[QUOTE=xilman;452447]I had a molar extracted earlier this morning. The operation required vast amounts of local anaesthetic injected in three separate batches. The anaesthetic is now wearing off so I'm beginning to feel rather weird though not, as yet, in pain.[/QUOTE]
I hope you have some truly effective opiods.

That said, after a recent root canal procedure, they gave me prescription level ibuprofen (800 mg). It took care of the bruising from the injections quite well. I am not sure how well it would do with the kind of trauma you just experienced.

[QUOTE=kladner;452454]I hope you have some truly effective opiods.[/QUOTE]

I hope you don't. Things like that are often seriously over-prescribed, and can lead to really bad situations.

Pain is not nice, but it is a positive re-enforcement loop.

[QUOTE=chalsall;452480]I hope you don't. Things like that are often seriously over-prescribed, and can lead to really bad situations.

Pain is not nice, but it is a positive re-enforcement loop.[/QUOTE]
I wasn't given any pain killers after I had my back molar taken out(not wisdom). It was a very hard one to take out(45+ mins). I can't remember too much pain afterwards.
Not as bad as my mum's though. She had an infection so the numbing didn't really work(30+ mins of torture).

[QUOTE=henryzz;452483]I wasn't given any pain killers after I had my back molar taken out(not wisdom).[/QUOTE]

To add to this, I was recently offered pain killers by a doctor during a visit. I turned them down. She then shortly later offered them again while I was leaving. I turned them down again.

Pain is an important feedback.

I don't understand why pain killers are being pushed so much by doctors.

It does depend on the nature of the extraction. I had four Wisdom teeth taken out at one time, under general anesthesia. My face looked like when I had the mumps for a week. Then there was the time I broke my wrist, followed by the [U]first[/U] of 3 surgeries to correct a terrible original setting of the bone. The surgery involved stretching tendons which had shortened due to a telescoped ulna from an un-pinned cast. This was more painful than the original injury.

Pain is a valuable and necessary signal, but that does not mean one needs to endure it unfiltered when it is really intense.

Perhaps strangely, I've had no post-op pain at all. The dentist was very skilful and took great care with the injections. She stopped part way through the extraction to give me another does of anaesthetic in the spot she could't reach earlier, for instance.

All has gone amazingly well, with a very clean wound indeed. Perhaps this follow-up really belongs in the Happy-Me thread.

I am glad to hear it, Paul. :smile:
EDIT: Even Twice!

Xilman-edit: deleted unintended duplicate.

[QUOTE=kladner;452523]Pain is a valuable and necessary signal, but that does not mean one needs to endure it unfiltered when it is really intense.[/QUOTE]

I agree. But I have been offered opioids far too often, when I didn't really need them; another non-addictive pain killer would have done just as well.

Please see this [URL="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pdPrQFjo2o"]John Oliver commentary[/URL] on the issue.

P.S. Paul, I'm very glad things worked out for you!

Everyone has a different tolerance level to pain, so what one needs to address it is subjective. When I was 19 I had a [URL="http://www.thefacesurgeon.co.uk/surgical-treatments/mandibular-surgery.aspx"]mandubular osteotomy[/URL] due to an overbite. I had all four wisdom teeth taken out at the same time (as we don't need them and it would eliminate the potential need to remove them later). My mouth was wired shut for two weeks. Interestingly I needed very little pain medication. I suspect that the reason is that the nerves in my lower jaw were stretched causing me to lose sensitivity for a few years (and occasional drooling). That doesn't explain why my upper jaw didn't hurt after the removal of the wisdom teeth. I don't think that I have a super tolerance to pain. I think I had a good surgeon.

[QUOTE=rogue;452555] My mouth was wired shut for two weeks. [/QUOTE]

I also had my mouth wired shut (for about 6 weeks, after I broke my jaw in college). A question: did the doctor give you a pair of surgical grade wire cutters to carry with you? Mine did, telling me to never, ever be without them. He said that if I became sick with my mouth wired shut, I may not survive the vomiting. That image scared me to death- I stayed far away from anyone with the flu, and did no drinking of course.

Norm

[QUOTE=Spherical Cow;452641]I also had my mouth wired shut (for about 6 weeks, after I broke my jaw in college). A question: did the doctor give you a pair of surgical grade wire cutters to carry with you? Mine did, telling me to never, ever be without them. He said that if I became sick with my mouth wired shut, I may not survive the vomiting. That image scared me to death- I stayed far away from anyone with the flu, and did no drinking of course.[/QUOTE]

I was given wire cutters, but I don't know if they were surgical grade.