Wisdom teeth, GA or local??

[WisdomTeeth]

I’ve been very dental phobic, I’ve now broken off a wisdom tooth. I was referred to oral surgery today for pre-op assessment. The consultant was very polite but not at all informative. He just asked me to choose between local or general. I don’t know anything about how, I didn’t have a clue which! I’ve said sleep, as I’m pretty terrified, but now I’m wondering if I’ve done the right thing. It’s upper, broken off at the gum. I could get through something super quick (just) but not much fiddling around, I’m ok with pain but terrified of pressure/ force

I had my lower wisdom tooth out on Tuesday and while it didn't hurt at all and I'm not phobic, it was quite intense and I was shakey when I left. It took about 20 mins from sitting down to leaving.
There was a bit of loud grinding & wobbling, but no pressure that I recall.

Honestly, if you're properly phobic I'd say take the GA - it's painless and saves you the stress.

Stock up on ibuprofen & paracetamol for after, it's pretty sore today.

If you're severely dental-phobic I would go with general. No general is without risk, of course, also feeling nauseated is a common side effect and apparently the bruising can be worse because you're not able to assist in moving your head/jaw.

However, having had a couple of wisdom teeth out under local, my experience was that it can be quite an involved process and if you're not a fan of dentists you're probably better off knocked out - assuming as others have said, that you can have someone with you afterwards.

Hope it goes well for you OP. Mines coming out end of the month - having sedation first (IV I think) then a local. He said it should be fairly straight forward but my mouth is so small it's difficult to reach lol. Never been sedated before so am a bit unsure.

I had local for bottom left wisdom tooth with very long roots and it was fine. On the other hand, I trusted my dental surgeon and didn’t feel too anxious about the procedure. It was done very quickly. Good luck with the procedure whatever you decide!

I've had both. Unless the dentist has had a good look and said they're confident it'll come out very easily I would go with general.

My top left came out really really easily. If you'd asked me straight after I'd have been like lots of others on this thread and encouraged you to go for local.

My top right however did not come out easily at all. After an hour of two dentists trying to pull it out they gave up and told me to book in for a general. By this stage I had a torn mouth and severe bruising and was in pain for days.

I then had it removed under general which was very very easy - felt like I had a little nap, then woke up to find the tooth gone. No bruising.

I had a GA for mine. I am a dentist.

I had a lower impacted one out with a local.

It had to be sawn out of the jawbone and then stitched.

Everyone told me I'd be bruised, off work for ages...rubbish!

It was fine, no bruising and was back teaching teens 2 days later.

@AnnaMariaDreams that’s interesting- can I ask why?

It think my problem is partly lack of trust in the guy I met, two min vague conversation and I have no idea what it entails. What I do know though is the remaining tooth is brittle and hardly anything left above the gum line- so it’s not a simple twist and pop I’d guess

He also didn’t look in my mouth, so I worry he doesn’t get how it may go. The x ray wouldn’t show the tooth that remains would just break if gripped, over Christmas I knocked off quite a bit of what was left

I don’t like pain
Also I think the consultant wanted me asleep and unable to talk back to him, which I was happy to agree to

I think that you should go for GA in your case. Extracting wisdom teeth IME either goes really easy or really bad. In your case your phobia might get worse if it doesn't go easy.