Of course 'removed' is the nice way of putting it. I prefer 'drilled out of my skull.' More accurate, and a wee bit more fun to say.
So I thought I would share it with all of you. At the moment I have some ice bags strapped to my face, I'm sipping on some Ensure, and occasionally double-checking to make sure I'm not oozing any blood. (I'm not anymore, yay!) The only thing that is painful is the back of my throat, thanks to the tube they had to put up my nose and down my windpipe to help me breath.
But enough about me. Anyone else have some interesting teeth stories?
Posts: 3852 | Registered: Feb 2002
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When I had my wisdom teeth removed I didn't really mind the pain the much. It wasn't too bad. I didn't really care about my diet of gogurt either. But every day I woke up to find my tongue covered in dry blood. It takes like ten minutes to brush that stuff off. I'm pretty confident that it is the worst taste there is.
Posts: 1287 | Registered: Apr 2006
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I had 10 baby teeth pulled in all. I only had 3 wisdom teeth like my dad and they were all impacted. When I had them removed my face looked like that of a chipmonk.
Posts: 1327 | Registered: Aug 2007
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quote:Originally posted by ketchupqueen: Wow, stopped bleeding already? I had to keep the gauze packs on for 30 hours before mine stopped.
I was awake for my extractions and was fascinated to hear that a tooth being pulled sounds crunchy, like potato chips.
Also, apparently I metabolize Novacaine very fast, and it makes me shaky.
Well, my wisdom teeth weren't pulled. They were all impacted in the bone, so they've been sowed up nicely. I started oozing in the car on the way back and had to gauze it up, but the office called and said I was supposed to have the gauze out now. So it's out, the holes are clotted, and I hope they don't ooze any more.
I was also unconscious for it all, and only had 3 wisdoms (thank you genetic), so unfortunately I didn't get to hear the sound of crunching teeth.
posted
I had local anesthesia, and they had to take three of my four teeth. I had no swelling, blood that stopped bleeding about an hour after I left the clinic and the only thing to worry about was the drooling as the anesthesia did not totally wear off for several hours. I was eating ice cream that evening and more or less normal food by noon the next day.
Sorry I cannot attempt to oneup your horror story. Posts: 14316 | Registered: Jul 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Javert: only had 3 wisdoms
Hey, me too!
No matter what you do, do NOT use a straw for the next week. Trust me on this.
That's one of the rules the doctors gave me. Thanks for the reminder though! Luckily I don't normally use straws.
Posts: 3852 | Registered: Feb 2002
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I think I got my sockets sewed up too, so I only bled for a short while. I don't remember much pain even though I skipped the Lortab. The worst part physically was the irritation from the ends of the suture threads poking into my cheek and tongue...that drove me crazy and it took a really long time for the sutures to dissolve. I think I eventually pulled a couple of threads out...that was a little bit disgusting.
I found out I acted really dopey when I started waking up from anesthesia...apparently I asked for a drink of water over and over again - my brain's short term memory was broken so I didn't remember they had already told me I had to wait an hour to drink anything. Short term memory didn't kick in until I was in the car riding home.
Posts: 4287 | Registered: Mar 2005
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I have no memory of leaving the dentist. Apparently I was awake and responding to people. They had me in a wheelchair and I got into my car. The first thing I was aware of after being put to sleep was when I was halfway home.
Posts: 1287 | Registered: Apr 2006
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When I went for the checkup, the dentist was convinced he only took 2 out, not the 4 he should have. He said that the top ones were too well healed to have had wisdom teeth taken out. He went and doublechecked and all 4 were indeed gone. Apparantly I heal really, really well.
Posts: 2223 | Registered: Mar 2008
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I had some serious doubts once I sat down in the chair before they put me to sleep. I kept thinking it was a seriously bad idea and I should just leave. If I had stayed awake the whole time I don't think I could've gone through with it. I was very tempted to get up and walk out.
The first thing I remember was when they originally woke me up. I immediately burst into tears. It was just a reaction to the drugs but I remember not being able to stop it and being very confused about why I kept crying.
Other than that everything went smoothly for me. I have no horror stories and my sockets were stitched up as well. I had very little bleeding.
I don't recommend playing any wind instruments for a few weeks. It can feel like the sockets are going to pop. I thought the week I waited was long enough but the popping sensation was there for quite a while. So, I adjusted my embouchure to lessen the effect. In hindsight, I probably shouldn't have played at all.
