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Les Kern said:
A dry socket can be INCREDIBLY painful... I know. Don't use a straw, don't even touch it. Let it heal for a few days before you eat anything not already pre-chewed. I heard that using a tea bag on it helps a lot, so I did that and it worked. Kept it covered and just felt good.
Here's a second vote for tea bags.
When I got my teeth pulled, it would not stop bleeding. I had gauze in my mouth the entire day, and every 10 minutes I had to replace it with a fresh piece. It kept bleeding so long I had to have someone go out and buy me more. Not knowing what to do, I called the dentist and he recommended tea bags. That did the trick! (plus it tasted good) :D

Les Kern said:
...But after that, aspirin is fine.
I wouldn't recommend aspirin. It thins the blood which could affect clotting.
 
I had all mine out in 1983, two were impacted. I insisted on being awake during the whole thing, the doctor wanted to put me under, but I was a horn player then and worried about the nerves in my lips, so I told him to tell me exactly what he was doing while he was doing it. :p He just gave me a bunch of novacaine first, it was fine. Afterwards I was very glad I didn't have to be put under, because I get very sick the first day or two afterwards.

It went fine, fast, I didn't feel a thing, and I seem to remember that I had very little pain (I got some pills for the first few days, but lived my life as usual except for food).

I hate needles, especially IV's, so I feel for you there, but truly they don't hurt, it's just the idea of them that's gross IMO. You're not a wimp, it's normal not to like someone sticking a needle in you! :D

You'll be fine, don't worry. Post back afterwards, tell us how you are.
 
I had all four of my wisdom teeth removed at the same time under a local anesthetic. I was awake the whole time. The problem I had was that the drug they gave me wasn't strong enough and I had a side reaction of the shakes. I wasn't cold, but the drugs made me shake which irritated the doctor :rolleyes:

But I would have to say that the worst part is that the teeth were not removed all at once. The doctor kind of chisled them into fragments and the teeth came out in pieces :eek:

I could hear what was happening to me more than feel it. When I got home the local anesthetic wore off. I tried the percocet, but it didn't really do much to relieve the pain. It only made me dizzy.

That being said, you should have an easy time since you will be knocked out for the procedure.

Oh, and about a week later I had this really bad taste in my mouth because food would get trapped in places I couldn't clean it out of. Really quite disgusting.

Yeah, the whole procedure pretty much sucks.
 
macgeek2005 said:
Am I missing something here? Since when do people get wisdom teeth removed? :confused: :confused: :confused: :confused: :confused:

Since we figured out modern dentistry and realised that teeth, because of their position on the jaw can begin to grow at an angle, growing straight into the other teeth was a really bad idea.

I honestly don't know how to take you geek, are you just playing around or are you that clueless of the real world that I should have nothing but pity for you?
 
dukebound85 said:
Im getting quesey just reading this thread and I still need to get mine out. Something about messing with my body I can't take mentally so I usually get pretty faint lol

I need to get mine out in a couple of months :(
I felt faint when told I needed a root canal (this was a couple of years ago) but that ended up being totally painless. She didn't even stick a needle in there!
 
After hearing everyone's horror stories about getting theirs out, I was pretty worried when I had to get one out a little over two weeks ago. I had three shots of Novacaine™ on my upper. It took the dentist about 10-15 minutes to get the tooth out. All I felt was the pressure (although seeing something resembling a screwdriver enter my mouth wasn't exactly comforting). He said that if I had been 35, it would have taken an hour to get it out. That came from the roots on one side being crossed, which prevented him from just rolling it out. I didn't need stitches either, which was good, but it did take a while for me to stop bleeding, as I kept putting the gauze in the wrong spot. :rolleyes:

Now, as to why I only had one out. Back when I had braces, two molars were removed from either side of my lower jaw to help in spacing. This led to my lower wisdom teeth having plenty of room, and meshing with the molars directly in front of my upper wisdom teeth. This meant that my uppers didn't actually do anything. I had the right side done along with a pair of preventative fillings (due to the sealant being just about gone). I played a pair of parades 9 days later with no problems at all. I'm going this Friday to have the other side done, which I hope doesn't take as long.
As for medication, I was given about a week's worth of 800mg tablets of ibuprofen, which I didn't really need much, and they were destroyed the next day (working in the rain will do that. :p). I did the warm salt rinse a few days, which I guess helped. As far as eating, I was told I could eat pretty much anything once the bleeding stopped, as long as I wasn't stupid about it (i.e. chewing Doritos™ on that side of my mouth.)

