Hi S.. Listen, I'm going to tell you my total story about getting all 4 of mine out because NOONE warned me and so therefore, I wasn't prepared. Come to find out, women who get them out later than their mid twenties or so can have more complications. I am 31, but my dentist told me this AFTER I went back to her for a checkup after my surgery to be checked out about complications I was having. First of all, I was completely out of commission the entire first day. Not only was I in lots of pain, but I was also having to change those gauze pads regularly because of the bleeding. Don't let me scare you or anything, because it's not like you're in serious pain, but it's substantial enough that when I would try to just open my mouth, I literally cried. I felt like a total wimp, but I couldn't help it. Just to drink the water to swallow the pain pills was bringing tears to my eyes. Also, you will not be able to open your jaw all the way possibly for the first 2 weeks after your surgery. At first, I even majorly struggled opening it enough to get the pain pills through, and when I was finally able to, I had to cut all of my food into the tiniest pieces and couldn't even get a fork in my mouth with a bite on it, so would push the food through with my fingers (hopefully this will help you choose meals). I wasn't prepared for this. It took literally a full two weeks for me to be able to open it comfortably, longer to be able to open it all the way again. I also went back in to the doctor and was given more vicodin because my supply ran out and I was still in a lot of pain. One other thing, just so you know ahead of time, at our age, sometimes some of the numbness can stick around for awhile. I was freaking out because the whole right side of my tongue was totally numb still 3 days later. I'm talking AS NUMB as when I FIRST GOT HOME. It took all of the first two weeks for me to be able to talk coherently because not only was my jaw not able to open to talk correctly, but my tongue felt HUGE inside my mouth due to the numbness. So, come to find out, my dentist told me that it's not uncommon for that to happen. She said the younger you are, the less complications you are bound to have, which is why she recommended I get them out now and not wait until I'm older and they start deteriorating, but as crazy as it seemed to me, she did talk like I was in the "a little older" category when she explained the reason for complications....AT 31!!! Now, this is I guess even more uncommon, but I STILL have numbness in my tongue on the right side and my surgery was April 25. I also did everything right that they told me to and still got a dry socket. If you end up getting these, do yourself a HUGE favor and take a 20 oz of root beer to the office with you on your first visit. The gauze they pack it with has the STRONGEST clove taste I have ever tasted and no joke, I was seriously having trouble not choking on the flavor. I could barely talk for the first 10 minutes because the flavor was so overpowering. They didn't say anything to me that first time about how to help with it, but one of my friends is a hygenist and told me that root beer helps, and it DOES! I drank so much root beer during that week and a half I had to have that gauze taken out and replaced. Anyway, I almost didn't respond to your request, but I really wished that someone had given me a heads up on possible complications or harder recovery. I thought it was a simple thing, and so I was completely unprepared. My husband stayed home the first two days so I could rest. By the way, I have a high pain tolerance too, but that doesn't help when you're talking about a lingering constant pain. Pain here and there is easy to overcome and ignore, but when it's for a constant 24 hours or more in my case, it gets to you. So, just have lots of ibuprofen and tylenol around. My surgeon said that I could mix the vicodin with either tylenol or ibuprofen..I don't remember which it was, but I literally was going back and forth between the one allowed like what we do with our kids when they run a high fever. I hope yours goes much much better then mine, but if it doesn't, don't worry, it will get better. I'm used to my tongue being numb now and it doesn't even bother me, but at times I will admit, it is ANNOYING!