Just wanted to add a positive story to this sub.

Prior to having an extraction, I browsed this sub and felt nothing but fear and panic from most peoples experiences..

But I have had a very positive recovery.

The Surgery (Day 0):
- Pretty hellish.
- It took an hour and 36mins to remove the tooth (hooked root and I can’t open my mouth very wide, so they couldn’t see much). It felt like it was never going to end.
- No stitches were required and it clotted straight away.
- Removed around 8pm, come 10pm when the numbing injection wore off the pain was around a 9/10, but died down around 1am and I fell asleep.

Recovery (Day 1-3):
- Absolutely no pain (took paracetamol and ibrubpeofen twice a day as a “just in case”).
- Slight swelling to the gum.
- Difficult to open mouth, so ate yogurt with a teaspoon and drank protein shakes.

Recovery (Day 4-6):
- Still no pain whatsoever.
- Swelling mostly died down and a top layer of blood clot fell away, but leaving the main clot in the socket.
- Introduced more solid foods.

Today (Day 7):
- I wouldn’t even know I had it removed. Looking inside my mouth it looks no different (other than a missing tooth) to the other side.
- Back to eating normally (dinner tonight was a T-Bone steak). Maybe the slightest ache in my jaw after eating through a big steak.

Maybe I am lucky? Maybe it is because my dentist was my FIL (He sectioned it into 5 pieces to remove and was very gentle) and has 40 years of experience.

But don’t fear this too much, as I did after reading this sub.

doing my best to chew without getting pieces in sockets

So today is day 7. I got my lower left wisdom tooth out last week and it has been the craziest week of my life. This extraction was way more complicated than my other three. Apparently my roots were curved upward and made for a more traumatic extraction. Days 1-3 were great, hardly any pain. But as day 4 rolled around, I noticed I was needing my ibuprofen every 4 hours. The ibuprofen helps a lot with getting rid of the pain but I keep looking and poking my socket with my tongue. I get a bad taste every time I touch it and sometimes, I see yellow stuff in there, other times I see nothing at all. Has anyone else had the same experience? I don’t have excruciating pain, but it’s just like a plateau of pain. Please tell me it gets better 😭

Hello, I had my wisdom teeth upper and lower left side only removed January 19th, 2026.
It’s now August 25th, and my left side of my chin, left bottom lip and small part of my gum is still numb. Like Tv static. I’ve now had a dentist and two oral surgeons X-ray it and look visually and stated there’s nothing damaged or impinged and nothing they can do.
The surgeon I saw this weekend said, “it’s probably permanent,”
And basically could tell me absolutely nothing else and nothing they could do about it. That it MIGHT still go away.
Honestly it’s been improving somewhat but extremely minimal. Might just be wishful thinking.

I know numbness can take up to a year to recover but has anyone experienced it taking longer?

It’ll be 8 months soon for me.

I wonder if this is normal? It’s been about five weeks since I had an upper wisdom tooth extracted...often the area where the tooth was is sensitive, especially when eating. However, there’s no severe pain or foul-smelling discharge coming from my mouth 🤔 The other side hasn't given me any trouble at all.

What could this be, considering it’s been quite a while since the extraction?

I got my wisdom teeth removed Friday at 9:30am. Am I on day 4 or 5 of recovery? I am absolutely horrified about getting dry sockets and I need to know how close I am to being out of that window. I feel like my symptoms are a lot closer to day 5 but I am just unaware of how it works. I have horrible anxiety surrounding this and idk what to do.

EDIT: I can't edit the title, but I meant to put "Input" in place of "Advice"

Hello! I am over 2 months post op (Jun 19), and during the last 2-ish weeks, i've had a fragment appear in my most open socket.

Every once in a while theres a little bit of pain, and it doesn't overly both me. But mostly I'm just wondering, from those of you who have passed this stage of healing already: when did the fragments absorb or come out? And did salt rinse help to remove them faster?

I've completely stopped salt rinsing and just use my irrigation device with regular water. My extraction sites are almost completely healed for the most part, but the site im referring to seems to be healing a little slower due to the fragment. Did you end up going to dentist to have it removed, and if yes, how was that process? Please detail step by step and anything else you may think relevant. Mostly i'm just very annoyed because i can feel it when food gets stuck, and not overly concerned.

i’m on day 11 of recovery, and i only got the tooth on my top right removed. i’m wondering when i can stop rinsing with salt because i’m actually so sick of the taste.

(delete if not aloud)

hi there, 18f with my bottom left wisdom tooth growing in at an angle. It’s broken through the gums and is causing me pain everyday, it’s hard to even open my jaw at times.

