come and talk to me about having your wisdom teeth out

[PeaMcLean]

Is it really horrible???

Dentist thinks I need it.

Well, he says he's not 100% sure but he's "quite excited by it"!

Shall I wait and see if he could be wrong?

I know it's all under anasesthtic so it won't hurt, but it's going to sound pretty awful surely.

Tell me it's fine please.

I had all my wisdom teeth out in two goes. The first one lot was with the injections to numb my mouth and it was horrible. It took ages for the dentist to get them out. Add to that I had to have 3 lots of bloody injections as I could still feel him pulling the pain was awful. I would rather be in labour again.

When he said I would need my other lot out and to book myself in I said no way, I will go under a general to have the others out.

I had two lower ones out under GA a few weeks ago, and honestly, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I couldn't really eat for a few days and was very tender, but it passed. I also had an upper wisdom tooth out under local a couple of years ago. My dentist sort of screwed into my tooth and yanked it a bit and it just crumbled out. The worst bit for me was the needle in my gum (don't mind needles, but not in my mouth!) I wasn't sore afterwards and could eat straight away.

I had three wisdom teeth out. It does hurt, even with anaesthetics, but you already know that

Bottom ones are harder to get out than top, I found.

Good luck.

Had mine out in chair with no pain relief except novocaine and gas and air.

Teeth impacted. Had three dentists going at the top left one, and I thought they were going to tear my face in half.

Worse than childbirth. I passed out afterwards at home.

But if you're going to be unconscious, it will clearly be a much better experience than mine!!

Damn you lot posting today

I wasn't feeling too worried about it until I read your lot.

The prospect of having the pain go away though is too good though. I'm just going to have to go through it.

I've been offered sedation. Think I'll take them up on the offer!

Should I really not trust the dentist to do it?

I would never in a million years recommend letting a dentist do it. Honestly. All the people I've know who've had it done under general have been swollen-faced at the end of it, but not traumatised to the point where they will no longer visit the dentist without valium!!

Take the general anaesthetic, imho. Don't know if the others agree?

Oh dear. Apparently it's not a general he offers, it just makes you feel very drowsy and relaxed. To be fair, I know this dentist does specialise in nervous patients!

surely he'd refer me to the hospital if thought it was necessary, wouldn't he???

Yes, if he thought they were impacted or anticipated any problems I'm sure he would.

May I just add that mine were extracted 24 years ago by an army dentistry team.

Things may have improved by now .

And anyway, I lived, so what am I fussing about? [ahem. Runs away].

Things have definitely improved now. Apparently the army no longer use grenades to loosen the roots he he

I had some of mine out.

Not that bad.

The relief from the pain of recurrant infections I kept getting in them was fantastic.

The injections were the worst part.

if you are drowsy and sedated you may well find you cant remember anything about it afterwards

General anaesthetic. My dentist/surgeon refused to do me under local, but recommended it for any complex extraction - less trauma for both patient and dentist. But if your teeth are simple and it's a case of just pulling and taking under 5 minutes, a local should be fine.

I had all mine done at once - it was extra fiddly as I had nerves growing round them, but it was as simple as go to hospital, get knocked out, come round a few hours later, OK threw up once, slept rest of the day.

Next day: slowly ate soggy cereal etc. Bit tired.
Following day: Ate full Christmas dinner, no problem. I took the antibiotics and painkillers as recommended, but was fine. Didn't eat crispy stuff like toast for a couple weeks, though!

Hello Pea

first thing I would say is if the dentist feels there ois a good reason to take them out then the having them out will definately be insignificant compared to leaving them to fester lol!!

I had all four of mine out earlier in the year, as the top two were cutting my cheeks and the bottom two were inpacted and one possibly rotten (not yet properly erupted so HAD to come out).

I put it off literally for years as was morbidly afraid.

I opted to have a GA, mainly beacuse I didn't want to risk jusmping up in the middle of the op and saying- I've changed my mind byeee!! Had it done by a facio-maxillo surgeon (my choice- I paid) as I was really nervous as the bottom ones were resting right over a big facial nerve.

Woke up with very swollen face but absolutely no pain, had been given injections which did not wear off fully til the next day. then took diclofenac and co-codamol for about a week which took the pain away. Followed hygiene instructions to the letter. main problem was that I had quite a few sticthes so couldn't eat anything hardish or very chewy for about three weeks til the sticthes had healed.

Honestly, don't worry about having one upper wisdom out, my surgeon told me my top ones came out 'like butter!!' it was just the nbottoms that required an anaesthetic. Apart from the holes, I would not have known I'd had a tooth out as they were serving no puseful purpose. And Dry socket is not that common and theres lots you can do to lower the risk, so wouldn't let that put you off!! If you are nervous then deffo go for the IV sedation, my surgeon tried really hard to get me to have this, said it was really as good as GA just less risky. You won't remember a thing!!

Leaving wisdom teeth in place definitely the worse option. Having them out is generally only a temporary pain, followed by years of relief (although, of course, all operations carry some risk, even tooth extractions). I am delighted finally to have had my bottom two wisdom teeth removed - on both occasions resulting in extensive bruising, some stitches and pain for a couple of weeks, but better than the years of intermittent pain and swelling I'd had prior to that. The one top wisdom tooth I had removed was no worse than any other tooth extraction I've ever had (I've had several, due to large teeth in a small mouth!!!).