So, good luck, and I hope they don't have to cut through your gums. :eek:
 
diehldun said:
I went to a consultation with my mom to talk to the doctor. He was trying to calm me down, but I think it's the unexpectedness and mystery that's making me so terrified! And what a rotten day to celebrate my summer holiday (getting the operation on the first day of vacation :( )

Mine hurt like hell after they got pulled, and they hurt for nearly a week...but my case was the worst out of everybody I know. Most people bounce back after a day or two.

Really, don't worry about it. The anesthesia works very well. I remember thinking it wasn't working at all because I could feel them doing something to my teeth and then they were suddenly finished, and I realized I had slept through the whole thing only to awaken at the very end.

So yeah, its gonna hurt, but you'll get pampered by momma for a few days and get to eat some ice cream and watch TV. Besides, pain is weakness leaving the body, right?
 
It's really not that bad... myself, I've had 8 removed (yes 8, and yes that's possible). Fortunately they could remove them after they took out 4, 2 they scooped out with a spoon or something since they weren't fully grown yet, the other 2 had to be surgically removed.

Good luck! :D
 
Counterfit said:
After hearing everyone's horror stories about getting theirs out, I was pretty worried when I had to get one out a little over two weeks ago. I had three shots of Novacaine™ on my upper. It took the dentist about 10-15 minutes to get the tooth out. All I felt was the pressure (although seeing something resembling a screwdriver enter my mouth wasn't exactly comforting). He said that if I had been 35, it would have taken an hour to get it out. That came from the roots on one side being crossed, which prevented him from just rolling it out. I didn't need stitches either, which was good, but it did take a while for me to stop bleeding, as I kept putting the gauze in the wrong spot. :rolleyes:

Now, as to why I only had one out. Back when I had braces, two molars were removed from either side of my lower jaw to help in spacing. This led to my lower wisdom teeth having plenty of room, and meshing with the molars directly in front of my upper wisdom teeth. This meant that my uppers didn't actually do anything. I had the right side done along with a pair of preventative fillings (due to the sealant being just about gone). I played a pair of parades 9 days later with no problems at all. I'm going this Friday to have the other side done, which I hope doesn't take as long.
As for medication, I was given about a week's worth of 800mg tablets of ibuprofen, which I didn't really need much, and they were destroyed the next day (working in the rain will do that. :p). I did the warm salt rinse a few days, which I guess helped. As far as eating, I was told I could eat pretty much anything once the bleeding stopped, as long as I wasn't stupid about it (i.e. chewing Doritos™ on that side of my mouth.)

So, good luck, and I hope they don't have to cut through your gums. :eek:

Very comforting Counterfit. Thanks. This Friday, I'm getting FOUR teeth forcibly removed prior to braces going on. And I'm over 35. I go for a consult today....
 
Black&Tan said:
Very comforting Counterfit. Thanks. This Friday, I'm getting FOUR teeth forcibly removed prior to braces going on. And I'm over 35. I go for a consult today....

You will be fine. Biggest part is it depends on your heath. Do you smoke or drink a lot. If the answer is yes I feel sorry for you. My uncle hates doing those and they are more difficult to do. But it is mostly in they are the ones that call and require more follow up work. Being like that increase chances of dry socket.


For getting those teeth removed I going to say choose to be put to sleep for it. You dont have to see anything at all. They still will use numbing drug on you. The sleeping is just add added insurance and it makes it a lot easier on the doctor.

I also recomend you DONT watch him do work on other people because it makes you even more scared they put a lot of force in roling the teeth out. That or seeing them break a tooth in to mutiple parts



All in all the best advice is to just relax and remember that in 95% or better everything is just fine. Pain for a few days. Dry sockets are very rare or any complaction. Lets see my uncle does 3-4 peole an hour (a lot of surgens will have multiple cases going on at one time. while one is being prep, waking up/recoving they are in another room working on another person). And they get less maybe 1 complactoin a week and almsot always it pretty minor normally that being a dry socket.

Remember a huge part of the reason there are so many horor stories out there is because of the shear number of people who get them removed so because of that of corse you are going to hear about quite a few of them.
 