Posts: 96 | Registered: Sep 2006
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I haven't had anything done to mine, but my mother had all four of hers out when she was younger...and a couple of them grew back, which had to be removed again. I can't remember how many of the four grew back.
I'm not well up on dental knowledge, so maybe someone could explain the particulars of wisdom teeth. Does everyone get wisdom teeth surgery? At what age? What does "impacted" mean? Javert said hers (his? sorry I'm blanking out) were sown up but not removed? What's that all about?
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
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quote:Originally posted by Lyrhawn: I'm not well up on dental knowledge, so maybe someone could explain the particulars of wisdom teeth. Does everyone get wisdom teeth surgery? At what age? What does "impacted" mean? Javert said hers (his? sorry I'm blanking out) were sown up but not removed? What's that all about?
I'm less drugged this morning, so perhaps I can explain. Anything I get wrong, I apologize.
First off, I'm a guy.
Everyone does not get wisdom teeth surgery, because not everyone gets wisdom teeth. Some people don't grow any, some people only grow a few, and some grow more than the 'normal' four.
The wisdom teeth are essentially two extra sets of molars in the back of your mouth. The problem is that most people don't have jaws large enough to accommodate those extra teeth. So when they start to come in, instead of just coming out like regular teeth they end up pushing your other teeth from the bottom. This can lead to pain, the pushing together of your other teeth, erosion of your existing molars at the point of contact and even abscesses and infections.
The funny thing is (funny to me) had we never developed the skills and technology used by dentists and oral surgeons, we would probably end up mostly evolving away wisdom teeth. Or at least the kind that lead to problems.
As unfortunate as it would be, those of us who had impacted and infected wisdom teeth would end up dying or being in too much pain to think about mating with anyone. Thus, if you had troublesome wisdom teeth you'd be less likely to have children, and thus less likely to pass the genes on that would give the teeth to those children.
As it is, we are forever 'cursed' with wisdom teeth because removing them, unfortunately, does not change your genetics. Oh well.
Anyway, sorry for that tangent.
The age that most people get the wisdom teeth out (according to my dentist) is 16 or thereabout. I'm 24, so I'm a little late. Part of it was because I hadn't gone to a dentist in about 4 years before I found out.
"Impacted" means, I believe, that the wisdom teeth are pressing against your existing teeth. Not just pressing, but growing in such a way that they have to press into other teeth. For me, the one on the bottom (I only grew 3) was actually coming in horizontally, pushing sideways against my other molars. Not fun.
And sorry for the final confusion. When I said they were 'sown up', what I was referring to was that the wounds that I now have that the surgeon had to cut to get to the teeth were sown up. This is because all of my wisdom teeth were still under the gums and still in the bone of my jaw. For some people, the wisdom teeth actually erupt out of the gums, and so there's more pulling and less cutting.
I assumed, rightly or wrongly, that the doctor wouldn't sow up a socket that they had pulled the wisdom tooth out of, as opposed to one they had to cut themselves. No idea why I assumed that, but it would be awesome if I turned out to be right.
Posts: 3852 | Registered: Feb 2002
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When my husband got his removed, I got to be his nurse. I brought him home, got him all comfy in bed, and spent the next 24 tending to his whims. When I could find a note pad for him to write on, he said that the worst thing wasn't pain or nausea, it was the horrific "taste" in his mouth. That's probably the dried blood Elmer mentioned.
The actual surgery went really well. My husband couldn't stop laughing (I thought he was stoned, but he was just really happy) once he woke up from the surgery because he had been so scared but it was all so easy. He doesn't even remember getting an IV, which was his biggest worry.
The trouble began a few days later, when the edge of the bone that had been around one tooth broke through the gum. THAT surgery took over an hour and he was awake for the whole thing. They had to file down (literally, with a big file) the edge of the bone and sew up the gum over it. Apparently it was grueling. The only positive aspect to this surgery was that he didn't spend one minute dreading it; he was confident it would go as easily as the last surgery. No such luck, though.
quote: I assumed, rightly or wrongly, that the doctor wouldn't sow up a socket that they had pulled the wisdom tooth out of, as opposed to one they had to cut themselves. No idea why I assumed that, but it would be awesome if I turned out to be right.
I'm pretty sure they still sew it up. It's not like having a baby tooth pulled, where the roots have mostly dissolved away and the teeth are just hanging in there. Pulling a wisdom tooth is pretty traumatic. But I'll admit, I'm not positive on that.
