Did you get your wisdom teeth pulled out?

[mikegg]

I'm 23 and my dentist recommends pulling out all 4 of my impacted wisdom teeth.

I've been reading out it and it makes me nervous of possible complications during and after the surgery such as nerve damage. Plus, it doesn't help that on the front page of Yahoo, there's news of a guy who died under anesthesia during a wisdom teeth extraction surgery.

If you got yours removed, how old were you? What kind of sedation did you take?

 

[HamburgerBoy]

Yes, all five. The first one was removed when I was 10/11 and they just numbed the area, put me under nitrous, and gave me some painkillers. When the numbing wore off it hurt like a bitch and was one of the few times I can recall crying from physical pain. The other four were removed when I was 13, and I was knocked out for that. Didn't really hurt that time, however.

 

[Red Squirrel]

I had one pulled out but the others have not been bothering me despite being at a 45 degree angle. The bottom ones are the worse as they have to pretty much dig right into the gums to get to it. I'm glad I've been able to avoid getting it done.

One thing I find about dentistry is stuff left alone is usually better unless it actually hurts you. Every time they do something to me it only makes it worse. For example I had a bit of discoloring on my front tooth, got it fixed, now half that tooth is artificial, thus does not heal or rebuild the enamel like a natural tooth. The fillings need to be redone every now and then due to wear and tear.

Recently had two cavities, they never bothered me. Since they filled them, now those teeth are very sensitive to everything.

Long story short, if they arn't bothering you then leave them alone.

 

[RocksteadyDotNet]

Yes, all five. The first one was removed when I was 10/11 and they just numbed the area, put me under nitrous, and gave me some painkillers. When the numbing wore off it hurt like a bitch and was one of the few times I can recall crying from physical pain. The other four were removed when I was 13, and I was knocked out for that. Didn't really hurt that time, however.

LOLWat.

You only have four wisdom teeth. Or are you some sort of mutant?

 

[Geosurface]

When I had braces as a teenager my orthodontist made room for my wisdom teeth, but the Navy doesn't care... if you're serving on a submarine, they're coming out. Period.

So, they crunched those mofos out of me when I was in my late 20's. Thankfully, I only grew them on the top.

Btw, Rocksteady, people do end up with weird tooth situations... my mom grew a second set of baby teeth before her adult teeth would come in. Maybe she's part shark.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

LOLWat.

You only have four wisdom teeth. Or are you some sort of mutant?

My maternal grandfather had five as well. We're mutants.

 

[Red Squirrel]

When I had braces as a teenager my orthodontist made room for my wisdom teeth, but the Navy doesn't care... if you're serving on a submarine, they're coming out. Period.

So, they crunched those mofos out of me when I was in my late 20's. Thankfully, I only grew them on the top.

Btw, Rocksteady, people do end up with weird tooth situations... my mom grew a second set of baby teeth before her adult teeth would come in. Maybe she's part shark.

Yeah extra teeth happens. heck I had an extra one almost in the front but a bit off to the side, and behind the rest of the teeth. It was kinda cool, and I wanted to keep it just because of the cool factor, but they took it out anyway. I have a hole there now. :awe: Would probably have caused issues if it was left there I guess.

 

[ViRGE]

I had all 4 of mine pulled when I was a teenager. It was altogether unremarkable; they didn't need to put me under (okay, they refused), so it was just gas and novocaine. Though I wouldn't call it comfortable, it wasn't too bad. By the end of the day I was already trying to sneak banned foods as I was doing well all things considered, and the gums closed up rather quickly thereafter.

 

[jaqie]

I have only had one out, and let me tell you at age 35 I really really wish I had been able to get them out ages ago. Disability medical doesn't cover the specialty case I am in... no dentist will even give me basic care until the remaining upper one is taken out, and nobody that disability covers will even talk to me about removing it, because 15 years ago at least its root had punctured the sinus cavity. This is very dangerous and possibly deadly to have, but this is yet another perfect example of the huge holes in government... I cannot and have not been able to find anyone willing to take it out in 15 years, and during that time I have had no dental care because no one will even look at my teeth once they see that with the xray whether I tell them about it or not.

Trust me, get them out ASAP or you will regret it. I am in constant pain and infections, about 8 of my teeth have cavities to the nerves, and the taste buds on both sides of my tongue have long since been scraped off by the cavities on the inside edges of my other teeth.

And before you say "Go to the ER" I do, and they refuse to do anything even give me pain meds, and say "go to your dentist"...

 

[thedarkwolf]

One of mine came in fine and the other 3 aren't a problem according to the dentist.

 

[Kadarin]

I'm 44 and have had none of them removed. They're not bothering me at all, so why worry about it?

 

[destrekor]

I planned on keeping all of mine, because they were seemingly not causing me any problems and that's that an unnecessary expense/hassle to remove otherwise fine but worthless extra teeth.

Then one started erupting, and the Army noticed it during an exam. Since it was only partially erupted, it could become infected since it's difficult to clean and whatnot. So they marked it as "this must go" and the Army pestered me (in the Reserves, we only have to somewhat listen to them) and finally command set a deadline.

