I swear, every time someone talks about getting their wisdom teeth out, they make it sound like a couple days of Netflix and ice cream and you’re good to go. I had mine out last week and it’s been a whole saga—swollen chipmunk face, jaw so stiff I can barely yawn, and don’t even get me started on the weird throbbing that comes and goes. The pain meds help but then I’m all groggy and useless for hours.
Honestly, I thought I was being dramatic at first but now I’m convinced people just downplay how rough it is. My friends keep telling me “oh yeah, I bounced back in two days,” but here I am almost a week later, still eating mashed potatoes and worrying about dry socket every time I swallow. And the rinsing thing? Ugh. If I forget to do the salt water rinse even once, my mouth feels all gross.
Did anyone else have a way harder time than expected? Or am I just super unlucky with this? If you’ve got any tricks for actually feeling human again faster, I’m all ears. Also, is it normal for your jaw to feel like it’s clicking when you open your mouth after a week? This whole thing is making me regret not just keeping the stupid teeth…
And the rinsing thing? Ugh. If I forget to do the salt water rinse even once, my mouth feels all gross.
Totally relate to this. When I had mine out, everyone made it sound like a spa day with extra pudding cups, but nope—my face ballooned up and I couldn’t open my jaw more than a couple centimeters for days. The clicking jaw thing you mentioned? Yeah, that happened to me too. It’s apparently pretty common if your mouth was propped open for a while during surgery. Mine went away after about two weeks, but it freaked me out at first.
Honestly, the “quick recovery” stories seem like urban legends at this point. Here’s what helped me: lots of ice packs (like, rotating them constantly), and switching between ibuprofen and acetaminophen instead of just relying on the heavy pain meds so I wasn’t totally useless. Also, using one of those tiny kid toothbrushes helped keep my mouth feeling less gross without disturbing the stitches.
I’m convinced some people just have mutant healing powers or something... mashed potatoes and smoothies were my main food group for way longer than anyone warned me.
I swear, every time I read those “back to normal in 2 days” stories, I wonder if I’m just super wimpy or something. My jaw was so stiff I couldn’t even fit a spoon in for days, and the salt water rinses made me gag half the time. That clicking jaw thing totally freaked me out too—I thought I broke something. The ice packs helped, but honestly, I still felt like a zombie for a week. Maybe some people just forget how rough it actually was?
I’m with you—those “easy recovery” stories make me wonder if I got the deluxe misery package or something. I spent a solid week living on instant mashed potatoes and pudding, and even then, chewing felt like a full-body workout. The salt water thing? I kept thinking I’d swallow it by accident and ruin everything. Plus, I tried to save money by skipping the fancy mouthwash they recommended, but I’m not sure it was worth it. Maybe some folks just block out the pain once it’s over... or maybe we’re just more honest about how rough it is.
Ice packs and ibuprofen were my mainstays, but honestly, I felt pretty wiped out for almost two weeks. I skipped the prescription rinse too—just used salt water like you. The jaw clicking happened to me as well; it faded after a while, but it was unsettling. I get the frustration about the cost versus comfort—sometimes you just have to make do with what’s affordable and hope for the best.