Posts: 6367 | Registered: Aug 2003
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quote: I assumed, rightly or wrongly, that the doctor wouldn't sow up a socket that they had pulled the wisdom tooth out of, as opposed to one they had to cut themselves. No idea why I assumed that, but it would be awesome if I turned out to be right.
I'm pretty sure they still sew it up. It's not like having a baby tooth pulled, where the roots have mostly dissolved away and the teeth are just hanging in there. Pulling a wisdom tooth is pretty traumatic. But I'll admit, I'm not positive on that.
You're probably right. My logic doesn't work too well on percocet, apparently.
Posts: 3852 | Registered: Feb 2002
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Javert, mine were impacted too. What they did for me was cut it open, file it down with the drill, and then pull it-- sideways.
Do make sure you keep going with the saltwater rinses until they're all healed, they help amazingly. I forgot that part of the aftercare until my four-day checkup and it sped the healing so much!
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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quote:Originally posted by ketchupqueen: Javert, mine were impacted too. What they did for me was cut it open, file it down with the drill, and then pull it-- sideways.
Do make sure you keep going with the saltwater rinses until they're all healed, they help amazingly. I forgot that part of the aftercare until my four-day checkup and it sped the healing so much!
Will do. I'm icing until 2, and then going to start the rinsing. I'm taking '24 hours' literally.
Posts: 3852 | Registered: Feb 2002
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Oh, and I've never heard of most people getting wisdom teeth out at 16. According to what I've read/heard, most people don't have theirs come in until between 18 and 22. Mine didn't start to erupt until 21; I remember because it was after my first pregnancy. (I turned 21 the month after I had my first baby.) They didn't cause problems until a year or two after that, and I was unable to get them out (and only got the side that was worst done-- the others are going next year) until this year, because of lack of insurance/funds for it. (I hadn't had dental insurance in 7 years.)
I know I had dental xrays at 17 and they could see from the buds that mine were going to impact but they were still buds.
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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I had mine out at 17 during spring break of my senior year and I knew of two others having the same procedure during that time.
I'd say 16-21 is probably the average age they come in. Removal could happen anytime during that period or after.
Posts: 96 | Registered: Sep 2006
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Mine came out at 18. I went under for the whole procedure, woke up right on schedule, and amazed everyone by only taking two Tylenol and an Advil in the ensuing days, with minimal pain and/or swelling. The most embarrassing moment was when I tried to drink a glass of water with half of my mouth still numb. At least it was water, right?
I was quite annoyed with the fact that they wouldn't let me eat solid food for a couple of days, so I actually ignored the instructions and dug in for dinner that night. I was hungry! I just made sure to clean out the sockets really well and all was fine. Posts: 3932 | Registered: Sep 1999
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Mine came in sometime in my early twenties I think, I forget exactly when. I only had three (so did my sister, in fact--I like to tease my parents that this means we're more highly evolved than them). Of those, the two on the left side had enough room; they came in straight and didn't crowd the other teeth at all. The singleton on the lower right was impacted though; the back end erupted up through the gum, but the front end was trapped under the molar in front of it. So I had that one out last spring, which means I would have been 28. I was awake for it, just a shot of Novocain. I'd brought my mp3 player with me to try to help keep calm and distract me (this was the only serious dental work I've ever had, I've never even had a cavity or anything), but I discovered that headphones don't really work when the buzzsaw noise is coming from inside your head So that was a pretty unpleasant interval, even though I wasn't feeling any pain, but it didn't take too long. They packed me up with gauze, sent me home with a cold pack and some painkillers that had Demerol in them, and that whole weekend is pretty much just a blank in my mind, I don't remember hardly anything but sleeping and sleeping and sleeping. I went back to work on Monday and was fine, except for having to take Advil regularly for a few more days or I got this throbbing pain in that corner of my jaw. So yeah, not a walk in the park but not horrible either Posts: 957 | Registered: Aug 2002
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Thanks for all that info though. I just figured everyone got them and some fit and some didn't. I'm 24 and nothing has grown in. I wasn't sure if that means I'd never get them or if I was just late to the game. But then I haven't been to the dentist in a long time either...
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
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Thanks for all that info though. I just figured everyone got them and some fit and some didn't. I'm 24 and nothing has grown in. I wasn't sure if that means I'd never get them or if I was just late to the game. But then I haven't been to the dentist in a long time either...