Timepass said:
You will be fine. Biggest part is it depends on your heath. Do you smoke or drink a lot. If the answer is yes I feel sorry for you. My uncle hates doing those and they are more difficult to do. But it is mostly in they are the ones that call and require more follow up work. Being like that increase chances of dry socket.


For getting those teeth removed I going to say choose to be put to sleep for it. You dont have to see anything at all. They still will use numbing drug on you. The sleeping is just add added insurance and it makes it a lot easier on the doctor.

I also recomend you DONT watch him do work on other people because it makes you even more scared they put a lot of force in roling the teeth out. That or seeing them break a tooth in to mutiple parts



All in all the best advice is to just relax and remember that in 95% or better everything is just fine. Pain for a few days. Dry sockets are very rare or any complaction. Lets see my uncle does 3-4 peole an hour (a lot of surgens will have multiple cases going on at one time. while one is being prep, waking up/recoving they are in another room working on another person). And they get less maybe 1 complactoin a week and almsot always it pretty minor normally that being a dry socket.

Remember a huge part of the reason there are so many horor stories out there is because of the shear number of people who get them removed so because of that of corse you are going to hear about quite a few of them.

Thanks TimePass. I know all these things, but it helps to hear them again. The sad thing is, I work for a dental manufacturer!

:eek:

I get to see lots of lovely photos.....
 
I have one wisdom tooth (lucky?) and when I went to the dentist a couple of weeks ago he told me that they were going to have to pull it. This was said when I'm in the chair with the little water thing and vacuum in my mouth so my protests were a muffled "wwhaaffft?!?"

Both my parents still have some if not all of their wisdom teeth. I have enough room in my jaw and its currently not impacted so I decided not to get it removed.

I guess what I'm getting at is that I agree with what Les Kern.

You could always get a second opinion, but seing I'm post #40 I think you already got it.:rolleyes:
 
Black&Tan said:
Thanks TimePass. I know all these things, but it helps to hear them again. The sad thing is, I work for a dental manufacturer!

:eek:

I get to see lots of lovely photos.....


lol. I will say no matter what they do for your braces part there is no way in hell that it can top the ammount of work that had to be done on my mouth.

Started in begining of 8th grade and I had crap in my mouth till about halfway though the fall of 12th grade.
full range done on me
An expander to correct my bit some and give a little more room on the top. Also in hope of advoiding needed oral surgery to expose a tooth in the middle of my mouth (yeah didnt happen)
Oral surgy to surgicliy expose my right top caninan tooth. I had a tooth in the middle of the roof of my mouth for a while. And it a little off on it location now. Not in line exactly right.
This range from the herps applanice (does what headgear would do in the paste just it all in the month) that center my bite and move my jaw forward a noticible ammount.
Oh and yes I had braces on my mouth for a while. About the only thing I didnt get was rubber bands but that was because the herps did everything correctly.

The guy I had it done with is very well respect and one of the best out there (coming from other who do braces).
Coming from other who do brace said they would of loved having me because I was one of those speical cases that just are fun to do because it difference and where the schooling comes in.
Biggest thing was my guy kept my molds and used his work he did on me as example for future paceinces. And appently wrote me up in one of his medical journals. I was told I was a very speical case and it a rare thing to have it happen. And even bigger with the guy who did me since he been doing it a while.
Plus all the work I had done was pretty much manditory for me and I required one of the best.

Reason I telling you all this is even though I went though so much stuff over all it was not to bad. Yeah I hated it but it was very well worth it in the end. Heck the thing I hated the most was whenever something an applances had to be removed from my mouth. I hated those appointments (I had a lot of them). But over all it was not that bad. I dont have any real horror stories though everything. Few broken brackets and few things require repair but over all it was not to bad. Just suck having crap in my mouth for 4 years. Corn on the cob and gum stated so good after not being able to chew it for 4 years.
 
thanks for all the responses!

it's comforting knowing that it's not that big of a deal. I think i've gotten over the IV/anestesia part... but now I'm thinking about what to eat/do afterwards!

It seems that it's best to avoid: hot/cold stuff, straws, and solids? I was going for soup, but some people said that hot soup is bad??? :confused:

oh dear!
 
I just got back from my consult, and the IV anaesthesia is definitely the way to go. You're in "la la land" far enough so that you're not aware of the pain, but not so far that you can't breathe on your own or interact as necessary. For example, the surgeon can tell you to open your mouth and you'll do it. You won't remember it later, but you are somewhat conscious.

