My dentist woes :( Wisdom teeth question

[Stackie]

There is no way I'm going through with it awake. I will be put to sleep for sure. I am on the verge of a panic attack just getting my teeth cleaned.

 

[Peep_erz]

I got all 4 out about 3 years ago. I've never had fear of the dentist and this was no different. I was nervous about being put under but it went pretty smoothly. My oral surgeon told me one of the benefits of getting them taken out early was the bone extraction isn't as hard or scary. If they are still under your gums the bone is soft and movable so they can extract them without problems. If you wait till your older they would have to cut through mature solid bone which I hear is painful and takes a whole lot longer to heal.

 

[Lynn & The Chins]

Stacie, I wore braces for almost 4 1/2 years. My wisdom teeth started erupting in college, and for a while they kind of went in and out. My dentist said that they were going to start affecting my beautiful orthodontic results, so I KNEW that they were coming out.

It's hard to believe since I talk so much, but I have a very small mouth. (My dentist always teases me about this!!!) He referred me to an oral surgeon and I had all four done at once.

I was put out completely, and I am very glad that I was. One of my lower one's roots had wrapped around the bone and they told me that I actually woke up while they were getting it out and said, "Where are the peacocks???" and then immediately went back to sleep!!!

At the time, I was a smoker, and I didn't listen to their advice to NOT smoke, since it would irritate the holes. Well, between smoking and swishing water around in my mouth to rinse, I ended up with 2 dry sockets. You have never experienced pain quite like it!!! They have to pack the wound with gauze to keep the air from touching it and making you see stars.

Bottom line, get it done, (and I agree, younger IS better) but get put to sleep and FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS FOR YOUR FOLLOWUP CARE!!!

You also get to eat as much ice cream and Jello as you want to -- the coolness helps with the swelling. :thumbsup:

Good luck!!!

 

[Luci]

stack! i just saw your status on fb and had to run over here to see your thread lol.

im glad you didnt need that tooth pulled. as for wisdom teeth, i think everyone else has pretty much said what im thinking lol. i dont have mine out. im really not too sure how they look.

i take that back, i had 1 taken out. my wisdom teeth are weird. one of my top ones started poking through my gums about a year ago. but i never had pain. AT ALL. it was coming through so we went to an oral surgeon just to have it looked at. the xrays show that it wouldnt have done any significant moving to the rest of my teeth but he still wanted it out. THAT DAY. lol. i was pissed. i was ready to go work out, all dressed up, then instead i get a tooth pulled. it took about 3 minutes, no joke. but i couldnt exercise for about 2 weeks. it didnt really hurt, but the vicodin didnt like me. i was making mac and cheese after the appointment, and i fainted. i guess all the loss of blood, lack of breakfast, plus vicodin made me all loopy. sorry, shouldnt have shared that lol.

but in my opinion, if the xrays dont show they'll go any significant damage and youre not having any pain, then you dont need them out. not everyone will need their wisdom teeth taken out. my dad still has his, no problem. rob still has his, no problem. it really just depends. i have another wisdom tooth coming in, i can feel the bottom of it completely exposed. but it doesnt hurt at all and my teeth havent shifted. it really depends. and if you never need them extracted, then awesome!

i hate dentists too. mostly cuz my childhood dentist was a real jerk. he was taking out a few teeth before i got braces, and i was crying. heres how the conversation went:
him: why are you crying?
me: because *sobs* im *sobs* scared
him: well im scared too
me: *sobs harder*

yea, i didnt like him.

thank goodness your dentist visit went pain free for today. and in my opinion...lets just pretend you dont have wisdom teeth!

 

[pamszoo]

I had my wisdom teeth removed when I was 28. I was constatly biting my cheeks and I was having headaches all the time. I was put to sleep for it. I was scared outta my mind oing in and bawling. They gave me IV drugs and I was literally out in 3 seconds! Don't remember a thing until it was all over and I woke up. My biggest problem was trying not to mess with the stitches. As Lynn said make sure you follow thru with the aftercare. The vicodin kept the pain away but I was always sleepin when on it. I also did saltwater rinses as well.

