Wisdom teeth removal under sedation

[LittleMissMcFartyPants]

Has any one had this done? I've just been referred as the thought of having it done undefeated makes me sweat and panic.

What sort of sedation did you have? Where was it done?

My NHS dentist specialises in sedation dentistry.

the last thing I had done was 2 extremrly painful wisdom teeth out & I don't remember a thing.

I remember the Dentist making conversation & then the next thing I remember is being told it's time to wake up. & it was all done

No GA just sedation, & i'm very nervous with dentists.

littlemiss I was an anaesthetic nurse, so have no fear of it at all.

It depends what they mean by 'sedation'. Ive seen someone have a leg amputated under (very good) sedation. If theyre just gonna give you a couple of diazepam id tell them to get lost

I had one out 30 years back- with nothing except local injections at my usual dentists. It was impacted.

I was fine. I drove myself home and went back to work- teaching sec school about 2 days later.

No bruising etc which people had said would happen.

What mosschops said. IV sedation is like GA with fewer risks, you don't need intubating but you still can't remember anything. I have had both for ops on my foot. No difference in pain/remembering it (have no memory of either) but I was out of it for three days after GA & absolutely fine after sedation.

Highly recommend sedation.

I had midazolam for a endoscopy and do remember some of it, whereas for my shoulder they said were going to do it under sedation but went to theatres and presume it was a GA?

If they said sedation they can't then change their mind without you resigning consent forms. Sedation is performed in theatre as well, not just GA at why you assume it must have been GA just because it was a theatre.

I had two top and one bottom one removed by dental students (!!) at a dental training hospital under IV sedation years ago. I could hear everything and there was some serious tugging and drilling for one of them. Didn't hurt at all though and I felt fine through it. Only concerning bit was when they forgot to remove the tourniquet and were asking if I could feel the cold water as they checked the drip ... erm, no, I can't feel anything with a tourniquet still on!

Had to take a friend to drive me home afterwards (they insisted) and looked like a serious assault victim for 2 weeks as the swelling came out. Stitches felt weird in my mouth but dissolved on their own. Ate a lot of soft tuna mayo sandwiches for a couple of weeks!

Mine was quite complex, as the tooth had to be broken and pushed out forcefully in pieces. It was done in hospital as my dentist couldn't do it and I just opted for a local as I was breast feeding. I'm not just a wuss, honest!

I just want to clarify a couple of points. About 75% of wisdom teeth (in the bottom jaw) don't erupt properly and are "impacted". About 50% of these will require removal at some point. If they are impacted then they will almost certainly require cutting into pieces to be removed.

This is routine.

General dental practitioners do not generally do these extractions because they are exceptionally time consuming. An NHS dentist gets paid the same for spending an hour removing an impacted wisdom tooth as they do for spending 15min on a filling. Not economically sensible or fair on the other patients who need treatment.

Many GDPs aren't comfortable taking these difficult teeth out as they aren't as common as fillings so we can get out of practise and as a result we commonly refer these lower wisdom teeth.

So- if you have an impacted wisdom tooth & your dentist says you need to be referred, that is normal. They don't get paid enough to remove it and if it is impacted it will need to be cut into pieces, that is the way impacted teeth are removed.

Dental students removing a tooth is almost identical to having it out under GA because it will almost certainly be a junior dentist taking it out whilst you are asleep. Dental students now remove far fewer teeth in their training than I did even 10 years ago so junior dentists frequently get their experience as Senior House Officers under guidance of an SpR taking teeth out under GA.

You don't have to be grumple

I assumed as opposed to a single injection given by a nurse/dr of midazolam or other sedation I was given fentanyl and then counted down to "sleep" was a totally different experience.

lovethesea i too felt like something was wrong with my arm whilst in hospital (had a fair bit of morphine) and turned out dr had forgot to take tourniquet off

I had wisdom tooth removed. Dentist said I'd be fine with LA, which I was ok with because I think I'm pretty tough and dentists etc don't unnerve me. However,wasn't as straightforward as he'd hoped and it was awful. I'd much rather have GA just incase it isn't straightforward. You can definitely ask for it, well insist upon it if need be.

Interesting info Grumpy, i also was told that there's a small risk of permanent nerve damage when removing wisdom teeth so more likely to be referred for that as well. I can remember some of the procedure despite sedation - I walked to the chair for instance and remember the drilling/cutting noises and serious pulling at my jaw, so not completely out of it until a few hours later when I crashed out on the sofa!