I have to extract 4 impacted molars this morning - wish me (&the pt) luck

Its a blood and guts morning for me.

I had 2 rotten teeth pulled last year. I asked the oral surgeon if he would give me an anesthetic. He gave me an iv and shot it up with valium. When he did I asked him - Did you give me any ? He said yes. I said I don't feel fucked up at all, but when I tried to get up out of the chair I almost fell down. I WAS wasted.

Its pretty much the same thing as sniffing glue.

IV valium and local anethesia are the standard procedure.

Four impacted teeth at once is a challenge to both patient and DDS.

last year.

I had four impacted wisdom teeth and two molars that were rotted beyond saving.

They had me on the IV drip and local.

Unfortunately I woke up in the middle of procedure.

While my jaw was in the process of being sawed open.

I felt *everything*. All I could do was look at the nurse and give her the look of absoulte pain. I could tell she understood because she dived for the control on the drip and hit the switch...

I was back out before I knew it...

you would tell this story to someone about to have the same work? YOU'RE A SADIST ! :7

perform this surgery so they know to keep that sweet sweet painkiller flowing!

Something similar happened to me. I always keep that horror in the back of my mind, as a reminder that I'm a better practitioner than that.

Back when I had it done they used no anesthesia, and I had to walk in the snow, 10 miles, uphill, both ways, AND I LOVED IT!

extracted with only a local and nitrous. worked for me...

Please,

Have fun Doc. I miss my ENT days, and no open dry sockets allowed.

DDQM

They did mine with pentothal (sp.?), and it went great. The hydrocodone afterwards was VERY welcome, I add.

Good luck to you both, Doc! :)

Yep, a few Vicodin does help, but I move patients over to 800mg Ibuprofen as fast as possible. Gas and hydrocodones are toxic and should be administered with this concern in mind, especially after a surgery.

Well.. I just heard the doorbell.. its time to dive in.

Thanks.

But I'll admit it, I needed the hydrocodone the 1st 2 days. :)

Good luck.

"Little Shop of Horrors", are you like the Steve Martin character?

Or are you like his character in "Novacaine"?

nt

no way you can use those to remove molars,those are for the removal of upper(max)bicuspids.

The pic was a fast find on google, just to convey the horror. LOL


It was a blood and guts 2 hours. I had to hemisection all four and "withdraw" the segments, along with a little bone trimming, to get them out.

It went as well as could be expected.

I'll call the patient's home later tonight.

Two of my wisdom teeth were so far in they had to be taken out in pieces. The gas and the drip might have stopped the pain, but nothing could block out the CRUNCH sensation when they started breaking my teeth. Nobody had warned me that might happen, and the shock almost brought me out of my happy little drug high.

use the right tools:

I don't THINK they used valium, but I believe the alveoli were open at the top already, requiring minimal sawing; the teeth were sectioned and removed, and it was so well-done I did't need painkillers afterwards. But I was wheelechaired out as the anesthetic (needed a "booster" @ 30 min.) was still wearing off (I was babbling about balloons and a black box while coming out...), and spent the rest of the day trying to keep the scab in place over the sockets; the bone grew back perfectly according to the basic plan for that area before the teeth emerged (teeth are separate in most all fashions from the bone around them--en't evolution grand?!).

Gotta have a little pity on the doc too. The job ain't pretty.

Minimal swelling so far.

Tomorrow will tell how bad the bruising will be.

I really hate doing four impacted molars at once. Too much blood to make it fun. ;-)

teeth.
My youngest daughter just started at LSU's Dentistry school in July and she loves it. They finished Gross Anatomy several weeks ago (sorry about the proud parent plug, can't help myself).

LSU's school of dentistry is one of the very best in the world! Congrats to your daughter.

I am also a certified dental technician, just one specialty away from getting my Master Dental Tech certification, if I ever get time. I do much of my own laboratory prosthetic fabrication, which is a real rarity.

Its a challenging field. New amazing products and techniques coming out all the time. But it is a wonderful chance to positively change people's lives - on many levels. It has changed mine. I try to make sure that I give as much as I have been given working in this wonderful profession. I currently teach at Miami's Robert Morgan school, and have done charity and exchange dentistry ed in the Latin Americas & the Caribbean, including Cuba, among other things.

Its been a long strange trip.

I'm feeling for you Mika.

At least you won't have that concentration camp dentist I had, he's retired. (jokeing, but the guy was not, shall we say, gentle or subtle)