Good luck when you decide to have it done! It's really not too bad.

 

[Peep_erz]

Oh, Luci mentioning her dad reminded me of my Dad and Aunt (on my moms side). They never had theirs taken out and didn't start having problems until they were in their 40's. Theirs didn't move their teeth but because they are so far in the back they didn't get brushed as well as the other ones and developed gingivitis.

Did they say what position your teeth were in? Mine didn't break the surface and I didn't have any pain YET but my wisdom teeth were coming in at a 45 degree angle. Some peoples show their wisdom teeth coming in horizontally. I heard its rare that they come in straight and vertical but if yours are and you have good brushing habits I would say get a second opinion if you don't want it done.

 

[ChinchillaSteve]

I had mine pulled about a year ago.
My braces were removed recently but my wisdom teeth were screwing up my teeth.

I let them pull under narcose (Tried to stay awake ... no chance of that happening)
"Must ... fight ... narcotics ... zzzzz"

They don't hurt for the first 4 hours or so, when you're still high.
But then ... then you want to eat something ... oh the horror.

After few weeks they remove those pieces of cloth inside the holes where your teeth used to be. That hurts too
I didn't even know they were in there, so I was about to yelp ...

But it was worth it.
I'd say do it before complications are rising.

 

[ChinchillaSteve]

i hate dentists too. mostly cuz my childhood dentist was a real jerk. he was taking out a few teeth before i got braces, and i was crying. heres how the conversation went:
him: why are you crying?
me: because *sobs* im *sobs* scared
him: well im scared too
me: *sobs harder*

yea, i didnt like him.

Oh my god! yours did the same thing like mine did!
Is that like a common thing for 'em to say :neener:

 

[Melissa]

I had mine taken out when I was 17ish I think. I had such horrible pain. I had two already erupted and one was completely sideways. Instead of ^ I had <. I only had three thank GOD! I didnt have anything below the surface on my right upper side. I loved that because it was $500 per tooth and then another $700 to knock me out. So we saved $500. So it was like paying for all four teeth with being awake. And it only took about 15 min. I was in and out. I looked TERRIBLE btw. I took a week off of school. Not because of my pain but because of how I looked.

 

[PetoftheDay]

I had mine out when I was 17, as my orthodontist said - "Hey, have them out now, or go through having braces all over again," so we scheduled the surgery. My sister had had hers out a few years before, and her cheeks swelled so she looked like a chipmunk, and being the kid sister, I had teased her about it. So she was looking forward to payback, but my cheeks didn't swell a bit! I got lucky, they hadn't erupted yet, and like some of you, they were aimed sideways, at the roots of my adjacent teeth, so it was best to get rid of them before trouble happened! It really didn't hurt too much, I was just sore for a couple days, nothing major.

 

[6Dusters]

If anyone is afraid of the dentist .....it is me! Started out with a bad kid dentist and I bit him. I think I was drugged because I don't remember that part. Only remember him screaming at my mother to never bring me back. Anyway............I have a wonderful dentist now. I enjoy the visits every six months. I met him as a new patient and I had a tooth that was killing me. I told him about the previous crap dentist that worked on it a few months back. Then I told the new dentist he could look at the tooth but not touch it. :laughitup: So he told me about a wonderful specialist who would work on it next door. He was right. I never felt a thing.

Now some twenty years ago I had all my wisdom teeth out at the same time. Was a good dentist. Had one that was pinching a back molar sideways and killing me. I was made aware all the wisdom teeth were sideways by x-ray. So he took them all out at once. Just have something on hand to eat afterwards because you'll be in pain for a few days. Ensure would be a good drink along with soft items. Good luck. The right dentist specialist will treat you good. Ask alot of questions as well.

