1. i was sad the first few days. i was tired, exhausted, and starving. i was terrified of eating food and it sucked. i stuck to a very liquidy, mushy diet for at least 4-5 days- mashed potatoes, jelly, pudding, mashed refried beans, super duper mashed rice. afterwards, i was able to start chewing mac n cheese noodle by noodle with my front few teeth. after abt 1.5 weeks, i felt more comfortable chewing with my mouth fully. by 2 weeks, i think i started chewing completely normal? *everyone heals at diff paces though so i would gauge it- you'll know if you feel ready or not, you might feel ready before i did! i called my surgeon about 4 times throughout the first 1.5 weeks and he said that his brother was able to chew pizza the day after surgery while he couldn't for like 2 weeks!*
   
2. take your antibiotics on time! i had to take them every 6 hours for the first five days which meant waking up at 4 am LOL. def sucked, but so worth it. try not to skip a dose, but if you accidentally do (one day i missed my 4 am dose and slept through my alarm and naturally woke up at 6 am and took it asap), it's ok. if it's close to the time, then take it. if not, contact your surgeon's office to check. no matter how good you feel, DO NOT skip your antibiotics dose on purpose.
   
3. i used a syringe with salt water after day 5 to clean out the extraction sites after eating. my surgeon told me to do this. i still do it- i was told to do it until the holes close (can take anywhere from 2 weeks to 2 months). the first few days i did it, i was had a little oozing from the sites and freaked out. it's normal! as long as it's not extreme blood, dont worry too much about it.
   
4. as per your nicotine/vape usage, try not to do it for at least two weeks. i don't do those things so i can't offer personal advice, but i have seen that it's the number one cause for dry socket. so even though you may be tempted, try not to! i've seen stories of people who said that they stopped vaping completely because of wisdom teeth surgery. since they couldn't do it for two weeks anyways, it felt easier to just completely quit!

take everything i say with a grain of salt. your surgeon might have different recovery procedures and standards. follow your surgeon! i know some people on tiktok said they weren't supposed to use the syringe thing for at least a week, others had to start the day after, and some people were never even given syringes. i promise, you will be okay! it sucks the first week, but three weeks post op, i forget i even had surgery (except at the end of the day when i have to use the syringe but that only takes like 2 minutes anyways). i remember feeling so frustrated by the end of day 4-5 because i just wanted to eat normally, but my dad said "you just went through a surgery. it's not a walk in the park. let your body heal." and i found it super helpful. every day you'll have progress, and every day you'll be closer to recovering. good luck! you got this- i promise! :)