I also had a cracked wisdom tooth and x-rays revealed that my mouth was too small (despite all advice received in childhood) to accommodate them. I had all four removed in one procedure, but received propophol due to my anxiety in clinical settings.

I apparently had a blast during the procedure, cracked up the dental surgeon by complaining about a neighbor, and had an interesting phonecall with my mother involving some bait and switch that I found hilarious at the time.

Recovery was uneventful, soups and gazpachos were great to keep fed and healing, and ibuprofen was only needed for a few days before the residual pain from the procedure was below threshold. It’s far better to take care of these things before they progress further, as you said.