about 35 hours...

I get my wisdom teeth out. My oral surgeon tells me theresa 1% chance I won't wake up from the anesthesia, a 10% chance I will loose all movement of my mouth and a 10% chance my lower face will be numb for life...

My co-worker who got hers out on the 1st tells me that b/c her teeth were so impacted, her surgeon had to cut through her jawbone a bit... THAT WOULD PISS ME THE HELL OFF!!!!!!!!!!!!! And mine are real impacted, part of my gum is just hanging there b/c the lower-left tooth super-erupted!

Can any of you pick me up with bright, nothing-goes-wrong stories????? I am extremely anxious!

26 because I was afraid. I found an oral surgeon who only charged me $350.00 to pull all four as long as I payed cash and did it over the holidays (even then it was 800- to 1000 usual price) The surgeon was recommended by friends who had good results with him.

Anyway, I got all four pulled on Dec. 30. The only thing I remember are ducks (there was a duck pond outside the office window) It seemed like I was out for only a minute. They gave me a few days doses of percodan and sent me on my way. The drugs came in handy on New Year's eve ( I was NOT the driver)even though everyone else was drinking champagne while I was sneaking off into the bathroom to spit blood into the sink. Had the dressngs changed a few times over the next week and that was it.

Anyway, I had no ill effects, or dry pockets or any of the other horror stories that people sometimes tell. I was fine.

The end.

My dentist thought I was all fine and all, now I have crooked front teeth because the wisdoms pushed them all toghther by the time they became impacted and HAD to be removed.

I removed mine all at once in my later teens and had a couple bad days - till they stopped hurting (went to work the same afternoon, too) - took a few months for the "gaps" in my gums to close so ground beef would take up residence there.

My sister prolonged the ordeal for over a month as she got them removed one at a time.

Don't believe the horror stories - every doc is required to recite them, and the chances are that soon this will be a dim mamory that you can regale your comrades with.

It'll hurt like the dickens for awhile while you heal, but the drugs are great. Then it's all done & over.

Ask to keep a tooth - I did - it was a perfect molar (guess boys are into that sort of thing).

What kind of anesthesia is this?

I had all four out courtesy of the butchers commonly known as the United States Navy. There was bone cutting, drilling, smoke, blood, the works, but under the usual injection pain killer. My root canal was worse.

I wouldn't worry about it too much.

I hate IV's! I would much prefer 5 hydrocodones and some nitrous :(

It knocks you out..it's great!

Versed is da bomb! You feel great and ten seconds go by and you don't feel anything after that.

Tucker

made it to 93 (counting down from 100) Asked the surgeon if I could have the leftovers when I came to. No way. Grrrr....

They were taken out the day after Thanksgiving. I was eating soup that night, and I returned to work the following Monday. Just make sure you wash you're mouth out with salt water pretty often. It keeps the food from getting stuck in the holes in your gums. Other than some swelling, you shouldn't have too many problems.

Do you need to get your wisdom teeth out?

Are you sure you heard him/her right? A ten percent chance you'll lose all movement of your mouth...what, permanently? Surely s/he meant just for an hour or so.

Ten percent chance of lower face numb for life?

And you want reassurance? Sorry. I've had at least ten teeth removed under general anesthesia in my life, so far, and never had any problems afterwards, but if the chances were one in ten I'd have thought twice about the endeavor.

So, how bad ARE these teeth that you'd risk the 10% chance of permanent numbness in your face?

Make sure you heard him/her right, and if it's really ten percent and you really need to do it, check his/her track record.

bottom 2 are coming into my other teeth at about a 60% angle. top two are completely horizontally impacted! Thats just what the oral surgeon told me... If I knew any better I'd go into practice myself :)

Like my brother, I only had 3 (not sure why). THe only compication was that one was at an angle and caught on the jaw bone. I was knocked out as well (IV) so I remember sitting in the chair, and the next thing I knew I heard a door close and I was home asleep on the couch.

I was fine for the first couple of days, then the bleeding started. Woke up one morning to find my pillow stained....but here's the funny one. THey''' give a list of things to do to sopt the bleeding etc, and one them said "Bite Down on a Tea Bag". I do this, only I didn't wrap it in gauze first. So it breaks and I have blood stained tea leaves stuck all over the inside of my mouth. It was fun ;-)

I'm worried about getting my dreads covered in blood, that would take a while to wash out goddamnit. thanks for some comfort! and Ill avoid the teabags

I was nervous because I had never been put under before. Truth is, there really wasn't much to worry about.

I went for the full anesthetic because the other options were gas or novocaine. I rejected novocaine because I've had 4 ingrown toenail operations with it and it always hurt like a bitch. Gas was also out because one of my friends at the bar told me a horror story about becoming lucid during the surgery, that and they told me that I'd have the operation at the dentists and there could be complication. So I went with the full blown stuff figuring i'd rather be at a hospital if any bad shit goes down.
So I went to the hospital that morning with my mom and got into the gown and waited for the doctor. I'd never had real surgery before (toenails are minor stuff) and I started getting nervous. I kind of felt like fleeing the hospital and taking the bus home. Then my anesthesiologist showed up and gave me a snort of something that really made me lighten up. I was cool again until I went into the prep-room. There were old people ther who looked like they were about to die and people there for much more serious surgeries. But soon they came out and took me to the operating table. Next thing I know they wake me up and tell me to breath deeply. They helped me onto a cart from the table and packed my mouth with gauze. I thanked them and tried to breath, but they kept having to tell me to hustle up on the breathing. They gave me some more gauze and after a couple minutes I was in the recovery room across from some guy who broke his leg. I was a little grouchy because I had a headache and thought "the next week is going to suck". They gave me Vicodin and I was dopey for a few days, but generally everything was cool and in retrospect full anesthetic was the least painful way to go.
Just keep cool and remember that this is something that you have to do. If you let this go, you will face worse consequences eventually. Good luck.

that your hospitals provide dental work? My local hospital flat-out refuses to do ANYTHING related to the mouth unless you're in a car wreck.

