Wisdom Teeth...

[Nyah]

I had mine out about 12 years ago. I had to go to a facial surgeon because my jaw bone had enfused with the wisdom teeth on the bottom. They knocked me out completely, basically broke my jaw, removed two pieces of my lower jaw to get at the teeth and then discovered a fifth wisdom tooth at at the top right of my mouth. Awesome, hey?

It took me about 2.5 weeks to be able to fit a teaspoon into my mouth, which was difficult because you're not supposed to use a straw to eat or drink, and it took me almost an entire year to be able to open my mouth all the way again. SO glad that's over with...

[Erick Estrada]

I only needed one of my wisdom teeth removed when I was in college and it was a nightmare. I didn't get sedated and the actual removal went well. However that evening I removed the gauze as per the instructions and the hole continued to bleed. As per the recommendations I bit on a tee bag for a period but as soon as I removed pressure it kept bleeding. I sat on a chair until after midnight when I finally got tired and went to sleep in bed with a tee bag in my mouth.

I later woke up at about 3:00 a.m. in a cold sweat except it wasn't sweat. It was blood all over my face, neck, chest, pillow and sheets. The hole just wouldn't stop bleeding so I called my girlfriend and she came over and helped me clean up and by that time I was just exhausted after the lack of sleep and blood loss. She left a voicemail with the dentist and I got her to drive me to the practice where we waited until they opened.

When the surgeon and assistants got there they put me in the chair gave me a needle and used the cauterizer to cauterize the hole once again. After he was satisfied they put me in a room and let me lie down for an hour where I passed out until the woke me up to check and unfortunately it was still bleeding but the real bad news is that the surgeon said that he could not give me another needle for the pain so I had to endure the cauterizing without painkiller. Needless to say I had to have my head held by the assistant with tears of pain flowing from my eyes as he attempeted to cauterize the hole. 3rd time was a charm but it came at a cost as the entire left side of my face had a big yellow bruise and I permanetly lost feeling in the left front corner of my jaw. Sucks when I am eating in a public place and food drips down one side of my mouth as I can't feel it.

Strange thing is that I have never had a problem with wounds healing before as I put nails through my feet with a nail gun, and various other cuts, etc with no issues.

[Minnie]

Very glad now that this thread got bumped so I have a frame of reference for the next few days. When we met with the dentist this morning, he had decided he was going to pull all 4 of my daughter's wisdom teeth, considering she has to be off her biologic for such lengths of time, to do this sort of work. Aside from the other work they did, he pulled the top 2 wisdom teeth, even though they weren't through yet. As it turns out, the bottom 2 are quite impacted, and so he decided to refer her to an oral surgeon to have those ones removed.

He said he could probably take them out but considering they're impacted, and taking into account her medical history, he'd rather be ultra safe than sorry, hence the oral surgeon route. His other reasoning was that she had quite a lot done in one appointment (they planned to do a mega appointment because of the aforementioned biologic complications) and he didn't want to try removing the impacted ones and make life absolutely miserable for her or risk any damage to her jaw/nerves/whatever.

She's looking a little chipmunk cheeked and is quite sore. She's zonked out at the moment, which I'm sure is the best thing for her right now. I found some old fashioned ice bags and bought a couple of them for her to use for the swelling. The base of them is just about perfect to cover the area.

[Hemi-Cuda]

Ugh, dentist just told me yesterday that all 4 of my wisdom teeth need to come out, and reading through this thread is not helping

[Maritime Q-Scout]

I had a different experience than most.

I make no bones about it. I'm a wimp through and true. However, wisdom teeth were no problem.

Top two were taken out at separate times. The dentist froze my jaw and pulled them in his chair. He didn't do both at once as it would have meant freezing my entire mouth, which would have left it practically unusable the rat of the day. The first time I was at the movies eating a pretzel that night. No issues with either.

Because one of my bottom wisdom teeth didn't come in all the way it needed to be surgically removed, so the oral surgeon did my bottom two at once.

IV sedation was cool. The doctor gave me he sedat action medication, I consciously tried to fight it as long as I could. But, I felt no difference to the point I asked the doctor how long it usually takes to kick in, he grinds and then I woke up. No idea I'd he answered me or not.

I was woozy after I woke up but after a nap I was good to go. In fact, that night I was at a campfire at my buddy's cottage.

People go on about how bad it is. It's not. Nothing to worry about.

But like someone said above don't drink out of a straw. Your blood clots may come out, which apparently is quite bad.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

Ugh, dentist just told me yesterday that all 4 of my wisdom teeth need to come out, and reading through this thread is not helping

4 does suck because its 4x the fun but if you go to a good surgeon it's a piece of cake. I don't think maybe my surgeon was the best but the actual procedure is pretty quick and painless as they just break them free, clean out any pieces, and cauterize. What happened to me is probably less than a percentile.

[cDnStealth]

I too had a different experience. I've had teeth pulled before, 4 baby canines when I was younger, so I had decided on going the sedated route when I had to get my 4 wisdom teeth removed. They gave me the gas and told me to count from 10. I think I got down to about 5 wondering when the stuff would kick in and then I woke up and it was all done. Bleeding and swelling were fairly minor. I went straight home afterwards and was able to eat with no problem.

