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Original poster

Wisdom teeth extraction.....

20 replies

geordieminx · 05/11/2008 12:10

Have just come back from hospital appointment.. need 2 bottomm and 1 top wisdom teeth out.. bit scared. I've been told it'll be GA, day surgery type thing.

How bad will it be? Give it to me straight {{{{{{{hides behind a cushion}}}}}}}}}}}

OP posts:

AMumInScotland · 05/11/2008 15:34

I was hoping someone else would give you a nice positive response first, but I'll give mine first then let others reassure you later...

If you are sure that the teeth have to come out, then any risk of complications and/or unpleasantness shouldn't stop you from doing it. But, if they are doing it on the basis of "Oh they're sure to give you trouble eventually, might as well have them all out" then you should consider your options carefully.

There are risks in wisdom teeth extraction - there is a chance they could damage a nerve, which could give you permanent numbness in an area of your face or tongue. They'll warn you about that and get you to sign a document saying that you've been told about it. But in my case they only mentioned it when I was already at the hospital, having had my parents travel hundreds of miles to look after baby DS, and I didn't feel able at that stage to back out or ask for time to think about it. Result - I have a numb area across one side of my jaw, where that tooth wasn't even giving me any problems.

Others will no doubt come on who had no problem and that will balance up the percentages - it is no doubt very rare, but it does happen.

Sorry to start off with a downer

Smittals · 05/11/2008 15:38

I had one out, and no nerve damage. I did feel very groggy afterwards and needed someone to drive me home, then go to bed for the afternoon to sleep off the GA (which wasn't very deep, was done at a specialist dental centre rather than a hospital). My face was swollen on the extraction side for a few days but not massively. TOp tip: put a towel on your pillow to avoid blood stained dribble marks! (Yuk!)

cupsoftea · 05/11/2008 15:39

Had mine out just with lots of pain relief injected.... Was fine until it wore off!! (after the ectractions though!! had to sleep sort of sitting up but was ok very quickly. Good luck.

ilovetochat · 05/11/2008 15:42

had mine out under GA and was very drowsy for rest of day, also had a bruise on my face and chin in the shape of a hand print with finger marks too where i can only assume they used pressure to pull the tooth. it was sore afterwards but healed quickly.

PerkinWarbeck · 05/11/2008 15:45

mine were rather horribly impacted, and so the surgery involved drilling into the bone in order to get room for leverage.

I had local plus light sedation. The procedure itself was fine, but the pain afterwards was really awful. The wounds became infected, which was part of the reason it was so painful, but I understand that infections are very common.

2 weeks later I was right as rain though, and ultimately glad I went ahead, as they were causing pain beforehand.

Winetimeisfinetime · 05/11/2008 15:50

I had all my wisdom teeth out under a GA about 20 years ago so the technique has probably advanced since those days.

The actual operation was no problem as I was out of it but the recovery period was longer than I had expected - thought I would be back at work next day. My face was very swollen and painful - looked like a car crash victim and my jaw wouldn't really open for ages afterwards so eating was very difficult. Have lots of things available that you can suck up with a straw - I ended up melting chocolate and trying to push it through my locked up teeth in desperation. On the positive side you do lose loads of weight. I did have impacted teeth with hooked roots so am probably an extreme case but I didn't end up with any permanent numbness.

I agree with amuminscotland. only have it done if you are having problems now - I was in so much pain that I would have happily let them screw my head off if it would have stopped it.

Original poster

geordieminx · 05/11/2008 16:13

I definately need one of the lower ones out, the other is side ways on and is starting to ache a wee but - it was the dentist tha suggeted getting the whole lot done and dusted.

The fools wanted to book me in for 22nd Decemeber - they were told where to stick that!!!

OP posts:

Winetimeisfinetime · 05/11/2008 16:24

I only needed the lower ones out but they removed the top ones as well just for good measure. Tbh having the top ones out was not a problem. My bottom ones were sideways on as well so I think as they grow they will be a problem so it will need sorting. Not on 22nd December though !

I'm sure your experience will be better than mine. Good luck.

PsychoGuyFawkesMum · 05/11/2008 16:34

I had mine out when I was 16, under GA, and it was the worst pain ever (altho TBH, they were pulled before they had started comeing thro properly as they had impacted and were causing major probs with my other teeth).

they had to dislocate my jaw to do it, which I actually think was the cause of the worst pain......so if they are not doing that then you should not be too bad.

for me tho I could not sleep layed donw, was on the settee for 2wks post op. couldn;t eat either, and then the very first time I ant out after (about 2wks......I took forever to heal), I was approached by a little old lady and told I should report whoever had hurt me.

