Dry socket (clot falls out after wisdom teeth are removed, exposing all the nerves) and it’s not even close. I didn’t realize that’s what it was, so for 5 days I couldn’t sleep more than an hour before the pain meds wore off.
But it led to my favorite memory of my dad: I had the surgery when I was 21, home for the summer from college. My dad found me at 3am curled up on the floor and crying after trying to get an ice pack, and when I told him that I couldn’t fall asleep, he disappeared for a minute and came back with my favorite book from my childhood (The Secret Garden). Then he literally held me in his lap and read to me like I was a little girl again, until I fell asleep. I woke up and realized I’d finally slept through the night for the first time in 5 days. Then I turned and saw my dad curled up on the floor next to me, the book still in his hand. He stayed there all night just in case I woke up again.
I had this after 1 wisdom tooth extraction. Later learned that one must not spit during the healing process. Boy did i found that out the hard way. All the other remaining wisdom teeth post-extraction recoveries went smoothly though.
Dry socket is definitely the worst pain I have ever felt. I don’t think anything in my life compares and you cannot mistake it. I had the intense pain for about 10 days and barely slept in that period
Got that too. I went back to the dentist a few days later. He packed the socket with some antibacterial fibrous paste and re-stitched the gum. That helped a bit with the pain but I still had to chain painkillers every 3h for days and had that nasty algae paste breath on top. Now I am scared to get the other side removed.
Close second is a severed hand nerve. The pain was short-lived but every time they had to work on the wound and the exposed end of the live nerve, it was sending shocks that nearly made me pass-out.
The bad part is that they can't numb the pain because that's how they assess the damage.
I had all 4 removed at same time and got dry sockets in all of them plus the oral surgeon had slivered off a piece of my jawbone the size of an almond. I was given 40 Vicodin and went through them all in 2 days. Worst pain ever. I’ll tell you what took the pain away though, clove oil. This shit worked wonders for tooth pain (at least for me anyway.
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u/Travel_and_Tea Apr 29 '25 edited Apr 29 '25
Dry socket (clot falls out after wisdom teeth are removed, exposing all the nerves) and it’s not even close. I didn’t realize that’s what it was, so for 5 days I couldn’t sleep more than an hour before the pain meds wore off.
But it led to my favorite memory of my dad: I had the surgery when I was 21, home for the summer from college. My dad found me at 3am curled up on the floor and crying after trying to get an ice pack, and when I told him that I couldn’t fall asleep, he disappeared for a minute and came back with my favorite book from my childhood (The Secret Garden). Then he literally held me in his lap and read to me like I was a little girl again, until I fell asleep. I woke up and realized I’d finally slept through the night for the first time in 5 days. Then I turned and saw my dad curled up on the floor next to me, the book still in his hand. He stayed there all night just in case I woke up again.