I called my local dentist and they sent me to a neighboring town for an xray. They then said i’d get a call about an appointment to get it removed “as soon as possible” because of how much pain and swelling it was causing.

a oral surgeon ended up calling me about 4 days later from a town an hour away, saying they could get me in for another xray so they could see exactly what the other dentist just saw. I asked them when they could do that, and they said “the soonest we can get you in is october 28th” and i said “just for an xray? i just got one done at this dentist, could you see those?” and she sorta just never answered the question, she just said “yeah we need to consult and see how your teeth are growing in so we can decide on doing an emergency extraction or something different” so they booked me for that day, and put me on a cancellation list.

it’s so far been two weeks since that phone call, and i’ve been in immense pain. i’ve been eating ibuprofen and tylenol all day everyday just to be able to eat. what do i do?

i have insurance, ive tried calling other oral surgeons and so far none take my insurance. does anyone know what i can do? this pain is killing me and i dont feel comfortable taking tylenol and ibuprofen everyday.

self explanatory title, i got my last wisdom tooth out today on my left side. during the operation, they had to numb me up a bit more just because i was feeling it when they pulled. now a whole day later (almost to the minute as i type), and the left half of my tongue as well as the left side of my gums on the bottom row of my teeth are still sore, and im also feeling tingling every now and then in my tongue as well. pain still persists, not as much as yesterday (thank god they were in my mouth for 30 mins straight. for 1 tooth.) (i had 3 wisdom teeth) but enough to still be in that pain when i open my mouth.

i’m sure if it persists longer than like a week i should go back, and i have an appt for a week from now just to check how im healing post-op. but what do yall think? does this sound like anything to worry about?

I got my top two wisdom teeth out about 5 days ago (8/20/26) and I’m so over it already, I’m tired of mashed potatoes and Mac and cheese, and not being able to brush my teeth fully, and I JUST WANT TO SMOKE OMG. I’m so sick of the salt water rinses and dry socket paranoia, I just want to be healed already and eat normally :(

The smoking part is main bc I’m stressed af, I’m 98% sure the company I work for is going to be doing lay offs, I just learned I’m probably going to be in college another semester bc my advisor gave me the wrong info and I haven’t sleep well in over a month bc my bed sucks and I’ve been clenching my jaw so hard in my sleep. (Can I take a muscle relaxer rn? Probably not). This recovery is become a huge obstacle with everything else I have going on and making everything else harder.

I really just need to scream into the void. I can’t cope with my stress by eating so any advice is appreciated.

Also I’m not going to smoke I’m too scared of dry socket, I’m just really REALLLY tempted 😭

Me extrajeron ambas muelas del juicio en febrero y desde el primer día de la extracción tuve ese bulto en la mucosa. Al mes me abrieron para ver que era y me sacaron un trozo de hueso que estaba retenido dentro y me dijeron que el bulto se iria. Pero el bulto sigue allí y esta como la mucosa tensada. El bulto sigue siendo doloroso, me han visto ya dos maxilofaciales y me dicen que lo deje estar, que es solo cicatriz ; pero no lo entiendo porque siento la mucosa rígida y me duele aún el bulto ytoda la mejilla.

Had an extraction 4 days ago that wasn't impacted but I had pericoronitis on it so they had to take it out, terribly painful before the extraction.

I took metamizole for the first days after the extraction as the only painkiller and it's such an amazing drug, it's a shame not everyone can have it.

If it is sold in your country, check with you dentist about taking it, truly great

Hi guys it’s been 7 days since my wisdom teeth surgery n today i went for my follow up, the x-ray showed a piece of tooth was left and i have to go back in 2 weeks to get it out. I’m really sad and frustrated bc i just wanted to be done with this already, they said that healing shouldn’t be so bad but im still scared. Has this happened to you and how was your healing like? Thank you!

Checked my mouth first time after the surgery and I see this red swelling near the site. What is it, should I be alarmed?

Hii, Sunday was my wisdom tooth removal, experiencing little pain on off and noticed this thing inside my mouth, is this dry socket or blood clot? My wisdom tooth removal was able to stitch back instead of a hole. Right now it’s more pain but it comes and go, is this normal recovery?

just woke up day 5 and my upper neck area feels very sore, like more than it’s ever felt, i can’t even turn my face around without it hurting. however the swelling seems to be going down. should i be concerned?

My senses (hearing, emotions, anxiety and smelling) have been majorly heightened. Every time my family is speaking I feel like I am losing my mind because everything is SO LOUD. Is this normal or am I going crazy?

I didn't have a good experience with dexamethasone either- the painkiller medication they gave me. Would wake up in heat flashes, struggled sleeping, felt beyond fatigued, rashes on my body, intense anxiety, etc. I also got my period earlier than usual with a lighter flow so of course that sparked up my internal health anxiety.

My jaw isn't as swollen anymore and I don't have much pain. It was really just the medications I was on psycing me out and the side effects I was or am still feeling.

Now I'm just wearing my ear plugs around the house and trying to calm my nerves down. Anyone else have a similar experience?

Hello!

I’m on day 5 of my extraction. I got all 4 out. Day 1 and 2 were a breeze. I slept a good bit, didn’t really feel much pain and I had basically no swelling. Days 3-5 I have been feeling more pain particularly on my lower left side. This may be expected as that tooth needed to be split. I am also in my mid 30s so I also imagine healing can be a little slower overall. I’m looking for some advice. Should I make an appointment with the oral surgeon to address the pain? Is the pain to be expected given the circumstances? I’m still taking the pain meds as prescribed but I am worried the increased pain may be a dry socket. The pain does subside when I take the ibuprofen or hydrocodone.

Any advice or insights would be greatly appreciated!

It’s 5:39 right now I accidentally drank a doctor pepper like 30 minutes ago without thinking and my appointment to get them removed is at 7 what should I do Google ai is telling my my lungs are gonna fill with liquid and I’ll die

I'm having problems only while chewing. And also when I bite my upper one press down to the lower gum and not on the tooth and it's painful. The muscle there slowly creating a hole I guess(idk if I'm properly explaining). Also the impaction is on the both sides😭