I was VERY bruised!

DH had one of his out tho, with local anaesthatic......he was fine.

Elk · 05/11/2008 16:45

I had all four of mine out 6 years ago under a general. I had no swelling/bruising. I was out of hospital within 1 hour.

I was on pain killers for a few days and could only eat soft food - I lived on weetabix, custard and mashed avacado.

Yes, it did hurt but recovery from childbirth was worse!

Original poster

geordieminx · 05/11/2008 16:49

I love you elk!

Tbh I had a c/s 18 months ago, was out of hospital 30 hours later and up at Starbucks 48 hours later - I must be stupid hard as nails!

OP posts:

DingALongCow · 05/11/2008 17:40

I had all four out last October in a dentists surgery (not in this country) I just had painkillers in my gums and then she used breathing techniques to keep me calm (which worked really well-she also does fillings without anaesthetic which was a very strange feeling!).

Took about forty minutes as one of the roots was difficult to get out and my jaw ached really badly after holding it open for so long.

I was fine afterwards, but went to bed when I got home as was a bit groggy. Was told to avoid anything hot for three daysand was given a special mouthwash and a voucher for the local icecream parlour. I ate three tubs over the next two days, took it easy and didnt need more than one or two paracetamol.

I had to have them out because they were part erupted so I kept getting infections which moved to my throat and then my chest. They were also putting pressure on my jaw which was agony.

It did hurt a bit but I did enjoy the recovery period, all that icecream and attention! My face wasnt too swollen at all.

If you are interested my dentist has a website with after extraction instructions:

dentists page

I dont read French well so I bunged it into google translator and got the gist through that, might be helpful.

nic06 · 05/11/2008 17:47

Ihad all four out a couple of years ago with a GA at the hospital. I was a day case and came hime that afternoon after I had proved i could eat something small, eat, drink and wee!
I was terrifeid, crying like a baby cos of all the horror stories i had heard, but it really wasnt that bad after all. Not pleasant but glad I got it all over with in one. I was so drugged up with painkillers that tbh i dont remember much of the first couple of day - so have someone around if children need looking after!
I'd prefer to be drugged than in pain personally!
Go for it, it will be worth it in the end and the nedication available nowdays is brilliant.

fridayschild · 05/11/2008 17:53

I had two out under a local in my lunch hour. I covered up my fear by doing an impersonation of a relaxed and confident woman but only managed to sustain this for about 10 minutes! They gave me more painkillers, tipped the chair so my feet were higher than my head and it was fine, I went back to work afterwards. No swelling, no infection. The worst bit was the space in my mouth where the teeth used to be. Took a couple of weeks to get used to that.

My tip - get the ones you need extracted all taken out in one session. For all my brave words above if I had just had one done and had been due back for the other another time, I'm not sure I would ever quite have got round to going!

sparklylucy · 05/11/2008 18:06

There are lots of different types of wisdom teeth(i.e ways in which they are impacted)and lots of different people attached to them so try to ignore the scare stories. NICE guidelines now discourage the extraction of wisdom teeth when it is not necessary and although there are risks involved there are also risks involved with leaving infected or potentially infected teeth. If you have the chance of a GA day case surgery then take it. Once the initial phase is over then you never risk having infected wisdom teeth again, whereas if you leave them they are bound to flare up or get painful on holiday or at christmas or something BE brave and get it done. ( i'm a dentist but have also had my wisdom teeth out too!!)

Winetimeisfinetime · 05/11/2008 18:18

Err...mine wasn't a scare story sparkly. I only told it as it was because geordieminx had asked to be given it straight.

I wish someone had told me what the potential aftermath of the op might be as I was very shocked about how bad I felt and had had no prior warning so hadn't made proper arrangements to be off work for a couple of weeks etc. I think forewarned is forearmed and hopefully geordie will sail through it with the minimum of problems.

sparklylucy · 05/11/2008 18:21

Sorry wan't inferring it was a scare story, no offence meant its just that people do soooo love a nasty teeth /dentist story!!!

MUM23ASD · 11/05/2009 14:50

had 1 upper wisdom out in dentist chair (local anaesthetic) and am interested to read that someone else on here said:

"tipped the chair so my feet were higher than my head and it was fine"

which is what my dentist did....is it to make removal easier...or to stop us feinting/panic attacks?

FiveGoMadInDorset · 11/05/2009 15:17

I had one out about 6 weeks ago under local anasthetic, stopped bleeding afte about 20 mins and only had to have 4 nurofen after that on the day and was eating normall the next day.

I was petrified but walked through th door at 11 into recption and was out the dorr by 11.15.

morethan1 · 11/05/2009 18:20

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

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