wisdom teeth [Archive]

Xanis

Dec 20, 2007, 07:31 PM

I got mine out last year. I remember getting into the car still groggy as hell from the anasthesia and feeling pretty good... until I was like 3 blocks from home and the pain kicked in.... HARD. My dad thought this was pretty funny, but promptly drove me to the pharmacy (thank God) to get my hydrocodone prescription filled. I remember stumbling into my house shortly thereafter and throwing up blood in toilet... that part sucked. The first day was a blur, but once I had my happy pills and some milkshakes I was good to go.

jabrowntx

Dec 20, 2007, 08:13 PM

Sure...

In addition to having all 4 wisdom teeth pulled at the same time I had 4 others pulled as well (prep work for braces). I developed "dry socket" in all 4 of the wisdom tooth holes. Very painful.

iToaster

Dec 20, 2007, 08:23 PM

I'm keeping mine. They're holding up well so far... besides, don't want to punish them if they haven't done anything.

EricNau

Dec 20, 2007, 08:25 PM

No hot foods/liquids. Don't use a straw. No carbonated beverages.
...But I' sure the doctor already told you that.

pjarvi

Dec 20, 2007, 08:30 PM

When I got mine out, they rushed me out the back door as soon as I had woken up (general anesthesia). So, while dizzy and feeling weak I stumbled through the parking lot with my mouth full of gauze, drool and blood oozing out from between, and had my Dad drive me home.

They never explained to me what exactly was going to happen once the surgery was over, so I was kind of miffed/amused at being pushed out the back door.

ErikCLDR

Dec 20, 2007, 08:35 PM

I had mine out over the summer...

I only had three and they weren't very deep so it was pretty easy. They randomly gave me laughing gas to give me a needle containing anesthesia. I remember just waking up with the taste of blood in my mouth and just wanting to go back to sleep. I went home, didn't sleep until like 9pm, and remembered everything that happened after I woke up unlike many people.

Pain killers are nice too ;)

Nermal

Dec 20, 2007, 08:36 PM

I got mine (top ones; I don't have any down the bottom) out earlier this year, and I was conscious. Didn't hurt much at the time, just took a couple of paracetamol afterwards and all was well! However, I've heard that the bottom ones hurt.

mrwizardno2

Dec 20, 2007, 08:46 PM

Yak. I'm keeping mine too. They came in when I was in HS / pre-college... and I've not had any issues so far. :-)

phillipjfry

Dec 20, 2007, 08:55 PM

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD AND ALL THAT IS HOLY IF YOU DONT HAVE YOUR WISDOM TEETH TAKEN OUT, GET IT DONE!!!

I thought I was smarter than the dentist when he said that my teeth were partially coming in but wouldn't fully make it. I thought I would be fine with them partially out of the gum until I woke up one day in the worst pain of my life. I got some gunk dug into my gum and it got infected and the infection ran down my jaw bone. I had to have the whole gum and jaw bone cut open and had to have alot of infected gum scooped out and drilled out.

Plus side, I got plenty of pain killers anti-nausea pills and alot of sleep time :)

NEENAHBOY

Dec 21, 2007, 01:29 AM

My procedure and aftercare was a piece of cake.

Went to the oral surgeon (I think this is the key to success...there's no way a dentist would have done as good a job), went home, and felt no pain whatsoever. After the initial gauze was removed, I didn't bleed. I was eating solid food with no trouble that same night. A simple sea salt soak after meals for a few days was all I needed. The stitches dissolved after less than 72 hours.

It was far less involved than I expected, and it was a great experience overall (well, as great as having teeth violently yanked out of your gums can be, anyway).

viccles

Dec 21, 2007, 02:43 AM

I had mine taken out in hospital under general because they were impacted in my jaw. Worst experience ever. It was about a month before things went back to normal again.

bov

Dec 21, 2007, 03:02 AM

aw crap, im getting scared now. im going in for my wisdom teeth consultation tomorrow........ :eek:

it5five

Dec 21, 2007, 03:14 AM

I only got two of mine taken out. The other two came in straight and I was told they would be okay provided I made sure I flossed and brushed really well back there.

