I had mine out when I was 19. Like you, I only had three, and they all came out. All three were impacted, two completely in bone, the third one just under the gums. I had mine done under general anaesthetic in the hospital. The kicker? At the time I was in college taking dental assisting, and just a week prior we'd finished our oral surgery unit, so I knew in extremely detailed, graphic terms exactly what was going to happen to me.
Also, the dental surgeon operating on me was the one I was doing my practicum with, so that was kind of weird, too. Anyway, the aftermath wasn't that bad. Swelling and bruising was okay (I'd heard of much worse), and as for pain, he wrote me a script for Tylenol 3's, I took two when I got home, and didn't really need them after that, the surgical pain was quite tolerable.
The following days were a bit worse. I felt like complete shit and really out of it from the anaesthetic for the rest of the week. After several days when I was attempting to eat something beyond very soft foods, biting/chewing was awful. It was like an electrical shock was going through my back teeth any time I tried to bite. If I remember correctly, that sensation lasted weeks, and I had to go back to him a few times because my bite just felt off, like it didn't fit together anymore. As far as the surgery went though, the area healed very well and very quickly.
The degree of pain and discomfort that you feel generally has to do with the type of impaction, the direction the teeth are pointing in if impacted, whether the teeth are in bone or not, and whether it's top teeth or bottom (bottoms are generally more painful).
Good luck with everything.
Eta - oh yeah, I know it's too late for you, Zoomerang, but for anyone else out there, don't rinse in the first 24 hours after surgery! You can dislodge the blot clots forming, and that's not good. After 24 hrs, rinse gently with warm salt water.
I'm not liking this thread at all.
don't feel bad gg2, it's not as bad as some are saying. i mean, some have great experiences, some have horrible ones. luckily for me i had about the best experience ever. my doctor was hot (because that's all that really matters, right?) and even though i had an impacted tooth and another that was starting to impact. the other two were removed for shits and giggles (mostly because he said they'd cause problems later, and who was i to argue?). i had them removed like right after christmas, at least i had fun times to go out on, that being my last time to eat solid foods and such.
I won't have to go to the dentist!
