and squash might also be a good choice, but not 100% sure.
Also be on top of the medication, so you are never without the pain meds when the numbing stuff wears off. I never experienced it but I suppose it’s like a bad toothache but gum level. Alongside with the medication, monitor the bleeding and how close you are to running out of gauze. My instructions from the doctor was that you won’t need more than they’ve given, but I had gauze from when my dad got his wisdom teeth taken out so I used one pair of that to be safe and I don’t regret it.
A few things to note though; if you have retainers (like I do) then you should ask the doctor when you are able to put them in without irritating the extraction sites. I forgot to do this and I didn’t feel confident enough to do it until the night after my check-up with him, when he said it was healing well. But boy were they tight on my teeth for the next day.
As for ice, I’d recommend getting 2-3 ice packs and rotating it after it gets to the point it’s nearing room temperature. Allows for them to have time to freeze/get cold enough before use. And an odd tip, if during the healing process you decide to watch something you know is going to make you laugh, be careful. It can kinda hurt, what I did was that I kinda cupped my face so I didn’t smile too widely (or at all) when it happens. It was odd to do but I saved myself from some pain lol.
Anyways, I’m not sure if this helps but I hope it does! I can finally eat some “real” food now so I’m happily binging on some food somewhere (probably). If you think this might be useful for someone, feel free to share this post! Also, did you notice something different??
I finally decided to take the plunge! That is, I finally got my own domain. Essentially it’s a shorter URL to type and remember now, and I ended up dishing out a little for it but I’m happy. Hope it makes it easier to find my blog now, and I’ll see you at the next blog.
Helpful Blog! Very descriptive about all the important points one should know about wisdom tooth removal.