Funny story though. When I was woken up, the nurse person had told me and my brother (who was driving me home) to stay away from solid foods (I only ate applesauce for like two days), and to not use a straw for a while.

First thing we did on the way home was stop and get me a milkshake (with a straw). I remember sucking and sucking on that straw trying to get the milkshake, and then seeing blood all over the place. Of course, I was still half asleep so I had no idea what was going on and couldn't remember a thing the nurse told me after I woke up.

My brother rules.

phillipjfry

Dec 21, 2007, 07:19 AM

aw crap, im getting scared now. im going in for my wisdom teeth consultation tomorrow........ :eek:

I couldn't emphasis enough, it wont hurt if you get them out when they say that you should get them out. When it comes to painkillers, pay the premium and you will be sittin' pretty :)

Cloudane

Dec 21, 2007, 07:29 AM

I didn't get mine out when I was younger, the dentist did recommend it but conveniently only as I was about to turn 18 and would consequently have to pay for it myself. As I didn't have a job yet I didn't bother.

Now (7 yrs later) I get a painless but worrying clicking on the left when I open and close my mouth. The dentist said it was too late to have wisdom teeth extracted at this stage of their growth unless it became an emergency as it's a difficult operation and to wash my mouth out with warm salt water?? (didn't help)

Having researched though I think it's the jaw joint itself (thermonuclear joint or whatever it's called) clicking rather than the wisdom tooth bumping against the others or anything. I think if it was impacting I'd know about it.

Not sure what my point is, I guess it's that for peace of mind you should get them out, and get them out early so that a) the government pays for it and not you (if you're in the UK anyway) and b) it doesn't get left too late!

geekgirl

Dec 21, 2007, 10:29 AM

I had all four surgically removed when I was 15. Oh, the laughing gas... so much fun, except I went paranoid on the nurses, and was yelling at them to stop, and that they were trying to kill me. Mom could hear me in the waiting room. Talk about embarassing moments...

I had them taken out on a Friday, and ended up having a bad reaction from the codeine at first (vomited quite a bit). On Monday, I was back at school, having finally been able to take the codeine without throwing up, and my algebra 2 teacher was making his rounds, helping as we worked, picked up my paper, and promptly sent me to the nurse. Date on my paper: Jan. xx, 1871. (This was in 1988). I couldn't figure out why he thought that was a problem. The rest of the math problems were... interestingly solved.

Believe it or not, while I was in the nurse's office waiting for my mom, the principal came in and "helpfully" told me all about when he had his wisdom teeth out, and how he was back at work the same day. He couldn't believe that I was still having huge amounts of pain (hence the need for codeine, and being really loopy at school). "You're all a bunch of Whiners!" was his favorite saying.

Anyway, never ended up with any really huge problems after that. Just no fun at the time.

ich1ban

Dec 21, 2007, 10:46 AM

Blaah I'm probably going to have to get mine taken out. Dentist told me about 4 months ago I needed them to be taken out. Haven't done it yet and today I'm going back to the dentist for a cleaning. I bet they're going to tell me to take it out again.

Iscariot

Dec 21, 2007, 11:25 AM

I once dated a girl who had hers removed when we were together. For the next couple of days I took care of her (she was a real light weight, so the painkillers pretty much KO'd her), changing her gauss, renting movies for her, carrying her up and down stairs. After she was better, she told me it was the sweetest thing I had ever done for her.

I was quick to remind her about that time, with the candles, the rose petals, and the bubble bath.

When she seemed confused, I realized that was a different girl all together :eek:

(As a note, when I had mine taken out, I bloody well took care of myself. Hell, I walked home after the surgery. I rule.)

Cloudane

Dec 21, 2007, 12:01 PM

^ LOL! Good effort :D

"You're all a bunch of Whiners!" was his favorite saying.

