Wisdom Teeth Weekend

Wisdom teeth removal surgery. A rite of passage or glorified dental procedure?

A couple of weekends ago, I was able to experience the absolute joy that is getting your wisdom teeth removed. I was put under general anesthesia for the first time in my 17 years of living and (as you can imagine) woke up—in my mind at least—in a different universe. I became convinced that the oxygen meter thing on my finger was a dinosaur and that I wanted to become a “could” because they “don’t have to worry about anything” (my very own loopy words). Then, I spent the rest of my weekend on the couch watching a myriad of movies on Disney+, taking a large amount of Advil, and drinking my meals, as chewing was off-limits.

The procedure only takes about an hour, and you’re left with 3-4 days of rest and suffering. There is no set time period for when you should get your wisdom teeth out, and sometimes you might not have to get them out at all. For example, my mother, a grown woman with all four of her wisdom teeth, told me that “it’s a rite of passage...that I simply didn’t experience. I guess that means I’m still a teenager.” She’s one of the lucky ones: her mouth had the space for these four extra teeth, and they grew straight up and didn’t impact other teeth. However, wisdom-tooth growth patterns are NOT genetic; I learned that that hard way when I found out that my teeth were impacted and I had to get them out ASAP, which is pretty common, in the United States at least. (In Brazil, it is not considered “a rite of passage,” and in fact, wisdom teeth are only removed if they are considered a problem in one’s mouth.) So when you’re lying there in the chair with an IV in your arm, just remember that you are one of (roughly) five million people who go through this same procedure every year.

Now, I do have one concern about this very standard procedure (that I’m sure dentists and oral surgeons can do with their eyes closed, so take this information as you will) experienced by a VERY large number of people every year, and that is narcotics. While the procedure is standard, that doesn’t mean that it is not invasive, painful, bloody, and pretty aggressive if you ask me; thus, pain is pretty much expected. According to a 2015 study in the Official Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, “Legitimate opioid use (such as after wisdom teeth surgery) before high school graduation is independently associated with a 33% increase in the risk of future opioid misuse after high school.” Every teenager who undergoes wisdom tooth extraction gets prescribed a dose of painkillers. For me, the statistics raise a large red flag! Should oral surgeons be more concerned about absentmindedly prescribing narcotics to teenagers? In my experience, I decided to not take my prescribed narcotics and was still able to cope with the pain by taking a safe amount of Advil.

In the event that you are one of the lucky people who get to have their wisdom teeth extracted, there are some things you should know:

1. DO NOT BY ANY MEANS USE A STRAW - This one sounds weird, and I was very confused when everyone I talked to told me that straws were completely off-limits, but basically the straw will suck in your gums and cause problems with your stitches.

2. Take all of your prescribed antibiotics - This one is important. If you don’t take your antibiotics, you are at a higher risk for infection, which might end up with you under general anesthesia AGAIN!

3. Be gentle when brushing - Especially for your first couple of days post-operation make sure that you BRUSH your teeth, but gently. If you brush your teeth vigorously you could accidentally take out your dissolvable stitches prematurely, thus, opening the gap and making you more susceptible to infection.

For the record, I didn’t particularly enjoy my wisdom teeth surgery. As someone with very low pain tolerance, I was on Advil and other various forms of pain medication for over a week after the surgery in order to keep the soreness at a manageable level. Even though I took all of my antibiotics, I still experienced an infection/dry socket and had to get the cut packed with something that resembled a huge medicated bandaid. Junior Emery Bahna similarly unpleasantly recalled her face being “swollen for weeks”; interestingly, she had her wisdom teeth surgery at the age of 14, which is quite uncommon.

All in all, I didn’t feel changed in the slightest or less wise when it was all said and done. While I think the ritual is slightly confusing, I do understand that humans (and their diets) are evolving, but we haven’t yet reached the point where our wisdom teeth are completely obsolete that we are born without them, and that might never occur. However, I do believe that dentists and surgeons should look into an alternative to narcotics as painkillers in order to decrease the drug addiction statistics.

Finally, just make sure that you have a long list of movies to watch, and a lot of lukewarm mashed potatoes to eat :)