Wisdom Teeth

[Heather]

I had the usual 4 wisdom teeth–wow, I had no idea that there could be more or fewer than that! The top two came in fine. The bottom two were impacted and starting to shove all of my lower teeth forward: I still make a funny pattern when I bite into an apple. 😛 When I was 18, my dentist persuaded me to have all 4 removed: he said that if he pulled the bottom two and left the top two, they’d drop down because there was nothing for them to strike against. (Okay . . .) I have a serious case of the screamin’ squeamies when it comes to needles, but after listening to my mom’s wisdom teeth extraction story (general anesthesia) and then my dad’s (“I had a local, and it was just fine!”) I decided it was going to be general anesthesia for me, sorry Dad.
I had a moderate attack of the creepies when the assistant went fishing for a vein, but once they got the drip hooked up, I was out like a light. I woke up lying on a couch in a room I’d never seen before (that was weird) with Mom standing nearby looking green. My mouth was crammed full of cotton, which I promptly spat all over the nice clean floor. Mom lugged me out to the car. I felt absolutely no pain, and it was a darned good thing I wasn’t driving. 😆
Well, my face swelled and bruised like crazy. I looked like a chipmunk that had been in a bicycle accident. For some reason, though, it didn’t particularly hurt: ached some, but not bad at all. I took painkiller the first day and never again; kept telling myself that if it started to hurt in earnest, I’d take the Vicodin, but it didn’t. I did, however, lie around wearing the stupidest ice pack arrangement on the planet: two jumbo maxipads that had been soaked in water and put in the freezer, tied up in a tea towel around my jaw. Dad, the eternal prude, couldn’t even look at me in that getup without getting embarrassed. My sisters thought it all howlingly funny. All I cared was it reduced the swelling, and it didn’t hurt, and anything that took the lovely purple and crimson away faster was fine by me. 😛 So I can recommend One More Use for Maxipads. 😉
I never developed a dry socket, and when the dentist pulled those silly tickling sutures he said it all looked great, considering that one of the impacted teeth had hung onto my jaw like grim death and finally taken a piece of bone with it! I’ve got the set somewhere, and he’s right.
My sister had her wisdom teeth out two years later. For her, the problem wasn’t so much the surgery as the discovery that she’s quite allergic to erythromycin! So I hope they use an antibiotic that you already know you’ll be OK with. Wishing you the best of luck!

[Patricia]

My only horror story with my wisdom teeth is that mine were pulled at the same time as my brother’s back in high school. Same day and time. They put me to sleep and the next thing I knew I was waking up. I didn’t have any complications from it but my brother did end up getting an infection when food got under the stitches. The real horror part of the story was my poor mother. Having to put up with both of us at the time. I think it was one summer back when we were in high school.

While hiding somewhere in my head I'm on the lookout for white oriental dragons! Please let me know if you know of any available. Thank you!

[Bob]

sounds like when my sister and I both got tonsilitus at the same time and we where in beds in the same hosital room. We could not talk for about a week I think. It was 35 years ago

[Rose]

Lets see, all four of my wisdom teeth were impacted. I waited so long to get them pulled that if I had waited just a few more weeks I would have ended up with a root canal. I was given a choice I could get it done at the hosptital and pay an anethesiologist or get it done at the dental surgins office. I didn’t think I could afford the anethesiologist so I took the office.

So I had the IV drip. They really didn’t wait long enough to start and I could feel the first slice. Yep, that was fun, through the gum and into the cheek. Luckilly not through the cheek. All of my wisdom teeth had to be drilled out. I ended up with my cheek stitched to my gum, my lip was split in three places. And the painkiller didn’t work. When the anethetic wore off I was in agony. After getting another prescription for toridol everything went fine. I got them out on a Friday and was back to work on a checkout by Monday. (I really should have called in sick but, having no insurance and only making $7.10 an hour…. you get the idea.) Luckally my Mom forced my dad to put in a claim for it through his insurance and they paid for a little more than half of it.

I didn’t end up with any infection, the brusing wasn’t too bad. I did end up looking like a chipmunk for awhile. I’m really surprised none of the customers said anything. But, then the side where they cut into the cheek was much more bruised and the checkout faced the other way so most of the time they only saw the right side instead of the left side. It was really nice to finally get all the stitches out.

[Chessapeaka]

Hrr…

These are so much fun to read, guys. Thanks for giving me your stories… I think I will definitely go for being knocked completely out while they do the surgery. If they give me a choice, that is. What I’m looking forward to is being unconscious. Even though I’m told you don’t remember any of it.

[Anonymous]

If you can afford it, or insurance covers it, and you aren’t allergic or will suffer any major side effects, OUT is the way to go.

[DantheDragon]

Chessapeaka wrote:

Hrr…

These are so much fun to read, guys. Thanks for giving me your stories… I think I will definitely go for being knocked completely out while they do the surgery. If they give me a choice, that is. What I’m looking forward to is being unconscious. Even though I’m told you don’t remember any of it.

