Wisdom Teeth Removal

[Anonymous Freak]

I was knocked out for mine.

Then again, I also had a root canal done at the same time, so I got to miss out on actually experiencing *both* of those procedures.

Just make sure you follow all the directions the dentist gives you about keeping the wisdom tooth area clean.

 

[mduser63]

Local anesthetic and Nitrous Oxide for me. I remember it well, but it didn't hurt at all. The cracking noises were a little disturbing at times, but not too big of a deal. I just watched Star Trek on the TV in the ceiling the whole time. Although, I must admit, the Nitrous Oxide made it so I couldn't for the life of me figure out what was going on in the plot. Now, afterwards is a different matter. Having 4 gaping holes in your mouth that are bleeding profusely is simply no fun. Painful and annoying. I should add that I took the first dose of the hyrdrocodone (Lortab/Vicodin) they gave me and hated the way it made me feel so much that I decided I'd prefer the pain. There's no way I'd ever get addicted to prescription painkillers...

 

[theLimit]

I was 25 when I had my wisdom teeth removed. I had needed the surgery for years but I never had insurance that would cover the procedure and I had to save up for ages. I knew the wisdom teeth were causing damage because the pain was nearly unbearable. I was knocked out for the operation. I know I was gassed, but I think I had an IV as well. I only remember being asked to count backward from twenty, I had been through that before so I tried counting as fast as I could and still only got to fourteen before I was too tired to go on. I had six teeth removed, my four wisdom teeth and the two molars on the bottom that were nearly cut in half by the wisdom teeth over time. After I woke up my wife told me that they had to tie my arms down because I had punched the doctor in my sleep. I guess it hurts even if you don't consciously realize it. I got a week's worth of Tylenol 3 for the pain, but they barely helped so I would definitely recommend asking for Vicodin.

 

[Ugg]

I had all four removed when I was 25. I was in and out of the office in 30 minutes and the actual extraction only took two minutes. They just used novocaine. I think they asked if I wanted to be gassed but I said no. I hate the effects of painkillers and only take tylenol if I hurt really, really bad.

 

[mrgreen4242]

Hi Everyone,

I went to the Dentist and they told me I need my wisdom teeth removed. Luckily I was born with only 3. What are your experiences with this?

I have the choice of Nitrous Oxide and Novocain or they'll put me out. The hygienist said I should just get put out because its easier for the doctor, but I would assume there would be a major cost difference with that and safety risk (not that I don't trust the anesthesiologist but I would think they would rather not put you to sleep). My regular doctor said that with the Nitrous Oxide you're so out of it you wouldn't care if it was raining liquid lead.

Any thoughts?

BTW this will be my first surgery.

You don't need to be put out. I had mine taken out when I was 17 without being put to sleep. Your doctor's right. You will be so drugged up you won't care what he's doing, and most likely won't remember anything about when it's finished.

Nitrous Oxide doesn't do ANYTHING for me. I can get about the same effect by holding breathe for a couple minutes.

I'm getting my wisdom teeth out in about two weeks. I'm getting sedated... having all 4 out, I'm 27, and they are all fully in and have been there for years.

Anyways, good luck! If you've never had nitrous oxide and don't know how it effects you, you might want to talk with your surgeon about it specifically before hand.

 

[zach]

I was wide awake the entire time with mine. I have a heart murmur so no nighty-nite medicine. Worst hour of my life. But the percocet was awesome.

percoset is alllwaays awesome

 

[Joshua8o8]

I got all 4 pulled out at one time. I stayed up and got the gas because i dont like being put under anestisia. Ever since i watched a show on the discovery channel im pretty scared of being under anestisia. The show was about anestisia gone horribly wrong. People on the show was saying that they were put under anestisia but were not out, they were only paralized and had no way at all to let anyone know they were still awake!!! They could feel and hear everything that was going on during the surgery!!! How sick is that?!?! It is supposed to be super rare, but still even thinking about it gives me the creeps.

Anyway my surgery went fine. The Gas is wonderful, like your dentist said, you wont even care what the doctor is doing. He could have been cutting my face with a scalpel and all i would have said was " haha, ha, hey doc, what are yea doin ??? Im telling you that nitrous is some good sh!+. I would say the bleeding is the worst part of the whole ordeal. I had bad luck and was not able to stomach the pain killers the doc. prescribed me, I was not really able to eat much and i ended up throwing the vikoden up. I ended up not taking any pain killers at all. The pain was manageable. The only thing i could compare it to was the time i broke my hand, and it wasnt even half as bad. Hope the last half of my story helps! Dont worry, you will be fine!

 

[mrfrosty]

I just had a local and it was honestly no worse than having a normal tooth removed. Actually compared to the last one i had out it was a piece of cake.

It's probably due to too many pieces of cake that i have had to have a tooth or two out, which is rather ironic !

 

[mrfrosty]

Nitrous Oxide doesn't do ANYTHING for me. I can get about the same effect by holding breathe for a couple minutes.

I'm getting my wisdom teeth out in about two weeks. I'm getting sedated... having all 4 out, I'm 27, and they are all fully in and have been there for years.