Did he own a Mac and visit this forum by any chance? *grin/duck projectiles/run*

Xfujinon

Dec 21, 2007, 12:54 PM

It really isn't too bad. Follow the recommendations of the dentist/oral surgeon to the letter. Dry sockets are very crappy. Use the little syringe they give you to wash the crap out of the holes once they heal a bit. You do not want food caught in there.

I echo the sentiments of someone above talking about a jaw infection. My oral surgeon told me about some cases he had seen when he was doing his residency of a Haitian man whose teeth were impacted and infected. They ended up removing part of his jaw, which subsequently disentegrated with the infection, leaving a large portion of his jaw without bone. A prosthesis sort of helped, but it wasn't pretty.

You'll be fine, I promise. If you are bored, Google the statistics for the failure rate of the operation, it is fairly low. Do what they say, and you'll be okay. The most common problem is allergic reaction to the pain meds people take afterwards.

~X

adk

Dec 21, 2007, 03:11 PM

I got mine out years ago a few weeks before christmas. After I woke up but while the anesthesia was still affecting me, My parents told me every christmas present they were giving me. Didn't remember a thing!

esco

Dec 28, 2007, 01:05 AM

I had mine taken out the summer after senior year of high school. This whole story is according to my mom. Apparently I started droppin the f'bomb after waking up and the nurse kept me in the back for a little longer b/c she said, "I don't think your mom would want to hear the way you're talking right now."

After we had gotten into the car, we were blocking some guy's car and he told us to move impolitely. My mom was apologetic explaining that I just had surgery but I proceeded to yell profanities at him while flicking him off. After we drove away, I started scratching my skin trying to write messages to my mom while she was driving...

Then when I was on the couch, while my aunt was changing my gauze and my older sister and mom were standing around me, I started writing messages on index cards calling them all s**ts (does that even need censorship?) This was really out of character since I'm usually the really polite and gentlemanly type. My mom found it so hilarious that she kept the index cards.

kainjow

Dec 28, 2007, 02:12 AM

I had mine taken out last summer, plus 4 more normal teeth because they were causing crowding. It was weird to think I had 8 less teeth in my mouth. Quick way to lose weight I suppose ;)

cycocelica

Dec 28, 2007, 02:17 AM

When I got mine out they forgot to give me a syringe and my mouth got infected. I had to squeeze it and all this brown liquid stuff came out and taste terrible. My cheeck were all swollen, it was bad. I got over it though.

skyrider007

Dec 30, 2007, 08:26 AM

I had all four wisdom teeth removed back in July and have experienced pain for a couple of days after the extraction and was unable to eat normally for about a week. Apart from that I experienced no complications whatsoever, not even dry sockets. I am glad I have decided to have all of them removed during one visit as I certainly would not be looking forward to another dental surgery.

:)

P.S. I was put on local anesthesia, so yes I heard the drill and felt the pull lol.

xUKHCx

Dec 30, 2007, 08:31 AM

While I was in for one of my many trips to the dental hospital they referred me to a wisdom teeth specialist. Who said that normal dentists would remove mine but they are fine and in fact they discourage removing wisdom teeth unless absolutely necessary. So I have mine and although slightly uncomfortable to begin with are fine and I have had no problems with them. Glad I went to the specialist rather than a normal dentist.

P.S. I was put on local anesthesia, so yes I heard the drill and felt the pull lol.

Try 9 1/2 hours on local having your front teeth removed and 2x2cm metal pins being drilled into your jaw. And that was just the beginning.

miniConvert

Dec 30, 2007, 09:15 AM

I still have no idea why people have their wisdom teeth removed. I don't know anyone who's had them out (UK). I just brush them like all of my other teeth :D I mean sure, you feel them when they're coming through, but it's minor discomfort and, well, they're just teeth at the end of the day. Oo, the advances of modern technology - now we can have traumatic operations to remove our teeth!

Maybe it's overcrowding or something? Personally I think dentists will do/say anything for money.

I'm not doubting at all that there are genuine medical scenarios, just like circumcision. But I wonder how long it'll be before we're having our little toes amputated.