No way in hell was I going to have an Army dentist touch my mouth outside of a screening/exam, so I found a dentist who agreed and got me an oral surgeon.
Turns out that partially erupted, but still impacted, wisdom tooth was actually scraping away at the next molar, causing bone loss (which I am promised is reversible). So, it really needed to go.
Problem is, I'm a wimp and would not agree to extraction of that one without being knocked out. I couldn't get knocked out (general anesthesia) and have only one tooth extracted unless the doc agreed (he did), but regardless, insurance would not cover it. It cost me basically the same to have all four yanked with anesthesia (with insurance) as it would have for 1 tooth and anesthesia.

That was a little more than two months ago. I'm 25.
It wasn't too bad of an experience. I took long to heal, and I still have a pocket where the one problem tooth was (that one was the worst, that side of my face was the most swollen). But already being in misery plus the bonus of vicodin made it easy to quit tobacco (snus), so... it was sort of a win-win in the end.

 

[Fayd]

LOLWat.

You only have four wisdom teeth. Or are you some sort of mutant?

I only have 1. :/

 

[sdifox]

Mine were a bitch. I think it was early 30s when I did all four of them. Seven hours on the chair and the last one wasn't budging. I think there is still a chunk of it in my mouth.

I just had local anesthetics. Had to be on tylenol 3 for a week or so afterwards.

 

[stargazr]

Yes, in my early 20's. Two were impacted, they take a little more work to get out. I chose to stay awake but don't remember what they did for pain. It was ok except I could hear them being ripped out of my mouth. Of course it hurt like hell after the meds wore off.

You have to listen to what they tell you to keep the pockets clean until they heal. You're supposed to wash them out with a salt water syringe. I later had one get infected. The doctor put a strip of medicated....something IDK. It sucked because I could taste medicine all day. Of course this was a long time ago so they might do something different now in that situation.

 

[Red Squirrel]

I remember when I got my one tooth extracted the dentist actually told me to suck on hard candy for the rest of the day, it would help keep the blood out, or something like that. Think it's the first time I hear a dentist say to eat candy. So when I got to work I kept raiding the secretary's candy jar, told her my dentist told me to do it. Got a funny look.

 

[nickbits]

I have all mine.

 

[Zivic]

I have all of mine... and every time I get a new dentist/hygienist they comment about them. I was actually at the dentist yesterday. the hygienist commented on them and I told the here that I was going to join the Venice Beach freak show as the only person that still has their wisdom teeth

 

[edro]

Had all 4 cut out. Was put completely to sleep.
Woke up, took the pain meds everyday on time and I never felt any pain at all.

My roommate in college had all 4 cut out under local anesthetic only, so he was awake the whole time. He said it was horrible. The doctor was forcefully crunching on his jaw for hours.

 

[SlickSnake]

I'm 23 and my dentist recommends pulling out all 4 of my impacted wisdom teeth.

I've been reading out it and it makes me nervous of possible complications during and after the surgery such as nerve damage. Plus, it doesn't help that on the front page of Yahoo, there's news of a guy who died under anesthesia during a wisdom teeth extraction surgery.

If you got yours removed, how old were you? What kind of sedation did you take?

The guy who recently died was an accident, the doctor or nurse dropped some gauze down his throat and he started coughing and choked to death on it, since he was under anesthesia at the time.

I had all 4 of mine removed at 15 and they were larger than average, and the doctor let me keep them all. Too bad I can't use them as replacements at some point.

 

[PingSpike]

I have two on the top, they're impacted and I guess I have to be put under if they want to take them out. Honestly, I'm kind of afraid of being put under. And they don't seem to bother me so I'm not sure if I'm going to bother doing it. The idea of eating liquid food for awhile and potentially having a temporary hole to my sinus cavity did not sweeten the offer either.

 

[AznAnarchy99]

I made a post on here about my wisdom teeth a while back. Here are my tips:

1. Get a good doctor and dont cheap out too much. It will save you pain/time/hassle. I googled, yelped, everything I could with my doctor. He was awesome and kept contacting me after to see how I was doing.
2. Dont bother getting put to sleep. I did mine with just local and didnt feel a damn thing. The numbing took about 10 minutes, the removal took about 5. It ached a bit afterwards but that was going to happen either way. Only took vicodin for a day.
3. Only do it if you have to.

Before actually doing it, I was scared as fuck and wanted to be put asleep etc etc. Ended up only doing local since putting asleep cost an extra $400. After doing it all, I realized I was scared for nothing.

 

[Apathetic]

Yes, I had all four removed at one session. It kind of sucked, but the surgeon told me the thing I need to ask myself is how many times do you want to go through the surgery (I had the option of having two removed at a time or all four at once).

Dave

 

[AznAnarchy99]

I have two on the top, they're impacted and I guess I have to be put under if they want to take them out. Honestly, I'm kind of afraid of being put under. And they don't seem to bother me so I'm not sure if I'm going to bother doing it. The idea of eating liquid food for awhile and potentially having a temporary hole to my sinus cavity did not sweeten the offer either.

Only had to drink smoothies and eat yogurt for a day. Ate chips and salsa the next day although chewing with my front teeth.

 

[Anubis]

i had mine taken out when i was 18
2 partially impacted 2 totally

took them out because i did not have room for them in my mouth. which is generally the reason people have them removed