[shane_c]

Originally Posted by shane_c

I'm going in tomorrow afternoon to get 4 of them out. 2 of them have never come through and the 2 that did come through one is straight and one is crooked. I was told they would be giving me IV sedation (conscious sedation) and that I would likely sleep through it. A bit worried what I might be like when I wake up though.

They've been telling me for years that I should get them out but it's not something I wanted to do. Now I have a cavity next to the one that's growing in crooked that they can't get at so apparently it has to come out and they recommend doing the 4 of them.

Picked up some groceries this morning and plan on living on smoothies, tomato soup and ice cream the next few days.

Had them out yesterday. The sedation was great. I remember laying on the chair and them hooking up the IV and the next second the assistant said I was done. I felt pretty light headed and had wobbly legs for a few hours after.

The surgeon disagreed with my dentist's referral and only took the two that were above the skin. He said if I was younger he would have taken all 4 but since I'm mid 30's the two that didn't come through would be very difficult to remove since the roots were so deep and it would cause me a lot of pain and might cause sinus damage and he saw no reason to put me through that since they were straight.

My face is a bit puffy, have a headache and a little light headed, and still have a bit of blood in my mouth but it wasn't too bad.

[OffsideSpecialist]

I got them removed two years ago. I remember trying to eat a bowl of Kraft dinner the next day, and it took me three hours to do so. Other than that, I was on my regular diet after about a week. The worst pain was the first evening. The surgeon gave me a prescription for percocets, and I think I only used two. Whatever you do, make sure you follow the cleaning instructions rigorously. I know people who didn't that wound up in a world of hurt with nasty infections and stuff like that.

I had mine done Friday morning, and was fine to go back to work on Tuesday. I could have gone Monday, but I took the day off for some insurance. I will say though, the first six hours or so after the surgery was a whole lot of fun, until the laughing gas wore off.

[Stay Golden]

Wisdom teeth i had all of them removed when i was about 20. Dental surgeon across from MRC. Your in good care there total professionals.

[Minnie]

The kid is doing really well. She was quite miserable when she got home and was until the early evening. They `sedated` her it didn`t really take all that well. She remembers pretty much everything. Her dad had some sedation stuff nearly a month ago and he was off on another planet for the whole day and night after, and was still a little loopy halfway through the morning of the next day - her, not even close. She had a somewhat rough night and didn`t get a lot of sleep but she`s doing well today.

She perked up in the early evening yesterday and ate like a fiend, lol. A schwack of mashed potatoes, a tub of cottage cheese, a bowl of soup and lots of jello. Her face is quite sore and swollen but she has only taken one pain killer so far today. Still only eating soft foods.

[KelVarnsen]

So many lifetime suspensions in this thread.

[Kipper is King]

Originally Posted by KelVarnsen

So many lifetime suspensions in this thread.

Many in this thread lack wisdom!

[Daradon]

Wow Erick E. Your story sounds lawsuit worthy.

[Sylvanfan]

Looking back what a whiner I was. The day I got them out was no picnic but after that for me was quite good. I used tea bags the first night, and that seemed to help. The next day I was really bored as I felt fine and had to sit around not doing much.

[Minnie]

We just got back from the hospital. They're not 100% sure what's going on, but they figure she's got an infection somewhere and they started her on IV antibiotics. I have to run her back and forth to emerg for the next couple of days for each bag of meds. -_- Will have to phone her dentist in the morning and see if he wants to do xrays and see if he can see any pockets of infection.

Just on the one side of her face though - the right side isn't even swollen anymore. The left side is something else though - it was still slightly swollen when she went to bed last night and when she got up this morning, the whole cheek was swollen, her eye was almost swollen shut, the left side of her nose was swollen right up, the left side of her top lip looked like it had done a couple of rounds with a boxer, and the swelling was down under her jaw and into her neck. I told the dentist she needed to have a round of antibiotics post procedure, but he figured she would be fine - even her rheumatologist told him to send her home on antibiotics after. Just hoping for her sake the meds kick in real quick.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Daradon

Wow Erick E. Your story sounds lawsuit worthy.

It is disclosed before you have the procedure that you have x% (small number) chance of permanent nerve damage. I was in my early 20's at the time it never occured to me to take action as I don't know if you can fault him for the hole not cauterizing as it didn't bleed until later in the evening when I pulled out the gauze. I should have asked him to pay for new bed sheets, pillow, mattress though as I was a poor student at the time. Worst pain ever though undergoing the cauterizing without pain killer and at the end I think I was just happy it was over.

[normtwofinger]

I am one of those lucky ones that has all of my wisdom teeth. They grew in perfectly straight.

/dbaggery

[Hemi-Cuda]

Originally Posted by normtwofinger

I am one of those lucky ones that has all of my wisdom teeth. They grew in perfectly straight.

/dbaggery

How old are you? I was in the same situation, my brother as well. But he had his taken out a couple of years ago and now the dentist says it's time for mine to go (30 years old). I thought I was pretty good at getting back there with the toothbrush and floss, but apparently it wasn't good enough. Wisdom teeth are extremely susceptible to food particles getting stuck where you just can't reach and causing big cavities

[normtwofinger]

I'm almost 30, so I may be in the same situation. But I am also one of those who has never had a cavity.