Defeating My Wisdom Teeth

If you’re wondering if I survived the agony of my wisdom teeth, I have.

In part one of this exciting journey, I shared the fight I endured while battling the pain of my impacted wisdom teeth. Now, there’s no longer a fight to be won because I am the ultimate winner. As I said before, I’m not big on fighting. However, I was determined to regain victory over my wisdom teeth.

A few weeks ago, I made the scariest and maybe the best decision of my life – I finally underwent oral surgery and got my wisdom teeth removed. Let me be the first to say my nerves danced in fear up to seconds before the actual surgery. However, I knew I could no longer bear the pain from something so small yet powerful – my wisdom teeth.

My Friendship With Sleep

Honestly, I was thrilled that I would be placed under anesthesia. I saw this as the secret weapon that would allow me to finally get magical sleep. Magically enough, I was right – post surgery, I slept like a baby. However, I was rudely awakened with immense pain once the “magical sleepy potion” wore off. I quickly shouted, “hooray, no more pain,” but I forgot that there would be even more pain to endure after the procedure.

I immediately thought to myself, “ugh, more pain!” Luckily, a little voice reminded me that the pain was only temporary this time.  

My Friendship With Food

For the first time, I can definitely say that I was transformed back to my “baby stage.” I ate baby food, mashed potatoes, smoothies, Ensure, spaghetti, and rinsed with a ton of salt water. It hurt to my core watching everyone around me eat tacos, burgers, pizza and pasta while I stuck to all the “soft food.” On top of this mini breakup with food, I was in pain 24/7. Sleeping was no longer magical because it was hard to find a comfortable position and I woke up several times throughout the night. Although sleeping was hard, it was the only thing I could do besides making salt & water my best friend and eating baby food.  With this, I got lots of rest. On the contrary, I was miserable all the time.

My Friendship With Medication

It all makes sense now; I understand why Oxycodone is so addictive.

My oral surgeon prescribed Penicillin for protection against infections, multiple doses of Tylenol and Motrin but the real bad boy was the Oxycodone. This was my first time using Oxycodone. My doctor specifically instructed me to “only take this medication as needed because there’s a limited amount of 8 pills only with NO refills.” While under anesthesia, those words barely made it into one ear. However, when the “post-surgery pain beast” was ready to attack, I quickly found the bottle of Oxy. Once again, while reading the bottle’s instructions, I was reminded there were NO REFILLS.

After taking my first dose of Oxycodone, the gates of heaven immediately opened and boom – the magical sleep potion had come over me again and the pain had vanished like it was never there. After waking up, I immediately said to myself “boy – oh – boy, this stuff is GOLDEN!”  Yes, I used ice packs and heating pads but there was nothing like the Oxy.

I slowly watched as the eight prescribed pills lessened and the amount got smaller. If there’s one thing I know for sure, that Oxy worked every single time.

Defeat At Last

As I attempted to make the best out of my situation, I continued to tell myself that “all of this is necessary for a lifetime free of wisdom teeth battles.” Days felt like months, and I became a “certified Googler” because I spent 90% of my time awake searching post-surgery best practices on Google. By day 6, all the Oxycodone was gone – as you should imagine. Thankfully, the pain had also gotten better, and I was able to talk a bit more. Throughout my entire post–surgery journey, I became acclimated to communicating through text and written messages. It was a relief to have the ability to say a few words here and there.

Before I knew it, I was throwing the apple sauce and baby food in the garbage and eating sandwiches and more solid food. I no longer had Oxy, but at least I had food.

Tips and Tricks

Throughout this entire post-surgery journey, there were a few things that made the process easier:

Salt & Water: Yes, rising with this four times a day was the most annoying thing ever, but it made my healing process 10x faster.

Getting rest: Sleeping and utilizing this time to get rest is the best thing you can do to place less stress on the body.

Having a support system: Whether physical or virtual, having people around to assist in caring for you will make recovery smoother.

Utilizing Medication: Let me just come out and say it – Oxycodone “saved” my life. Nonetheless, having some sort of pain reliever is important to assist with pain and discomfort.

Be patient: This is the HARDEST rule of them all because each day seems so long; trust me – the pain will go away, and you’ll be like me – looking back and smiling because I finally overcame my wisdom teeth.

Choosing the right surgeon: This plays a big role in every step of the procedure. You want to choose someone who you’re comfortable with and will be sure to provide accurate guidance. My operating surgeon was Dr. Mark Adamiak with Green Hills Oral Surgery, and they went ABOVE & BEYOND to make this entire process as close to perfection!