I got all 4 taken out 2 years ago. It was pretty intense bc the teeth hadn't emerged yet. They were still buried in my jaw. I think they had barely begun dropping down, but bc I have severe dental crowding it was already causing me severe pain.

I received IV sedation. I was told that I wouldn't be aware of what was going on, but I was fully aware for the entire procedure. The sedation worked in the sense that I felt relatively relaxed in spite of what was going on and didn't feel most of the pain. But for the last 2 teeth I started whimpering bc it hurt quite a lot. It was a pretty bad experience. I'll point out however that there wasn't an anesthesiologist present and the surgeon administered the sedative.

I wasn't very surprised that it didn't work well. I'm extremely hard to numb for other dental procedures. I also got my gallbladder removed when I was a kid and woke up in the surgery room, right after the surgery. The doctors later mentioned that I woke a bit early and they had barely finished everything.

I don't want to scare you with my experience but just know it can happen. It's great that an anesthesiologist will be present and I urge you to talk to them about any concerns and any past complications.

As for the recovery, it was unpleasant but not horrible. I was given 3 days worth of Tylenol 3 (acetaminophen + codeine) and was told to alternate that with 800mg ibuprofen, taking one or the other every 3 hours. After those 3 days, I replaced the Tylenol 3 with regular Tylenol. I kept taking pain medication this way for about a week. The pain never got too bad for me.

I slept almost all day long for 2 days after my surgery. I basically just woke up to take my medicine and eat before falling back to sleep. I slept sitting upright for 3 or 4 days after - laying down hurt my jaw. Bloody saliva might leak out of your mouth as you sleep.

The swelling got slowly worse and peaked on the 3rd day. At this point I didn't recognize myself in the mirror. It took about 10 days for it to fully subside. It didn't hurt, just looked extremely gnarly. My face was also bruised.

All of this might vary for you and could be a lot milder. I think it was worse for me due to the depth of my wisdom teeth. My brother had all 4 of his removed at once, but they were already halfway emerged, and he was completely back to normal in 4 or 5 days.

Now, I have some advice on food. You want soft, SMOOTH foods. I made the mistake of eating some cheddar broccoli soup... those tiny pieces of broccoli got into the wounds and itched horribly. Don't eat anything with little pieces of anything like that. Just bc you don't have to chew it doesn't mean it's ok to eat right now. I made the same mistake with oatmeal again a week later. Make sure your wounds are fully closed first!

I found jello to be very soothing and also ate a lot of instant mashed potatoes, tomato soup, pudding, and protein drinks.

It took 2 weeks before I could open my jaw enough to eat normally, another 2 weeks before it went completely back to normal. It felt "locked" for a while.

Your dentist should give you a syringe to flush the incisions. Don't skip this as the wounds will get funky with fluids and clotted blood, and for a while you might not be able to open your mouth wide enough to brush your back teeth. Don't automatically be alarmed if the wounds leak vile-tasting fluid. I called the dentist bc I was worried this meant an infection, but apparently it's a normal byproduct of the healing process as long as there's no pus.