We are home to the UPMC medical empire! University of Pittsburgh Medical center is where Salk created the polio vaccine. Currently UPMC is buying every hospital in the area. It is a monopoly, but a brutally efficient and beneficial monopoly.

PS: The doctor who did my surgery is a highly skilled reconstructive dentist. I went to him because he is a friend of my family.

eom

I had it done under general anesthesia at the dentist's office. Woke up from it just fine, was a little sore for about a week. Had full use of my jaw, lower face did *not* go numb, and had Percoset to ease the pain. The dentist did indeed have to cut one of the teeth out; that side was sore for slightly longer.

Ask for a viscous lidocaine mouth-rinse, keep the sockets irrigated, and enjoy the opiates.

Tucker

No anesthesia for me. Just some local injections, I think about 8 but after the first 2 or 3, you can't feel anything in your mouth. Then I got to take a ride on clouds of nitrous. They put the mask on me, and turned it up higher than normal because I couldn't use the anesthesia. In 2 or 3 minutes I was giggling like a girl. In ten minutes, I was the most stoned I have ever been in my life by far! Trust me, I've smoke a few bails in my life, and the nitrous literally disconnected me from the universe. It was a surreal experience. Imagine sitting, completely fried, your mouth feels like its opened about 4 feet wide, you can feel the dentist tugging like crazy, feel the pressure of the scalpel on your gums, and the whole time you don't give a shit. I didn't return to my senses for at least 5 hours. No pain afterwards either.

I'd do it again if I had the chance.

You and I have had the same wisdom tooth extraction experience ProudGerman. And yes, I'd do it again if I had the chance too. Nothing beats that nitrous! Not even a few bails! B-)

Mine were impacted, too.

Yeah, there was some residual pain, and I developed a blood clot (external, in my mouth) from the bleeding and when I sneezed it ruptured and I sprayed blood about three feet out from my mouth.

But, OH...the drugs were MARVELOUS. I don't know what they had me on when I was in the chair, but I was sailing and had Pink Floyd's "The Wall" on my Walkman. They could have chopped my arm off and I would have let them.

For home, I was given a prescrip for Percodan for the pain. I was in a happy, happy cloud for a week.

Good luck!

I hope everything is OK.

But none of them were unbearably painful and I was back to abnormal pretty quickly. Breath, focus, and let the tooth fairies do their job. You won't know until it's over whether it was a good one or a horror story that you can use to freak out others (not that you would, of course).

That's quite a large 'tad' you've got there!

I guess so.

Wonders never cease!

Maybe it's just because it's a hanging tad.......

I heard the same kinds of dire warnings and disclaimers that you've been hearing.

Everything turned out fine. I looked like I'd taken a couple of good hits to the face for a few days, and there was some minor nerve damage. If I want to find the permanent dead spot on my lower lip, I have to go looking for it. It's not apparent otherwise.

Looking back on it; yes, there was discomfort. But thanks to the miracle of pharmaceuticals it was shortlived and at some points, near recreational.

Breaking my toe was a much bigger deal. You'll be fine.

They had me on three different painkillers. I never dozed off completely, but I was pretty incoherent. Aside from a couple of quick jolts when the doctor broke two of my teeth (they were wedged in tight and had to be taken out in pieces), I didn't feel a thing. I regained full use of my jaw within a few hours.

Have ice-packs at the ready; you'll be wearing them off and on for at least a day.

Request laughing gas and a strong local. Your chances of complications are way way less if you are awake during the procedure.

My wife had this done and her teeth were so tight from years of being impacted, they had to smash her wisdom teeth into tiny bits and then cut the shards out.

She said it was unpleasant to have peoples arms jammed in her mouth for so long, but there was no real pain or fear of not waking up from the procedure because she was awake the whole time.

The pain came later of course after the locals wore off... tylenol-3 for a week, then mega-doses of aleve. Good luck.

I stayed awake during my two soft tissue and two hard tissue impactments. I was even going to go without gas, but I had my first panic attack five days earlier and I was starting to get really nervous before they started. They gave me numbing injections which really hurt and took a long time. If I felt pain, I was suppose to raise my hand. I raised my hand for each of the three after the first ones and they renumbed it. After they were done, I thought that everything would be alright but the pain came about an hour later. My lips and front teeth were numb for six hours or so but the extraction sights were painful. I had a bad headache for a while too. It was both worse and better than I had expected. My dentist didn't say anything about risk, which was probably a good thing.

That will reduce long term effects of the trauma from the surgery and should raise your pain threshhold as well. Make sure it's homeopathic, no herbal. You can uusually get a 30X potency at your local health food store. This is especially indicated if you feel very ill or weak or have neuralgia afterwards.

a relaxant, then an IV anesthetic; recovered quite well (needed an anesthetic booster after 30 min.)
Sockets weren't sore at all for me; an excellent extraction.

I have never met a single person who had long lasting effects from wisdom teeth extraction, and almost EVRYONE I know has had theirs out.. Mine were impacted, and I did get a dry socket with one, but medicine helps, and everything came out just fine..

When people tell you their "horror" stories, just thank them for sharing, and ignore what they told you :)

Six freakin' wisdom teeth! Can you believe that freakshow?!

Don't worry about the procedure; you'll be in and out in no time, and you'll feel miles better. One of my lower WT was crushing the molar beside it, and it was such a relief when it came out.

Make sure you keep them--they're really weird to look at!

Yes, I took a picture of them and put it online...:freak:

http://www.newtonsbaby.com/john/teeth.html

:D