If you have no discomfort in your mouth, jaw or teeth then you should be fine.
I was lucky, as the mild discomfort in my teeth coincided nicely with getting dental insurance from my job. So if you can, go see a dentist. Better to nip things like this in the bug before it becomes a pain. Or so they tell me. Posts: 3852 | Registered: Feb 2002
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I didn't get mine out until I was 32 or 33. They didn't bother me before that. The worse part though was the allergic reaction I had to the oxycodone that made me itch absolutely horribly from head to toe inside and out. It was unnerving and tortuous. I was never so glad to feel regular pain in my life.
Posts: 1132 | Registered: A Long Time Ago!
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Yikes! I think I was 19 when I had mine removed. The top two were completely impacted and the bottom two were partially. However, I had a REAL terror of IVs back then, so the doc agreed to do mine with me conscious.
Actually, the worst part of that was just how sore my jaw got from the prying! I felt like they were trying to leverage it off! However, when I got home mine would NOT stop bleeding! They told me to try tea bags (ick, I hate tea!) and all that did was nauseate me.
It wasn't until a couple of days later before the real pain started. Then they hurt for like a week.... I actually still have pain where the bottom stitches were, but apparently that's from my sinuses (go figure)
Posts: 1321 | Registered: Jun 2006
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Still have all four of mine, and I'm 27. The bottom ones have only recently made a serious appearance, and the top ones don't need to come out. I remember being 12 when the dentist told me I would probably never need those wisdom teeth out, because my mouth was so big.
Thanks, Doc. Thanks a lot.
But my new dentist has tried repeatedly to make me get the bottom two out, I just don't have any time or money.
Posts: 6367 | Registered: Aug 2003
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quote:Originally posted by PSI Teleport: But my new dentist has tried repeatedly to make me get the bottom two out, I just don't have any time or money.
Not to rub it in, but this has cost me a total of $12.00. And that was for the medicine. Posts: 3852 | Registered: Feb 2002
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quote:The funny thing is (funny to me) had we never developed the skills and technology used by dentists and oral surgeons, we would probably end up mostly evolving away wisdom teeth. Or at least the kind that lead to problems.
Or here's another possibility: in the past, when we didn't have dentistry and dental hygiene, would we lose our back molars to decay (and/or just grinding down on coarse food) at an early age, thus leaving room for the wisdom teeth to come in? I don't know, but I do know that my back teeth have by far the most fillings in them, leading me to wonder what would have happened if I couldn't have them filled.
Posts: 1512 | Registered: A Long Time Ago!
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My wisdom teeth weren't causing me any trouble at all. I wish I hadn't had them out. When I did, they got infected. The place forgot to give me the little syringe I was supposed to use to flush them out after eating. So I had to go back and they packed them and gave me antibiotics and STILL forgot to give me the syringe. I should have gone back to get it. I was more passive toward doctors in those days, and just did what they told me. After all the agony and problems of those wisdom teeth, I made myself a new rule, that I would never, ever let anyone cut on me again unless it already hurt now worse than it was gonna hurt when they got through cutting me. It's a good rule, and its wisdom has been borne out ever since. Posts: 6246 | Registered: Aug 2004
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I was told that it's best to gett them out before they are "grown in". But mine were also all fully bone impacted, i got them out late last month, im 16.
Posts: 549 | Registered: Feb 2008
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quote:Originally posted by PSI Teleport: But my new dentist has tried repeatedly to make me get the bottom two out, I just don't have any time or money.
Not to rub it in, but this has cost me a total of $12.00. And that was for the medicine.
You're lucky. I got to pay more than $200 for the priviledge of having 2 out. (And that was with insurance paying 80% and all x-rays, etc.)
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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They cut out all four of my wisdom teeth under local + nitrous.
I could hear them shattering the teeth and picking the shards out, but fortunately I felt nothing but pressure.
Then they packed my mouth full of gauze and I drove to work. Not even a vicoden for the pain. My boss asked me why I looked so glum. That was kind of a long day...
It didn't stop bleeding for days... just this constant oozing taste of blood in my mouth.
Posts: 7085 | Registered: Apr 2001
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quote: Not to rub it in, but this has cost me a total of $12.00. And that was for the medicine.
[Napoleon Dynamite] Lucky!
