just had all 4 widsom teeth out.... bleeding and drooling everywhere and it really hurts... any tips??

I had the best wisdom tooth experience ever. Keep the gauze stuffed in there, take the drugs, go to sleep. Wake up to take more drugs and take more drugs only. Don't eat or drink at all. Get up in 4 days and feel super.

ACK! You kids nowadays are such babies! I got my wizzies out the day before my burfday. I wrapped a scarf around my big ol' swollen chipmunk cheeks, popped a handful of painkillers, and headed out to Hollywood. And that thing about not smoking for a certain amount of time? And not drinking booze on top of the painkillers? I prefer to think of those as sort of "suggestions" to be followed by folks with weak constitutions...

I only had top wisdom teeth and they didn't even knock me out to pull'em. It was great. I got a bunch of painkillers that I used judiciously, got a day off from work, and was fine by the next day. I'd do it again in a heartbeat!

How come you all got your wisdom teeth out? This is a serious question that I honestly would like to know the answer to. I never got mine out, and my dentist says it's not necessary. But I have a million friends who routinely got them removed before college or over spring break or something. Pretty much everyone says it sucks...

This interests me because I literally know *zero* Germans who've had their wisdom teeth removed- sure, there's always the stigma against European dentistry, but all of my German friends have really nice teeth (had braces, etc). I asked a German dentist, and he said it was really an American phenomenon to have your wisdom teeth out.

Will I suddenly get an infection that spreads to my brain because I didn't have mine pulled? Is my dentist a hack? Should I insist on getting a second opinion?? For what it's worth, when he told me I could keep mine, it was after reviewing x-rays of my mouth. Since then, my wisdom teeth have grown in...

I just did it for the drugs.

It has to do with how much room you have in your jaw for them to grow in. I have a small head/jaw and there was not enough room for them to grow in. The top ones started growing in, and pushed my front teeth forward. They (fronts) used to be perfectly straight and now one of the front ones is starting to overlap from the crowding in my jaw caused by my wisdoms trying to grow in. One of the top ones, since there isn't enough room, tried to grow in on like the inside of my mouth (hard to describe... plus i'm on a lot of yummy painkillers... sorry) like down to the indside of my molar, and was putting pressure against my molar and cauising a LOT of pain. The bottom teeth had room to grow in only 1/2 way, so there is 1/2 a tooth sprouting out from under the gum but there is not enough room for it to come out fully. This causes a pocket in between the tooth gum which is really easy to get infections in. Mine was infected on both sides and it really hurts. Because of how they sit and how they are half covered by gum way low in the back of the mouth it is nearly impossible to do a good job with a toothbrush way back there, and even if you do tiny food and bacteria particles can get lodged in there and cause infection. While i'm sure it wouldn't spread to your brain, it's bad for your gums and it hurts like a bitch. Mine have been causing me a lot of pain off and on for about two years, and they had been trying to get me to take them out for a while. I finally gave in because they were causing A LOT of pain all the time.

I think if there is enough room in your mouth for them to grow in comfortably without messing up your grill there is no reason to need to have them out. Unfortunately I'm not that lucky.

oh and i guess mine are hurting extra bad because they were grafted to the bone on the top or some shit like that? i guess he wasn't able to just pull them but ended up having to saw/cut/remove interior jaw bone or some shit like that.

Mine were removed because I had to have an expander to widen my palate when I was in 6th grade to create enough room for all of the teeth in my head and when my wisdom teeth came in all four were impacted and pressing my teeth together even more. Therefore had to get them out!

Not related at all but when I had mine out they poked me a little wrong with the Novocaine needle and I bled into my cheek cavity creating a huge hematoma. Basically I couldn't open my jaw completely for a month and it was blue/purple/green/yellow for a week. I was so high on Vicodin I absolutely could have cared less.

I got my top two in a while ago, they came in perfectly straight and pain free, minus the actual skin breaking. I just started getting my bottom two in these past two weeks. They're coming in straight too, but are taking FOREVER! I got off so lucky! I was always under the impression that people always had they're wisdom teeth pulled because there wasn't enough room for them. Though, now that I think about it, I'm the only one I know who hasn't had theirs pulled. I don't see a point since mine are all straight and pretty. I need all the teeth I can get seeing as my friends like knocking mine out apparently.

How old are you day dreamz? I thought you were my age and that would mean yours came in way late.

ETA: Mine came in fine/straight but 3 years later my horse knocked my upper & lower wisdom tooth out on the right side by breaking my jaw

I'm 23 (damn I'm getting old!). They started recommending I have them out around 19-20. They started really coming in around 20-21 and I've just been putting it off for a while...

I totally understand you getting your teeth out, day_dreamz. I *personally* think the wisdom teeth situation in cases like "my dentist said I should get my wisdom teeth out over spring break because it's a convenient time" is probably due to the amount of money people spend on braces here. While I know a lot of people in Europe who've had braces, it's definitely nothing like the US. I guess when wisdom teeth come in, you risk crowding your other teeth, and no one wants to do that after spending thousands of dollars on orthodontia.

After seeing all of those stories, I sure am glad I don't have wisdom teeth! When I was at the dentist last year, I asked them to take x-rays to see what the situation was with them, since it was about that time, and my dentist took forever to look at the x-rays so here I am thinking, "Wonderful, they are probably coming in sideways or something, knowing my luck". Finally he comes back and tells me that he spent forever looking at them trying to find my wisdom teeth on there to realize that I am one of those people that just randomly doesn't even have them. Go me!

I only had wisdom teeth on the bottom. I had them out when I was in the Navy because they take EVERYBODY's wisdom teeth out. They start in boot camp and do all the easy ones, and then the more complicated your case the longer it takes. I had mine done at the Naval Hospital because they were very badly impacted and I had to be put under general anesthesia for it. I was 20 when I had it done. I had a violent reaction to the Vicodin. Just my luck, I guess.
I never got an explanation as to why the Navy removes wisdom teeth from everyone, but one reason I was told was to avoid having to do it at sea in case they suddenly become a problem.

Yeah, God gave me the mouth of a squirrel with the teeth of a horse. It wasn't a pretty picture.

Ok that's about right then. I got mine around 20-21 but I was lucky enough(or not) to have them come in while I had braces so I never had to worry about them messing up my teeth.

Ha that's how my mom feels on the matter. She was like we went through all the braces, headgear, retainers--we're not wrecking what that's done now!

I held off a bit, tho, until I could feel when my bottom wisdom teeth starting to edge upwards (and they weren't growing in straight), and the pain in my jaw was something else. There physically wasn't enough room on my bottom jaw, and between that and my mom nagging I didn't need more convincing to just get the things out when I had a spare moment.