Haha, it is rather cool. Amazing how our bodies work. Even if it’s just a gap in your memory, it’s an interesting experience. I remember after a bad bike accident my body went into shock. My bike slipped on some sand on the pavement, and bam… next thing I knew I was in the dirt off to the side of the paved trail with my bike on top of me. Then my big brother whom I had been riding with came running over to me and was really freaking out after he pulled the bike off me and saw me bleeding all over the place. I was totally calm though; almost detached. Kinda like just watching everything happen. I was in no pain at all, and was actually more concerned about my brother XD

[mikki]

Had all but one of my wisdom teeth out long ago, IIRC got shot with Novocaine, heard a little crunching and felt some pressure, and they were gone. I didn’t have much pain at all, I think managed just fine on regular Tylenol. Last one is impacted, but my current dentist is ok with leaving it alone for a while yet…

Jump forward to right now… I just had a tooth extracted on Wed night – it had broken down to the bone so they couldn’t ‘restore’ it. Two or three shots of Lidocaine, a lot of crunching, lots of pressure and pain even with all the shots, and finally it was out. I got a prescription for Vicodin, which didn’t seem to make much difference as it didn’t even get rid of my headache on Friday. My jaw and gums were more sore today than Thursday, so I stopped back by the dentist after work. She pulled out the temp, and said it looked like it might be starting to get infected. So, without benefit of any anesthetic, she cleaned out the socket – imagine the sharp little pointy tools jabbing into an open wound, then spraying it with cold water to rinse –aiiiiieee. I’m now on antibiotics and … going on vacation to Vegas in three days. At least the pharmacist said I could still drink alcohol with the Amoxicilin – “go ahead and have fun :)”

my jaw is throbbing right now

[mikki]

DantheDragon wrote:

Haha, it is rather cool. Amazing how our bodies work. Even if it’s just a gap in your memory, it’s an interesting experience. I remember after a bad bike accident my body went into shock. … I was totally calm though; almost detached. Kinda like just watching everything happen. I was in no pain at all, and was actually more concerned about my brother XD

I had a similar experience – was riding my bicycle on the way to school, started to cross a road, heard a screech… next thing I know I’m laying on the road, there’s a crowd of people standing around, the paramedics are checking me out ( so you know I was ‘out’ for a while ) and I saw my brother among the crowd. I was more worried about him and what my mom was going to say…

[WindstoneCollector]

Mine were seriously impacted and not in good shape. I was given some sort of anesthetic that made me have what they call “twilight sleep”. I think the worst part about that, was they miss judged my weight or something and I heard everything they said and did the entire time(i.e. the actual sawing, the dentist saying “got one” as he pulled the first one, and “2” and so on, and the nasty snapping noise when he pulled them all out), while I felt nothing…It wasn’t bad, just creepy. And I only took 2 of the 8 pain pills they gave me…So, I’d say it wasn’t too bad. 😀
I ate solid food the next day, but don’t chew it to the rear, try to keep it up front…Oh, and don’t drink through straws alot, you can give yourself “dry socket”. 😛

[rockerbot]

I really would suggest that if you can find a place that does IV Sedation in your area, GO FOR IT. Seriously, it like *blink* We’re done! You don’t even realize you’ve gone unconscious with that stuff.

I even wasn’t too sleepy when I got home. Although when I was still at the office I was dozing off and the doctor was like “stay awake!” I have no idea why I needed to stay awake, and why he expected me to after a procedure like that, but there ya go. But yeah, I was wide awake enough the afternoon after to drink a McDonald’s shake. That was good, but after that, yogurt, Jell-O and soup was what I was eating. 😐

My stomach problems later on probably was just a case of my stomach being sensitive.

Oh, I forgot about the rising your mouth with salt water deal. YUM. Lovely tasting stuff, salt water is. </3 (Yes, I typed it that way on purpose.)

[Anonymous]

Oooh bike injury discussion..

Here’s what I did a year ago, the one day I decided to take a break and actually go ride the bike. Needless to say it’s been in storage since.

The pictures are after I went to the hospital and had it cleaned. They opted not to stitch it because I had done such a swift job of crawling back to my bike and practicing first aid on myself.

Don’t ask me what the heck made me attach my kit to the back of the bike seat, I just did. Glad I did, because no one stopped to help, and I was very seriously bleeding. I contemplated calling an ambulance, then I blacked out momentarily, and then snapped into a clear state when my GF began freaking out. I seem to get a clear head when people around me lose it.

Only downside is because I had it under control, I ended up of course waiting in queue at the hospital instead of being sent right in.

[Starbreeze]

If this is what you do when you take breaks, we really do need to keep you busy with the servers and the cafe. 😕

[Maria]

I never go to doctors, so I have no idea about impacted or otherwise wisdom teeth. 😀 Needless to say, I haven’t had any teeth pulled, either. My wisdom teeth are just tiny points on my lower gums.

[Alyssa]

I had all 4 removed when I was 21. I wish I would of done it sooner because they made my teeth crooked. The dentist gave me a shot and a syringe. I think I was out of work for 3 days because of pain. The only surgery I was out for is when I had broken my pinkie finger and they had to put 3 pins in it. My friend’s daughter had 5 wisdom teeth pulled.

And that maxi pad story was funny.

[Author]

Posts