I had all four of my wisdom teeth removed today under full sedation. This will be a blog post about my experiences. I hope that for those reading, it will clear up some confusion and anxiety about the operation. I will do my best to document the operation with as much detail as possible.

TW: blood, surgery, sedatives

T-1 day

The day before the surgery, I was instructed not to eat any food after 10pm. I had a larger dinner than usual at around 6pm because I would not be able to eat or drink the morning of the surgery.

8:40

I woke up around this time to have time to get ready and arrive early at the dentist's. Following my dentist's orders, I just brushed my teeth and did not drink or eat anything. I arrived at the dentist's office at 9:20.

9:20

When we arrived at the dentist's, my mother and I signed some consent forms and I was escorted to the surgery room at around 9:30.

9:30

A nurse confirmed with me the address of my local pharmacy for OTC medication and hooked me up to some sort of vitals monitor with 3 electrodes (1 on right wrist, 1 on left wrist, 1 on left forearm), 1 sphygmomanometer (blood pressure monitor), and a blood oxygen monitor that clipped onto my finger.

9:45

The same nurse gave me a gas mask and gave me some laughing gas to calm me down and quote, "for a bit of fun." This was honestly very comforting for me as it showed they really did care about my wellbeing and mental state during the entire procedure as well. The laughing gas was administered through a mask aroud my nose that pumped a stream of gas into my right nostril.

After a few minutes, I began to feel the effects. I felt a little drowsy and my fingertips and feet began to tingle pleasantly. When I moved my fingers, I felt small but pleasant pulsing up my hand and into my wrist.

10:00

The doctor came in and connected me to the IV for full sedation. I have had a fully sedated surgery before, but I was so young I dont remember much.

The onset of sedation was an incredibly weird feeling. Almost instantly, my limbs felt heavy and weak. For around 10-15 seconds, I was still awake and cognizant. Then, my vision began to constrict and go dark. That is the last thing I remember.

10:40

I woke up. Here are the first things I noticed:

• I could not move or feel my mouth
• Extreme dizziness and complete disorientation
• Inability to move my legs

I believe the inability to move my mouth was because of the overwhelming numbing that the sedation caused and the gauze that was placed on the sides to help stop the bleeding.

I'm pretty sure I was given a local anesthetic/numbing agent on top of the general sedation as my bottom lip continued to be numb for hours after the surgery while the rest of my face was fine.

Medications

At this point, I was given a bag with several medications with instructions. My (very thoughtful) nurse made me record her verbal instructions on my phone so I could refer to them later on.

Here is a list of all the medications I was prescribed and their general function according to my nurse:

• Amoxicillin 500 mg tablets: General antibiotic, taken 3 times a day (breakfast, lunch, dinner)
• Dexamethasone 4 mg tablets: Steroid, reduces swelling. I was given only 4 pills, instructed to take one in the morning and one at night.
• Chlorhexidine 0.12% mouth rinse: Used in the morning/at night for 1 week, helps promote tissue healing.
• Ibuprofen 600 mg tablets: Prescription-strength ibuprofen to be taken every 6 hours for the next 72 hours. Used as an anti-inflammatory.
• Extra-strength Tylenol: This was to be taken in between the 6-hour doses of Ibuprofen, so every 3 hours I was getting some sort of pain management. However, the pain was not that bad for me and I actually did not need the Tylenol at all.
• Norco 5/325 mg: 5 mg of the opioid hydrocodone bitartrate and 325 mg of acetaminophen. This was a handwritten prescription for a much stronger narcotic for breakthrough pain that cannot be managed by the Ibuprofen and Tylenol.

Other notes:

• After eating, rinse mouth with warm salt water to get rid of residual food.
• I can still brush my teeth but should be careful to avoid disturbing the wounded area.
• I was to avoid drinking from straws or any food that required sucking (e.g noodles), as this could disturb the formation of the blood clot.
• Rice, popcorn, seedy fruits, and anything else with small particles were to be avoided since small seeds may get stuck in the wound.

11:00

After getting home, I was still a little disorientated. As it was around lunchtime, I took my lunch dose of 1 Amoxicillin and 1 Ibuprofen to start the 6-hour cycles. I left the dentist's with gauze in my mouth, so I changed out the now-bloodied gauze with new gauze that was given to me.

I didn't really have an appetite but I still wanted to get something down, so I had some applesauce and yogurt.

13:00 to 18:30

I slept for this entire time, only waking up twice (once at 14:30 and once around 16:30). The pain peaked at around 14:30, where it felt like someone was chiseling into my jaw. I could feel the pain at the base/roots of my teeth. I really didn't want to take more painkillers than I had to, so I just laid there for a while and tried to fall back asleep.

18:45

I woke up to eat dinner. At this point, a blood clot had formed and my saliva was still tinged red, but I don't think the wound was actively bleeding anymore. I still had no appetite and could taste blood, so I had porridge and some pork that had been overcooked to shreds. I was really only able to chew with my front teeth (incisors), so I didn't eat anything that required a lot of grinding or tearing with the molars.

Around 19:20

At this point, I have stabilized/relaxed enough where I can provide some more detail on my condition. Here are a few more observations:

• I am unable to open my mouth fully. Even opening halfway puts pressure and causes a small spike in pain.
• Moving my jaw side-to-side is uncomfortable and can also cause pain.
• Swallowing is uncomfortable in general and the back of my mouth is sore.
• My lower cheeks are a little swollen and very warm to the touch.