I had mine out at 16, but I can give you this advice:

Soft foods. Nothing that requires being bitten or chewed. I found that my mouth was so swollen that I couldn't even eat chicken noodle soup, because I couldn't bite down on the noodles in any way (my gums in the back were so swollen that the rest of my teeth couldn't make contact). I would suggest pudding, mashed potatoes, liquid-y foods.

Rest and take it easy. Follow your dentist's instructions. Don't smoke, don't drink out of a straw. The worst thing you want to do is pull the blodclots out. Be careful and try not to disturb them.

Your mouth will be packed with gauze, get used to it. If you sleep, try sleeping on your side with a towel over your pillow to absorb any bloody drool.

Hopefully you're not a big bleeder (I am), but help that along by not taking anything that can thin your blood (aspirin, NSAIDs) for the rest of the week before your surgery. Afterward, take your medication as instructed. If it makes you nauseous (swallowing blood will also make you nauseous, beware), try to take your pill with a snack. less

I just found out I have to have my "never erupted" wisdom teeth cut out on Friday. Oh joy. At 52 years old, I am SO not looking forward to this.

Anyone else had wisdom teeth removed as an adult?

Any words of advice or suggestions on making the whole process or recovery go smoother?

THANKS.

Mr. Bignuf. less

I just found out I have to have my "never erupted" wisdom teeth cut out on Friday. Oh joy. At 52 years old, I am SO not looking forward to this.

Anyone else had wisdom teeth removed as an adult?

Any words of advice or suggestions on making the whole process or recovery go smoother?

THANKS.

Mr. Bignuf. less

I had mine out at 16, but I can give you this advice:

Soft foods. Nothing that requires being bitten or chewed. I found that my mouth was so swollen that I couldn't even eat chicken noodle soup, because I couldn't bite down on the noodles in any way (my gums in the back were so swollen that the rest of my teeth couldn't make contact). I would suggest pudding, mashed potatoes, liquid-y foods.

Rest and take it easy. Follow your dentist's instructions. Don't smoke, don't drink out of a straw. The worst thing you want to do is pull the blodclots out. Be careful and try not to disturb them.

Your mouth will be packed with gauze, get used to it. If you sleep, try sleeping on your side with a towel over your pillow to absorb any bloody drool.

Hopefully you're not a big bleeder (I am), but help that along by not taking anything that can thin your blood (aspirin, NSAIDs) for the rest of the week before your surgery. Afterward, take your medication as instructed. If it makes you nauseous (swallowing blood will also make you nauseous, beware), try to take your pill with a snack. less

I had mine out at 20, which isn't 52 but still fairly mature tooth growth wise.

I was lucky to only have my top ones, not just in terms of the surgery but growth wise. I never had bottom wisdom teeth. They never developed, so I only had the top two removed. And we had them removed before they started causing problems, so that probably helped too.

For me, the surgery was super duper easy. Basically, I told the surgeon person that surgery and dentistry both made me extremely anxious so he gave me two pills to take the night before and morning of the surgery to calm me down AND agreed to straight up put me out while they were taken out. That's probably not "necessary" for most people, and probably wasn't even necessary for me, but golly I don't remember a damn thing and it's wonderful! lol. I had very little pain or swelling. Additionally, I was with my mother at the time who had put herself in charge of giving me my meds and antibiotics. About two days in she forgot about the antibiotics entirely. Luckily, it didn't seem to matter because I didn't get any sort of infection and healed very quickly.

One thing about the process of the surgery that you can't really control but can dramatically affect how much you swell and feel pain and all of that is whether they have to break your teeth. Sometimes the roots will go into the jaw and different things and be sort of lodged, so they take a little pick thing and crush them (part of why I opted to be put to sleep. I didn't care if I wouldn't be able to "feel" it, knowing it was happening is panic attack express). IF they have to crush the teeth, you'll probably get more swelling and potential bruising. I was lucky and they were able to pluck both of my teeth out hole. They just made the incision because neither had broken the skin, and pulled. My mother bitched about it because she felt they didn't have to do enough work to get them out to pay the full price for the extraction lol.

As Sapphires said, just follow the docs instructions about eating and drinking and what not. Turn down the curtains and sleep/rest as much as you can. It's not impossible to do other things or be, you know, "productive" but it's much more pleasant to just sleep it off. Keep up with the pain meds. I found popsicles to be very enjoyable during this time. You can't suck on them but biting and chewing just letting melt in your mouth was really nice. I especially was loving really tangy tart fruity ones. I've heard that it's wise to avoid dairy, but I can't source that or know the reasoning behind it.

Beyond that, I think it'll just depend on what you know about yourself and what you're comfortable with and how you heal and all that. If you've ever had teeth removed before, or any type of oral surgery, or any type of surgery at all, you can draw on those experiences to try and think of anything that might help you maximize your comfort and healing. Good luck less