Wisdom teeth commiseration thread

[Beebo]

I had a quick Google and there are lots of photos of unhappy swollen folk online.

One of the reasons I opted for a local was that the dentist has to be more careful because you are awake. They can do anything to you once you are sleep and you will never know. Plus the recovery time is much worse.

 

[G3CWI]

One of the reasons I opted for a local was that the dentist has to be more careful because you are awake. They can do anything to you once you are sleep and you will never know. Plus the recovery time is much worse.

I dont recall being given any choices. Mind you it was in 1981 so things have probably improved. Like you I was awake (sort of). I guess I had a local anesthetic and the Valium was just to calm me down?

 

[welsh dragon]

Stop scaring him you lot. You'll he fine. If I can do it, so can you.

 

[coffeejo]

One of the reasons I opted for a local was that the dentist has to be more careful because you are awake. They can do anything to you once you are sleep and you will never know. Plus the recovery time is much worse.

GA for me and my word, my jaw ached for weeks afterwards. Only consolation was that the intense pain was slightly milder than the toothache pre-op.

 

[G3CWI]

Remember "The Marathon Man"...

 

[ColinJ]

I wish I hadn't read this thread ... Along with being needle-phobic, I am especially dental-surgery-phobic (dentists don't just stick needles in you, they do other horrid stuff too). I have a bad tooth which needs to come out, and I am trying to get my head round having it done.

Remember "The Marathon Man"...

It certainly didn't look very safe to me!

 

[coffeejo]

I wish I hadn't read this thread ... Along with being needle-phobic, I am especially dental-surgery-phobic (dentists don't just stick needles in you, they do other horrid stuff too). I have a bad tooth which needs to come out, and I am trying to get my head round having it done.

When the pain spreads from your temples to your shoulders, you'll know you've left it too long. DAMHIK

 

[ColinJ]

When the pain spreads from your temples to your shoulders, you'll know you've left it too long. DAMHIK

The pain was bad a while back but went away after a couple of days so I forgot about it ... Now, the tooth is starting to twinge again so it probably won't be long before things turn nasty ...

I am beginning to suspect that some of my recent wobbliness is actually due to the infected tooth rather then being a consequence of the past couple of years of ill health!

I think the tooth will break when the dentist tries to remove it, which might make it easier to remove or might make it harder.

There is also a risk of excessive bleeding due to me being on warfarin, but my INR readings are pretty low (typically 2.1 - 2.3) so it might not be too bad. I should bleed for just over twice as long as an average person.

 

[Andrew_Culture]

One of the reasons I opted for a local was that the dentist has to be more careful because you are awake. They can do anything to you once you are sleep and you will never know. Plus the recovery time is much worse.

The drummer in my band said his mouth didn't feel to bad when he came round from having his wisdom teeth removed under General Anesthetic, but fun plums were black and blue!

 

[the_mikey]

Mine were done with intravenous Valium. I was high as a kite. I too can recall it being far from straightforward as they had to saw part of my jaw away. The whole thing was very unpleasant. And the toast that they offered me in hospital afterwards did seem like a bad joke.

Have not thought about it for many years - and its making me feel quite ill now!

I had a quick Google and there are lots of photos of unhappy swollen folk online.

I was prescribed valium to take before going to the dentist once, I was the uninhibited sweary patient that day...

 

[Milzy]

Great Blog

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

I had to have my 2 lower wisdom teeth out whilst at uni back in the early '90's after months and months of constant infections - to the point where I now live with permanent fungal infections in my skin because of the number of antibiotics I had to have... the teeth came out easily thankfully (under general) and I didn't have any issues afterwards after the initial healing, so when a different dentist told me 5-10 years later that one of my upper wisdom teeth was the cause of my constant inner ear infections and pain/dizziness and offered to remove it on the NHS for me, I didn't worry about it. It was amazingly easy to remove the upper one... 5 mins under a local and it was out - he didn't pull it out, but pushed it back into the jaw (slightly) and it literally dropped out! No issues with that and back off antibiotics very quickly. I still have the 1 left because that one was still too far into the bone having not come through. It does give occasional ear ache/pain but is starting to come through - I only wish I still had the same dentist as I did when the guy removed the 1st upper jaw one!

(now admit it, you were all expecting me to say it was a major complication/difficult or something like that weren't you )

 

[Cubist]

My favourite moment at the dentist so far was when he told me the wisdom tooth he was removing had fused into the jaw, and he had to break it off at the roots as the roots were tangled with the nerve, all whilst kneeling on me like @Beebo describes. Six months or so later the roots had erupted from the jaw, and his partner spent another happy session removing those. It took 5 cartridges of local to numb it this time round.

 

[Andrew_Culture]

I had to have my 2 lower wisdom teeth out whilst at uni back in the early '90's after months and months of constant infections - to the point where I now live with permanent fungal infections in my skin because of the number of antibiotics I had to have... the teeth came out easily thankfully (under general) and I didn't have any issues afterwards after the initial healing, so when a different dentist told me 5-10 years later that one of my upper wisdom teeth was the cause of my constant inner ear infections and pain/dizziness and offered to remove it on the NHS for me, I didn't worry about it. It was amazingly easy to remove the upper one... 5 mins under a local and it was out - he didn't pull it out, but pushed it back into the jaw (slightly) and it literally dropped out! No issues with that and back off antibiotics very quickly. I still have the 1 left because that one was still too far into the bone having not come through. It does give occasional ear ache/pain but is starting to come through - I only wish I still had the same dentist as I did when the guy removed the 1st upper jaw one!

(now admit it, you were all expecting me to say it was a major complication/difficult or something like that weren't you )

Not at all, the first extraction was laughably painless!

 

[Mark1978]

to the point where I now live with permanent fungal infections in my skin because of the number of antibiotics I had to have...

I have exactly the same issue due to antibiotics at a young age. Would be interested to hear how you deal with that (sorry to hijack the thread somewhat)