Wisdom Teeth

[sarah_ab]

I never really thought about it before, but I should take ativan before any dentist appointment, thanks Tara

*huggles*

Michelle

Yep this is what i do before any dental appt.

[timmyc]

i think of wisdom teeth like hte appendix.. at one point in our evolutionary history it had a purpose...

Do medical books have a small chapter at the end, on the appendix?

[sarah_ab]

heheheheheh

[redneck diaper boy]

I was in my 20's when mine came out. I was not sedated either. One had to be cut out! It was not a pleasurable experience. They gave me Percodan for the pain.

For some time now, ive needed ALL of my wisdom teeth removed, they are fully out, but are pushing my bottom row of teeth together and they also requently become inflamed.

In the UK, they really dont like to sedate you for this procedure, so have to be fully awake, something which im not so looking forward to.

Im pretty terrified of the dentist anyway, but am getting fed up with the constant inflamation of them.

My question to the folk who have had it dont without being sedated is, how much does it hurt (and how horrible is the actual pulling of the teeth etc), and how long after do they hurt.

[Little Faerie]

I just had one of mine yanked today, my dentist refuses to put people under. Local only. My wisdom teeth came it at weird angles, and one was sideways and rubbed a hole in my cheek causing an infection so they pulled that one first. The other three come out in two weeks, as 2 must be surgically removed, one grew in facing forward pushing the root into the connective tissue in my mouth with the tooth "top" against the one in front of it. I'm on antibiotics and Vicodin in the meantime, because the infection hurts worse than the actual tooth pull did. The wisdom tooth popped out in less than 2 minutes, it was over pretty quickly. Some pressure, a pop sound of the gum/tooth seal breaking, then a release of pressure and it's over. It's strange, I can breathe better now too. It's like it was pressing on my sinuses or something. My others won't be so easy because of the two impacted ones requiring surgery. Don't be worried about it. I was scared but once they started it was over pretty fast. The needle for the numbing was the worst of it really. I don't know if it would hurt much normally because I have the pain from the infection, but the tooth site itself doesn't seem to hurt much at all. Maybe that's the drugs they gave me afterward lol. Though, if that was because of the drugs why would the rest still hurt? I don't know. Just have it done, you'll feel better after it's healed up. It seems way worse than it ends up being.

[tyrantblade]

i still have mine and must say, hopefully they give you good painkillers. im not looking forward to eventually getting mine removed (they havent given me any problems in a while)

[babykatie1]

I had one tooth pulled before and i can still picture it in my mind. It did not really hurt, but it seemed so barbaric. The dentist reached in with something that looked kind of like an icepick and just yanked it out.

I needed to get three wisdom teeth pulled and I made an appointment with my (new) dentist to have it done. I totally expected to be knocked out for the pulling. Much to my surprise, he had no plan to knock me out. So I told him no way was I having it done without being knocked out. He said I would have to go to an oral surgeon to get knocked out. The oral surgeon i had was really pretty good. He gave me 2 options: kind of knocked out (2 glasses of wine) or totally knocked out (2 bottles of wine). I opted for totally knocked out. So, he gave me diazepam to take the night before and the day of, then nitrous, and an IV. I was out pretty quick. I do remember a little pulling, but i was back out again pretty quick. When I woke up, it was done and time to go home.

The only other time I was knocked out was for a knee surgery. That was a very strange experience. They took me into the OR and told me to count down from 10 to 1. By the time I got to 8, I had woken up in the recovery room. When I woke up I was totally awake, like nothing happened at all. Such a strange experience to be just missing an hour or two

[Little Faerie]

I had the other three out Thursday... no picnic at all. I had a surprise panic attack when they were numbing me because the needles hurt way more than last time. I've been told dentists will give you valium or something for that; nope nada. It was "hurry up and calm down, breathe, so we can get this over with". This dentist really doesn't believe in making patients comfortable. The first two weren't so bad coming out, but that third one had to be broken in three pieces and I FELT it, painfully. The pain set in before the numbing had worn off enough to swallow a Vicodin pill with water. I tried, and choked. By the time I got it down I was in excruciating pain. Those bottom teeth had a lot of trouble coming out, and hurt a LOT more than the top ones. I swelled bad and both lower sites got infected in under 24 hours. The extra strength vicodin was barely masking the pain, and when I went back in 2 days later because of the severe pain and swelling they added a second antibiotic, but REDUCED the strength and frequency of my pain meds. I was really mad, and thinking WTF! I tell you it isn't working so you use LESS medicine? I just had surgery for pete's sake, I'm not a friggin addict or something! Well after that I said F it and just doubled the dose of the weaker ones (still at a safe level mind you). Mysteriously, it worked! Gee, maybe I know what I'm talking about! This is the THIRD asian doctor I have had who believes women don't have real pain, or something like that. He had tried to put me on motrin, which I am allergic to. Anyway, with the extra antibiotic stuff and a few more days, I have been able to reduce painkillers to one regular vicodin every 4 hrs, though I still can't eat regular food. I got sick of soup and pudding so I pureed what I made for the rest of the family in my blender, and it wasn't too bad. The meatloaf was weird, but the garlic-butter green beans were awesome that way (just like baby food only tastier) and the mashed purple potatoes were perfectly normal except that I'd used purple potatoes lol. Anybody in CA, never go to the Western Dental center in El Monte if you expect to have a say in your treatment. They rush rush rush the whole time they're with you, and don't explain a thing. They cram their schedule and go back and forth between multiple patients at once, and don't listen very well. There is no time to ask the doctor anything because the second he finishes what he's doing he's out of the "room" and already with another patient. I asked to speak with him with the medicine ordeal and was told he's too busy and with another patient, and I wasn't even out of the chair yet! I'm beginning to heal up finally, and with luck my stitches hold and the infection clears quickly. Best advice, get a good dentist, no matter the cost. I don't wish my experience on anyone.