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Am very afraid of doing something wrong / having a lot of pain post-oral surgery
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| ali92 |
Sometime within the next month or two, I have to get 11 teeth
extracted by surgery (all at once, on one day, they told me). This
includes all 4 wisdom teeth as well as 7 others that are extremely decayed. I have read about the
experience & post-surgery on-line in a variety of sites and they all
mention lots of instructions, most of which I believe I am going to
have a hard time following. Stuff about changing gauze pads every 30
minutes (I don't know how to position these properly), for instance.
Also there was mention about that I'd need to continuously have ice
packs on my face. It seems the list of Dos & Don'ts is rather large &
I'm concerned that if I am unable to follow the instructions to the
letter, I will have a lot of pain, complications, or permanent damage
or other problems as a result of the affected areas (of which there
will be many) not healing properly if I can't accurately follow all
directions given to me. They have to go into the bone in some of these
areas, like the 4 impacted wisdoms.
I am also afraid that I will not be able to deal with whatever
physical pain I will have for the length of time post-surgery. I keep
hearing times not in minutes or hours, but in DAYS (as in 3 to 5
straight days), with the small possibility that it could even be weeks
before the pain is fully gone. Is there anything I can do to be 100 %
certain that I will not feel any pain in the days/weeks following
surgery? Are we that primitive health-care-wise that little can truly
be done about it? I understand that pain is a natural fact of life,
but what does one do when they really CAN NOT deal with it? Is there
something I can take that can either make me sleep it off for 16+
hours at a time? Would that work? Is there anyone I can call, anywhere
I can go, or anything I can do if I for instance wake up in bad pain
at 2 a.m. on day 2, or if for that matter, I can't sleep at all &
remain awake for the whole 4+ days straight?
What would happen if I OD'd (or took way over what I'm told to take)
on the painkillers I'm given? Will I die or have some type of
permanent damage?
Has anyone here had that many teeth extracted at once & can chime in on if I am blowing the anxiety out of proportion or if it's completely justified given how much that's to get done that day? |
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| Banora |
| Shoulda thought of all that before you stopped brushing your teeth :o |
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| Silky Johnson |
| As long as you take your meds BEFORE your pain sets in/gets worse, you should be able to manage it quite well. If the order says to take it every 4 hours, take it every 4 hours. You want that steady trough of med in your blood at all times. |
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| Lira |
Ali, your solution comes in two words: Al-Cohol :D
| quote: | Originally posted by Banora
Shoulda thought of all that before you stopped brushing your teeth :o |
He could have some sort of calcification deficit, it needn't be his fault. |
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| wienerschnitzel |
now now, some people have bad teeth regardless of their oral hygiene. my husband had to get all his teeth removed in april and get mediate dentures. His family has a condition (i don't know what it's called off hand) where their teeth just fall apart from not having much tooth enamel. eli had tons of fillings, root canals, implants and routine cleanings but nothing could save his teeth.
he got all his teeth removed at once, he didn't get any kind of anesthetics.. just freezing like you would get for a filling. It hurt and it hurt for a long time. there is no way to really sugar coat it. when we got back from the dentist, he started throwing up and shivering because his body went into total shock. there was alot of blood and we kept replacing the gauze until it was able to clot a bit. he used an icepack on and off so he didn't damage his skin. He was prescribed Tylenol 3's which he took with ibprophen to help reduce the swelling. he couldn't eat much but liquid and mush for days. in a few weeks he lost about 30 lbs. after about 5 days he had to go back to work, 10 hr days out in the oilfield. If you want to OD on your pills you run the risk of getting really sick and possibly dying (if you take enough) or going to the hospital and getting your stomach pumped (which would probably feel pretty rad after oral surgery..)
theres no way around it.. it's going to suck. i doubt you will cause any permanent damage from not following instructions properly, but keep your mouth clean and do what they tell you to do for recovery, it's not rocket science. So grow a pair and good luck! |
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| w_ashley |
You won't die if you dose to early, but my recommendaiton is to only take them when you feel pain, not like pez.
You'll eventually run out, and that is it.
Taking to many just causes concentration issues, and a general aloofness, that is not really caring too much about anything. |
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| wienerschnitzel |
| no jenny is right.. you have to take them before the pain gets real serious otherwise you're ed. trust me, i've been in labour.. twice. the second time, he came so fast i didn't have time for the painkillers. besides, it's a rule of thumb. |
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| Silky Johnson |
| quote: | Originally posted by ********
You won't die if you dose to early, but my recommendaiton is to only take them when you feel pain, not like pez.
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Don't listen to this ing fool. A major reason people have poor pain control is because they wait till they feel pain before they take anything. Any health care professional will tell you to take anticipatory doses of pain medication. |
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| Lira |
| quote: | Originally posted by jennypie
Don't listen to this ing fool. A major reason people have poor pain control is because they wait till they feel pain before they take anything. Any health care professional will tell you to take anticipatory doses of pain medication. |
Read again, Jenny.
| quote: | Originally posted by ********
You won't die |
It's the reiki key to immortality! :p |
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| Eager Kid Mono |
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| couch-potato |
| in b4 20+ pages of ******** defending himself from criticism. |
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| bas |
| quote: | Originally posted by Eager Kid Mono
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LMAO "that one just came right out I didn't even have to try" :stongue: :stongue:
Ali, I just had one impacted wisdom tooth removed and it didn't hurt as much as I had assumed. Granted you're getting 11 done (by the way what th ?), but they'll probably pump you full of valium and hit you with some nitrous (they did both for me) and you go out and come back up instantly without actually feeling/remembering anything. Then you'll most likely get a Vicodin, extra strength Ibuprofen, and Tylenol 3 prescription for pain (Vicodin for all day and Tylenol 3 to sleep). Take 2 Vicodin first thing in the morning with some milk and just take 1 Vicodin every 4 hours after that. Make sure you have something awesome to watch on tv (I recommend Life in HD) and don't try to jerk off, the Vicodin will make it take like 6 hours.
ps
At most the pain will last a week. Mine was about 4 days before I could try to eat more solid food and a little over a week before I could fully open my mouth (it was more swelling than anything). Also, an anti-inflammatory like Ibuprofen will help and you can probably take it with the Vicodin. |
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