One of my bottom wisdom teeth was removed by a maxillo-facial surgeon, the other one, while only partially erupted, was simpler to remove and my dentist did it for me. Both times I opted for a local anaesthetic, because I'm terrified of GA. The one done in the maxillo-facial unit was quite a lot to bear under a local anaesthetic, though, it has to be said (something to do with the way the root had formed and it having a hook in the end, as well as the tooth only being partially through). It took a LOT of twisting, pushing, gum cutting, drilling bone and other unpleasant sensations, for quite an extended period of time (I'd foolishly thought it wouldn't take much longer than a normal tooth). I wasn't convinced she wasn't breaking my jaw underneath all the loss of sensation! Still, at least I knew what she was up to...

My mother still has impacted wisdom teeth which are now causing her a LOT of problems and pain. It is FAR more complicated removing them when you are in your 60s than it is when you are relatively young (more risk of complications and poor healing).

Dentist me back again!

Just to say Pea that you have been getting alot of terrible advice above by accident. ( naminbg no names...you are all scaremongers!

There sounds like there is no need for a general, proviing you are no phobic about needles. A general is NOT something to be entered into lightly, nor is sedation. If you and your dentist think you can cope then a local is best.

Secondly, to say that dentist shouln't take them out is rubbish. He sounds pretty confident about it. If it was difficult he would refer to an oral surgeon. I can assure you we are not paid enough on the NHS to faff about with difficult wisdom teeth and he would refer like a shot!

Oh, now how can you say that, JBJ? I thought we'd given her some excellent advice (especially the bit where I back-pedalled because I realised I'd frightened the heck out of her!!)

Sorry, Pea. But you know, the people who are going to answer this kind of question are probably the ones who feel most strongly about it (freak tales like me!) so you may not get a balanced view. I'm sure you will be fine. Good grief, they can replace eyeballs these days, so they can definitely extract teeth

I had mine out (all four of them) when I was 18. It was just like when I had my second bicuspids out when I was 12. Not a big deal really. It hurt afterwards. But, it wasn't too bad really. and my bottom ones hadn't even come through so he had to make an incision in the gum just to get to the tooth.

Here's a funny story to make you feel better. My granddad had his out and then another one grew in on the top. So he had to go back and have that one pulled. The dentist was a tad surprised.

That was was I was thinking CW!

Its like me with my birth story, I could turn your hair grey, so often trot it out!
Trying to restrain myself from terrifying mums to be.

Really, its actually THE most pleasing tooth in your head to remove. Lower teeth, totally different, fairly rubbish experience and would prob recommend sedation unless the are as easy as they come!

Must have been my lower one they had trouble with then. All I remember is someone kneeling on my shoulder, tbh.

There you go, Pea. Straight from the dentist's mouth. You'll be fine. Who you gonna believe, huh?

meant to add to my earlier post... I think it was an oral surgeon that took mine out - it was at the hospital at any rate.

This is great, and very entertaining, thank you all

JBJ the only reason I'd go for the sedation really is that I have such a strong gagging reflex I'm worried I might gag whilst dentist is trying to do the deed. I struggle during a normal check up. What do you think?

Constance, LOL at your posts. You haven't scared me,don't worry. I think I need to get in the mindset where I'm enjoying the gruesomeness of it. Better than being worried about it.

And just thinking that it may actually cure my aches and pains. That will be worth it. In fact, feeling quite euphoric about that bit. [hopeful]

I couldn't take painkillers afterwards, because they were very strong ones and I hadn't eaten my breakfast. Course, I couldn't eat once the teeth were out and I was bleeding, so couldn't take any painkillers for ages after, till I could eat. So I didn't help myself really (but I was young, in my defence, and stoopid).

You'll be okay, PM. If you're already in pain, how much worse can it be to have them removed, eh?

Hi, a bit of info, an Oral/Maxillo-facial surgeon is firstly a dentist who then usually does a shortened medical degree as well. After several years further training they will work as a consultant in a hospital. Their work will involve complex surgery due to oral cancer, jaw problems and difficult surgery of teeth, this can include difficult wisdom teeth. Some of their work will be done with local anaesthetics but most, by it's nature will need General Anasthesia. This, thankfully, is now only done in hospitals but there have to be compelling reasons for using it for routine dental work.

An alternative to General Aneathesia is sedation, usually combined with local anaesthetic which can give the best of both worlds. However thare has been a move away from single-operator work like this and certainly General Anaesthesia is not to be undertaken lightly as both dentist/oral surgeon and anaesthetist are vying for position in the mouth, one is trying to get the operation done while the other is trying to keep the patient alive.

Your normal dentist will be far, far more experienced at local anaesthetics and removing routine wisdom teeth than an oral surgeon, indeed an oral surgeon would not dream of doing ordinary wisdom teeth unless it were privately.

Any wisdom teeth work will involve some swelling of the face and indeed bruising down the neck for a week or two, That is normal, inevitable and does NOT mean something has gone wrong.

Pain relief afterwards is often necessary as the local anaethetic wears off but different analgesics suit different people. Valium for instance does not relieve pain, it is a sedative, all of them have side effects and just because you may get some of these does not mean they are useless or wrongly given or you have an allergy or some other more serious but undisclosed fatal disease

So to sum up, do be careful about the advice you get here, although really well meant, with one exception most of it is anecdotal and scaremongering. Please listen to the experts who actually know.

That is good advice alias dictus

Interesting point about Ga and wisdom removal, I wondered afterwards how the breathing tube would have fitted with the dentist trying to get at the teeth!!

My dentist will not remove wisdoms at all and she is private!! Not sure why.