How bad it is really depends on your situation. If wisdom teethes are out - removing them is as simple as pulling your normal tooth out. But if they are hidden inside (mine were growing horizontally) - it's worse case – you’ll need a surgeon for this ( 'regular' dentist don't touch such cases), you’ll get some stitches, get swelling for a few days, likely will have to take some antibiotics and anesthesia pills etc.

In both cases smoking & alcohol is not a good idea.

I had two kids go through this. They recovered, uneventfully, within a day. But they also had a good oral surgeon and followed his instructions.

Smoking, drinking through a straw, anything at all that involves sucking is absolutely, beyond any question, OUT.

The reason is, you'll suck the blood clot out of the socket, then you'll have a terrifically painful condition called "dry socket", which in the worst case can last as long as six weeks and cannot be relieved by pain pills. Smoking will make that worse, because the nicotine will constrict blood vessels that feed the healing tissue forming in the clot.

The oral surgeon will tell you not to smoke. He's not doing that just for your general health. He's doing it so you won't have to come back and get your sockets repacked and put on major antibiotics.

Depending on the reason you need to get them removed you might be able to opt to let them grow out and just have them pulled instead of having surgery.
I did that, the whole thing was over in a few minutes and everything was fine after two days.

I've had all four of my wisdom tooths taken out. The top left one was a tough case, as it was the size of a two regular molers. It was an interesting experience whent the doc pried the sucker out intact. My whole left side face was swollen for a couple of days after that and I could hardly open my mouth for a week or so.

I had two or three removed and they gave me some injection in my mouth first but it still hurt alot and i dont think they even give me any painkillers at all afterwards.
I don't think you should smoke so soon.

I remember when I got mine pulled. He put anesthetic on and soon I was paralyzed. "Don't worry, young Jack. This won't hurt a bit", he said as he put a metal mask on to lock my mouth open. As I lay there wide awake, he reached in for my tooth. He pulled and tugged and out it came! "That's one, young Jack. Only 3 more to go." The dentist grinned as blood was spurting out of my mouth onto his surgeon coat. He leaned in, anxious to rip out my next tooth. He pulled and tugged and out it came!

My mouth was being drowned out with blood by this point. I was slowly passing out, wondering if I would survive. "How wonderful, young Jack! This is going splendid, splendid!" He reached in to grab the grab the other. He pulled and he tugged and out it came! My mouth was like an open fire hydrant at this point and the world started going black. "Sleep, young Jack. When you awake it will all be over", he said.

That's when I woke up. I don't know if it's really like that or if that was just how it is in dreams but you should be fine. Just remember that if you start blacking out not to walk into the light. ^^

DON'T SMOKE! I was a smoker when I got one of my wisdom teeth pulled and shook of my doc's advice with a "Yeah, you're a doc, you have to say this..." One week later the pulled tooth was still hurting. They had to take out the stitches, clean the wound of the pus and suture the wound again. I had to take antibiotics for 5 days. AFTER this, the wound slowly started to heal.

I think I had a lot of bad luck... But knowing what could happen, I wouldn't risk smoking for a couple of days. It's not worth it. I would have been okay after four or five days*, but thanks to smoking It took more than three weeks.

*Regarding the four or five days: I got another one of my wisdom teeth pulled a couple of years later, when I was an ex-smoker. On day two after the operation I already started to eat normal food. It only hurt when something touched the wound or when I bent down. And this stopped completely after five days. Sure, I still felt a bit of pulse, but not in a hurting way.

How wise do you need to be to get them because mine never came through?

I had all four done under local anaesthetic in two sessions (the left and right side done about a week apart), and it wasn't bad at all. One was sprouting the right way up, so the surgeon just cut a bit of space around it and pulled the motherfucker out with forceps in about fifteen seconds. The rest were impacting ninety degrees sideways and had to be cut to pieces for extraction. The vibration and the noise were somewhat uncomfortable, but if you've ever had a cavity filled, it's not significantly worse than that, just takes a bit longer.

I was told to take 800mg of ibuprofen and 1000mg of paracetamol every eight hours (two pills of one, four hours later two of the other and so on), which kept the pain in check so well that I hardly ever noticed it. There was little swelling as well, although I think I got off lucky on that respect.

Pro tip: stock up on yoghurt and the sort, at least for the first few days. Chances are that you won't be able to move your jaw much right after surgery, and you probably won't feel like popping to the shop either. I think it took my sockets about two weeks to heal completely.

Ah that reminds me I need to get my two on the left side out soon... Advices I can give are stocking up on yoghurt or soup... basically everything which you don't need to chew much, since the first few days that will hurt like hell, especially since you get the two top ones removed and will have a wound on each side. Also be carefull not to eat something with very small parts like sesame since this can get stuck in the wound and lead to an infection.

I had that done, wasn't too bad at all from my experience. And they gave me some damn good pills after so even then I was high as a kite during and then after. x)

Mine were impacted so they had to take apart a bit of my jaw, get them out and they put everything back together. XD

Have fun!

They both gassed and injected me, then with the pills after I was feeling quite good that day despite everything. lol

Yeah, my Wisdom was only 12, three out of the four made their appearance, the fourth (left bottom) never made it's horrible appearance in any x-ray. I spent my rehab chewing on that side if needed, but mostly stayed with soup for a couple days.
Also not sure how young you are, but mine didn't erupt until I was 35 and that's when I had them done. Though, I was told they needed to be removed when I was 24, but they were below the surface and not causing me any pain. I think I made the right decision and waited.

I was 32 Sunday, so I might not have got away with it after all.