We paid over $400, because our dental insurance had a $1000 max for surgeries per person. (Er something.) But I feel so glad. We only pay $20 a month for dental insurance for the whole family, and everything else is completely free. After having no insurance at all, it feels like a miracle.
quote: After all the agony and problems of those wisdom teeth, I made myself a new rule, that I would never, ever let anyone cut on me again unless it already hurt now worse than it was gonna hurt when they got through cutting me. It's a good rule, and its wisdom has been borne out ever since.
That is exactly how I feel about it. I don't want to get my wisdom teeth out unless they crumble and the nerve is exposed, or I'm likely to get a ton of cavities that need to be filled. They are just sitting back there doing nothing right now, and I'm very happy about that.
posted
I had mine out at about 40. The dentest had a "new" procedure. He used music instead of a strong anesthetic. The problem was his taste in music was so abysmal that the only tape I would even consider listening to was "Yellow Submarine". It wasn't enough. And, he perforated my sinus on both sides. I didn't find it until several days later, when I couldn't maintain pitch with my bassoon. It made bubbling sounds too. By then the infection was all through my head. It took six months (and a small cold chisel) to cure. I would have sued him, but he was an old college chum, and it didn't seem right.
Posts: 1167 | Registered: Oct 2005
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So I alluded to it in the Harry Potter post, I figure I'd better tell my story.
My dentist had been bugging me for years to get my wisdom teeth taken care of and I kept putting it off. Thankfully, good came out of it rather than the nightmare of impacted teeth, etc.
Late in my freshman year of college, some food poisoning resulted in me fainting in the shower (low blood pressure as a result of dehydration which came out due to the ... expulsion ... of lots of bodily fluid) and I ended up cracking some teeth. One of my teeth near the front had to be removed, since the fracture occurred beneath the gumline.
Well, the oral surgeon with whom I consulted regarding replacing this tooth felt that an implant was wiser than a bridge, since the bridge would rely on the health of the adjacent teeth. There was some concern that the adjacent teeth would end up eventually dying due to the same trauma that knocked out the other tooth. However, the surgeon felt that I needed to wait 6 months to allow the area to heal.
So in the fall of that year, I went back to the surgeon who decided that, not only would an incision be made in my gum to place a titanium "root" into my jawbone, but that it'd be a great time to take out my wisdom teeth. Oh, and they also discovered a pocket of fluid in my lower jaw when they were using their nifty panoramic x-ray machine, so they thought they ought to aspirate (draw out the fluid with a needle) that cyst so that bone could grow there.
To pile on, there was concern that my jaw wouldn't be quite thick enough to do the actual implantation and they might need to graft bone from the back of my jaw onto where the implant would go. This would mean that, instead of a simple wisdom tooth extraction, their incision would have to go all the way to the jawbone at the back of my mouth (a very deep incision; much deeper than just scooping out the wisdom teeth).
So it turned out that they did need to do this grafting, so when I woke up from anesthesia, I was in the car being driven home to my parents' house, my mouth stuffed with gauze. The top wisdom teeth were where they chose to grab bone for the graft, so those incisions were quite painful (thank goodness for percoset!!) and of course, the front of my upper jaw had just had bone grafted onto it. Finally, the lower jaw had a big gaping hole from the cyst aspiration. There was no place in my mouth, it seemed, left untouched.
Fun times.
Especially since I needed a surgery 6 months later to actually put the implanted root in, once the graft had set....then ANOTHER one 3 months later to place the artificial tooth on top of the crown.
....
Three years later, I get a kidney stone and have to have surgery to get THAT out.
I'm getting all too used to surgery.
Posts: 1099 | Registered: Apr 2005
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Uh, the one wisdom tooth I had removed had part of the root break off. The dentist fished most of it out, but a big chunk mysteriously came to the surface two weeks later and popped out.
Posts: 1757 | Registered: Oct 2004
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So that was a pretty unpleasant interval, even though I wasn't feeling any pain, but it didn't take too long. They packed me up with gauze, sent me home with a cold pack and some painkillers that had Demerol in them, and that whole weekend is pretty much just a blank in my mind, I don't remember hardly anything but sleeping and sleeping and sleeping. I went back to work on Monday and was fine, except for having to take Advil regularly for a few more days or I got this throbbing pain in that corner of my jaw. So yeah, not a walk in the park but not horrible either ![[Evil]](graemlins/evil.gif)
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