I had all four pulled. One was preemtive as I had a cavity in the tooth, and since it would have to be removed at some point, they yanked it out. Sore for a couple days, then ok. Second one was impacted, and it was about the same amount of pain. Both done with novacaine.
I didn't really have the money when the last two came do, so I kept putting it off. By the time I went to the dentist, he was appalled that I had waited so long. When your jaw gets puffed up like a chipmunk on both sides like that, he said that the abscess can burst while you're sleeping. He said if you swallow all that crap, it can be fatal.
The third one was a bitch. The roots were welded to the jaw bone. They had to 'section' the tooth to remove it. Section means they use a small hammer and a chisel to break the tooth up into pieces. As you might guess, that procedure sucked ass. It was damned sore for about a week.
He said that he might have to section the last one, so I told him I wanted it done under a general (sodium pentathal). I went to sleep, and when he woke me up, it was done. Pain for about 3 days.
If you're in good health I would recommend having all four done at once, under general anesthetic. You'll be pretty miserable for a couple days to a week, but then it's over and you don't have to deal with it again.