 

[smhufflepuff]

Oh my god! yours did the same thing like mine did!
Is that like a common thing for 'em to say :neener:

I'm picturing how that class back in dental school must have gone:

Instructor: Now remember, your patients may be apprehensive, and you're going to want a gentle, reassuring manner. Let them know you understand their concerns... that you know how they feel... It's called "empathy." Now write that down - "empathy" - it will be very useful to you in your practice. Now let's role play.

Aspiring dentist playing patient: Ahhh! I'm scared!!!

Aspiring dentist #1: You're scared.

Instructor: Um, that would just be repeating what they said. You want to aim for a more empathic response.

Aspiring dentist #2: Um... AHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

Instructor: Ah, no. That's not quite it either... Remember you want to let them know you understand how they feel.

Aspiring dentist #3: STFU! The quicker you STFU, the quicker you're outta my chair and home; then you don't have to be scared about this any more.

Instructor: Uh-huh. Ye-ah... I see where you're going with that. You acknowledge that the patient is scared and suggest a way they could help... but I'm going to suggest you word your response in a more kind and reassuring manner.

Aspiring dentist #4: It's okay, I'm scared too.

Instructor: Okay *sigh* that's it. Go with that one...

 

[inzeos]

Now, I have never had problems with my wisdom teeth. I was beginning to think I never had any, as they've never bothered me and they never came in. However, the dentist today said that they would need to come out and referred me to a specialist. I am 21 and have yet to have problems with my wisdom teeth.

So...do I really need to get them taken out asap? Or should I wait until they start causing me problems?

I had my wisdom teeth removed when I was about ~24 years old give or take a year or so. I had always been told by my previous dentists that if they came in they would come in without problems based on them looking at years of xrays. However, with that said they did come in and they came in with problems.

One of the issues with wisdom teeth is they can sometimes deteriorate in the gums and or when they come out. In my case I was on a business trip returning from over seas when one of them decided to break through my gum line. Unfortunately for me when it came out part of it broke off partially exposing the nerve in the tooth. I had to be scheduled for emergency surgery with an oral surgeon. The earliest I could get an appointment was 48 hours. I had to sleep up right, no sleeping medication could work.

I had general anesthesia and was out in a few hours recovering. I had to say the pain after was nothing compared to the pain caused prior to the surgery.

If you have dental insurance and can schedule a procedure I highly recommend doing it proactively rather than re-actively.

 

[tunes]

I didn't have my first wisdom tooth out until I was 28. It was fully in and became abscessed. I had no pain from the tooth removal, just from the permanent damage he did to my jaw joint because the FDA dentist put the needle in so far he drained the fluid out of the socket. That was fun, since I was pregnant with Nan and couldn't take anything except T3's which didn't work.

I had another one out when I was 36 because it needed a filling. I wasn't going to pay for a filling in a wisdom tooth and then at some point a crown. $50 to pull, $1200 for root canal and crown. Um, no. The dentist made all these plans, said it could take several hours because of my age, they may need to dig down in to get the roots which would surely be twisted and under the other molars, blah, blah. He numbed me, grabbed the extractors, gave a quick tug and that was all she wrote. I think he spent more time scratching his head than he did with the actual extraction.

For me, getting them out was not a big deal. I still have 2 left, and they are just hanging out, not causing amy problems. They don't bother me, I don't bother them.

The exmoron had x-rays done on his mouth. The dentist told him if he ever had to have his wisdom teeth out, it would involve a hospital stay. He showed me the x-rays and I swear, it looked like someone had done a french braid of the roots of his teeth. His never erupted, just sat under the skin and those roots just kept growing. If there is any chance yours are like that, I would get those suckers out now. Waiting longer just makes the roots grow longer and get more wrapped up in the other roots.

 

[Bostongirl'sChin75]

I had mine out when I was 18 because they were all growing in sideways and ruining over 10,000 dollars worth of and over 10 years of tooth work, including braces and retainers. The worst thing for me was the two that had their roots wrapped around my jaw bone and had to be cut out along with some of the jaw. But afterward the pain was gone, except for the residual surgical pain, and I still have my multi thousand dollar smile!

I agree with Inzeos, better to be proactive then reactive!