It really seems the way to go to avoid the unpleasantness of the extractions. And as people have said, sometimes its not the pain, but the sound and smells.

In regards to foods, consider eggs, jello, pudding, bananas. Soft textured foods.
 
Bah getting four teeth removed is nothing.

I have had 21 teeth removed! Yeah I know its scary, but very true. 4 of those were wisdoms and were the least painful of the bunch. I had an extra tooth that had to be taken out, that was not fun. Believe me I got very used to the dentist yanking stuff out of my mouth ugh....

Dam baby teeth never grew out!

Had 16 babies taken out, 1 extra tooth (English Genetics FTW), and 4 Wisdom.

Don't worry, just get lots of ice, and don't forget to get lots of drugs!
 
How funny coming across this thread...

I just had all four of my wisdom teeth removed on Friday morning. I will just give you my brief experience, and understand that I am probably a bit older than most who have this surgery (30+).

I had two normal extractions, where all they needed to do was pull them out, nice and simple. The other two were much more complicated, as both were impacted into partial bone, with one of them being a horizontal impaction.:eek:

They hooked up an iv into my arm, slight pinprick type sting, but no big deal at all. about 2 or 3 minutes later, the nurse hooked something up to the iv, and felt just a little bit different, I asked her is that was the anisthesia (sp) and she said yes. That was all I remember about the procedure, as my wife was waking me up after the everything was over. I did not feel necessarily sick to my stomach, more like a I felt a bit groggy. I did not have any pain as I was still numb. My wife said the entire procedure took less than an hour.

All day Friday, I felt ok, and did not have much swelling. On Saturday morning, I felt quite a bit of pain, and noticed that there was quite a bit of swelling. The pain was noticeable only when the pain pills wear off, then its time to take another one.

It is now Monday evening, and I am still sore, though much less. There is a bit of swelling, but most has gone down. It was not at all fun, but wasn't nearly as bad as all the horror stories that I heard and I had a more complicated procedure than just a basic extraction.

If possible, request that the dentist prescribe you Combunox, rather than Hydrocodone or Percoset. Combunox is a combination of Oxycodone and Ibuprofen, has a higher pain relieving level, and does not cause nausea when taking the medication. I asked my dentist about it before the procedure started, and though he never heard of it, he and the nurses looked it up and then agreed to prescribe it to me. It did what it was supposed to do!!

If you have any other questions, feel free to shoot me a pm and I will answer the best I can.

Best of luck, though you will see that this whole thing will be over before you know it.

Josh
 
I haven't read this whole thread, but I'll tell you that I had two of my wisdom teeth out locally and another two out while I was "under" because I was having other dental surgery at the time. The anesthesia they gave me was called conscious sedation. I remember parts of it, but I was in a state where I didn't care what was happening.

The time I had it awake wasn't bad either. There are some unusual sounds and feelings, but the bottomline is there is no pain. You can get a bit sick from the anesthesia, but they should be dripping in some phenergan with it to take care of that.
 
I'm a big "gagger"...

...so hopefully, with the IV/anestesia, that won't happen! :D

I remember, it took SEVERAL long hours just to put on/remove my braces because I'd gag whenever he'd put in the mouth opener thing or put stuff in my mouth and couldn't breathe well. :eek:
 
Personally, I think you're safe. I was in and out in just over an hour, having all 4 removed w/ novacaine only. And that was just after my 30th birthday. I took percocet that day, and was totally fine by the next afternoon. I hope your appointment is just as pain free.

Good luck!
 
I had 2 wisdoms and 2 molars removed, all at once and I received the "amnesia" gas for that. I remember coming to with a hunk of gauze in my mouth asking the nurse when we were going to get this over with. I don't remember any pain during, that's for sure. I get nauseous quite easily (just the sight of something gross will make me hurl, I at least gag every time I scoop the cat-box, etc.) and the surgery itself did not make me sick at all. They gave me Vicoprofens afterward and those made me sick, and I can take the mightiest of the hydrocodones. I think I had the doc fill me another one for Vicoden, or was it Percocet? I don't remember. Anyway, the pain pills weren't really necessary, they were just kind of a bonus. I could easily have gotten by without them. Not to get gross but I've had periods worse than the after-pains of having teeth removed. You'll be fine. The anticipation is worse than the actual experience, trust me.
 
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