[wisdomteether]

I had a similar experience. My oral surgeon, who did a great job, highly recommended I fill the painkiller prescription and take it. He recommended this several times throughout the process, before and once before I left, as did the nurses (?) at the counter, as I expressed some concerns about it.

I finally caved and then took a half dose right after the extraction because I was fearing terrible pain, especially since the surgeon said mine was a fairly difficult job that would probably end up causing more pain than is typical.

The half dose of painkiller made me extremely nauseous, and so I decided to just try the 800mg of ibuprofen, and it did the job perfectly. I did feel a little sore and stiff, but never in pain unless I waited too long for another ibuprofen dose. It was the same for my girlfriend, who was also prescribed the pain killer but didn't take it because she didn't feel she needed it either.

The pain killer being prescribed didn't bother me per se, and neither did the recommendation, and I don't think anything nefarious was going on. Also, everyone's body is different. But given the side effects, and potential side effects, I just felt that even a simple "we recommend you get this prescription filled, but please see how the ibuprofen works first, and only take the pain killer if you can't handle the pain on ibuprofen alone" would have been a better way to handle it.