Anyways, good luck! If you've never had nitrous oxide and don't know how it effects you, you might want to talk with your surgeon about it specifically before hand.

I remember trying the nitrous oxide when my wife was having a child, it was awsome! Like being paralitic drunk for 60 seconds

 

[jng]

I am 16, 17 in September.

The two on the bottom you can see. The one on the top is not yet visible.

For the not visible ones, they cut into your gums and dig themout. Those will hurt. And they sow it back up too and you'll taste blood for 2 weeks.

The main reason for having them removed is over crowding of the teeth. Mine were impacted and pushing on the other teeth. Over time the pain will get worse if you don't get them removed.

Yup. My teeth are huge. Had 4 bicuspids removed when I was 16 and then my 4 wisdom teeth when I was 17. They were screwing up my braces.

I wasn't knocked out either time.

Actually having the bicuspids removed was a bit more traumatic (but funny in retrospect). They wouldn't budge and my ortho surgeon, a woman, called a burly male student over who really had to struggle, while others held my head down to pull one of them out. Didn't hurt at all. Drugs are great. But it was just kind weird to see a giant man pulling at your face. In the end, whatever he did loosened up many of my teeth and I didn't have to wear braces that long

When you have your wisdom teeth out, get a little bucket to keep near your bed, for all the times you have to spit out blood.

And lots of Jello. Mmm. Lucky for me I love jello.

 

[Macky-Mac]

You have to get your wisdom tooth pulled because it has a cavity or is there another problem ith it? I still have all four of my wisdom teeth and two of them have had cavities (now they have fillings) but I can't imagine that you would need to have it pulled just for a cavity.

one problem with wisdom teeth is that they can be softer and not as structurally sound as your other teeth. A friend of mine left his in, cavities developed and then one day while he was eating a muffin, one of the wisdom teeth cracked and a large part of it broke off.......after that he had them all removed on the advice of his dentist

 

[PupnTaco]

I just had this done a couple months ago - and I'm 42. Let them knock you out (my doc used Nitrous Oxide to put me to sleep - it felt like 30 seconds of suffocating then I was bye-bye). The procedure itself is no big deal and the pain afterwards was nothing for me (I graduated from Vicodin to Advil after 24 hours)... just be sure you're meticulous about swishing with warm salt water several times a day & always right after you eat. After a few days, there'll be an unbearable stench that smells like decay... that's the gum tissue healing, it's normal.

Keep 'em clean & you'll be fine.

 

[steamboat26]

This one thing i am not looking forward to, everyone else in my family has had their wisdom teeth out
But on the upside, i will be able to get anesthesia, even if it is just nitrous oxide

 

[Taylor C]

Getting all four of mine out on Friday morning. Not really worried, but definitely not looking forward to it. I'll probably end up going with general anesthesia. I'm very against taking addictive medication, so I doubt I'll be taking my vicodin unless the pain is truly unbearable.

Luckily, after meeting with the surgeon today, a lot of my concerns were lessened. I'm getting the dissolvable stitches as opposed to those that need to be removed. How severe is the bleeding?

 

[ErikCLDR]

Well my big day is today.

I had my consultation a couple days ago and the doctor said that they're going to knock me out and use Novocain so when I wake up I won't be in pain. I am also strongly recommended not to make any big decisions for the rest of the day haha. He didn't say what pain killer I'm getting- my sister got Vicodin, and on the questionnaire it asked if I was allegic to Codeine or any other narcotics. I'm going to try not to use them unless I need it. I am usually pretty tolerant of pain.

My dental insurance covers $2000/yr. I've already used $400 for x-rays and a dental cleaning. So that means I have $1600 left and my parents still have to pay another $850. Meanwhile my doctor drives a BMW M6 .

I'm not really nervous, I'm nervous that I am not nervous. I keep being like "oh yea I have to go do that" and then forget about it. I had a dream last night that I had my teeth removed, and my appendix at the same time "just to be safe" according to the doctor. After the surgery my appendix wound really hurt (for some reason my wound was on the opposite side) so my dermatologist (that came out of nowhere) took a needle and injected me with some morphine, stabbing it into my chest. He then gave me a HUGE bottle of Codeine and the instructions said to take two pills or 1.2 grams of it every 1-2 hours!!! Haha, I love dreams, they never make sense.

 

[phungy]

The cost is going to depend on the dentist but it will be 'cheaper' using ___caine. The dentists I volunteer for use xylocaine and lidocaine. Depending on how the third molar is positioned, the procedure can take from 2 minutes (after being 'drugged') to 20 minutes.

It also doesn't matter if you get put out or not because its going to hurt in the end.

Are you only getting one extracted? Did the dentist mention a number? (Third molars are 1, 16, 17, 32).

 

[ErikCLDR]

Well, I had the surgery- I had all of my 3 wisdom teeth removed- bottom and top right, I forget the numbers.

They gave me laughing gas to stick in the needle of the anesthesia which I thought was a little excessive. The last remember was hearing the doctor say "if you made it through that prick the hardest part is over".

All I can say is that percoset is amazing.