Wisdom tooth extraction experience?

Yes, it’s possible.

I had heard all the horror stories, but mine turned out not to be that big a deal.

Yes. You’ll feel like crap for at least 24 hours afterwards, then semi-crappy for the next few days.

My best friend from Las Vegas came to visit me in IL when I had mine removed. She traveled 2,000 miles to dance with my local friends at an underage club while I suffered in pain on the couch. good times

You’ll be okay. I promise.

I have anxiety in general and I’m so nervous about it that I’m afraid I might have a panic attack unless I’m put to sleep. :-/

I’d hold your hand if I could. Just tell the oral surgeon about your concerns and they will do everything they can to help you. It’s scary, but please know you aren’t alone.

< is a dentist. You should be put to sleep for this. I’m glad to see that you’re going to an oral surgeon. Please note, the anaesthesia used in this type of surgery is not full general anaesthesia. It’s different than what you would have for say, a liver operation. You are breathing on your own. It’s a simple iv medication. Good luck to you.

@jonsblond Thank you for the support from afar. I’ve been through so much crap the last few years, anything like this seems horrible to me.

@trailsillustrated Thank you for letting me know about the IV. Does it just make you loopy, or do you actually fall asleep?

You wake up, pretty comfortable, with no memory whatsoever of the surgery. You are placed in a post-op area for several hours for observation. After that, you are sent home with instructions, opioid painkillers, cotton gauze, and an rx for antibiotics. The next day or two you will eat a soft diet. After that, you will feel fine.

I got all four of mine out at the same time. Needle in the arm, asleep in ten seconds, woke up at home on my sisters couch. I didn’t feel or remember anything. Medicate as quickly as possible.

Overall it wasn’t a big deal. Just follow the directions with your pain pills. Don’t take them when you need them, take them before you need them as long as that is in accordance with the directions.

I’m a huge coward and hate the dentist and I survived. The worst part was actually not being able to smoke for a week.

I had my wisdom teeth removed one side at a time. It was actually quite relaxing. I remember them telling me “Count back from 100.” and I said: “Wow. Just like in the movies.” and I was out.
My headaches were finally gone. It was wonderful

I had two removed on two different occasions about 20 years ago. This was before everyone went to surgeons and had painkillers for days. I went to my regular dentist, had regular novacaine, took only aspirin in the following day or two. Quick, relatively painless. I remember after one of them, I went out that night.

My boys both had all 4 removed at once. The older was really loopy when he came out. Each took percocet for quite a few days after and ate soft foods – I made a lot of chocolate pudding. It was uncomfortable for them but not awful.

I would not worry at all about a panic attack as the stuff they give you will not only relax you completely you will also be in a semi catatonic state. After the shot they gave made I felt so good I told the surgeon to go ahead and take out all my teeth! lol I was high as a kite.

@Cruiser Yeah, my son was too when I picked him up.

@DrasticDreamer Seriously, it is so relaxing…..

100, 99, 98…
... and when I woke up, my underwear was on my head, I had a drawing of Pinocchio’s face on my groin, and a vague recollection of someone saying: “Lie to me. Lie to me.”
I hate it when that happens.
:-)

@DrasticDreamer My college roommate had it done and I didn’t even know it till he mentioned it a few days later. I came back from a class and he was studying with a group of our friends that night. I didn’t think anything of it.

I had all four taken out at once. I was given a drug that I was awake-ish during some shots to numb me (I don’t remember it, they gave me forget drugs) and then I’m not even sure during the procedure what happened and exactly how out I was. I woke up not in terrible pain, andnI still was druggy. The pain got worse over a short amount of time that first day as the drugs wore off. The first 24 hours suck, but not outrageous. I was swollen and uncomfortable for about 4 days. I never took any of the prescrption pain killers, ibuprofen helped a lot and it was all tolerable.

My niece just had all four done by her dentist and he screwed it up. Thank goodness you are going to an oral surgeon. When you hear bad stories ask if a dentist did the surgery. If a dentist did it then ignore that bad story altogether in my opinion.

I think I was 14 or 15 when I had it done.

@jca Yours were below the gum line? Or, the teeth were out already and you had them taken out?

I had all of mine removed at once, using local anaesthetic. They were all impacted, but it was not a big deal at all. I brought my own music to listen to, and just closed my eyes and let the oral surgeon work. It took a while, it was noisy, and there was pressure on my jaws, but then it was done.

But I would not have opted for local if I was at risk for anxiety attacks. I think you’re better off planning to be put under, so that you don’t have to worry about it.

Yeah, they put me to sleep for it.

I had my wisdom teeth removed at the University Dental School while I was a student. It didn’t cost anything and as I recall not painful. I went to class afterward. I had a tie pin made from one and an earring made from the other. I chickened out on getting my ear pierced, and I gave the tie pin to a dentist friend at Church. He wore it proudly for years. (like human ivory)

40 years ago I had all four removed, two different visits. First two they used IV, second time no IV. I thought the Dr’s assistant was going to lose it. The Dr just used novocaine. I used self hypnosis.
Start your pain meds before it starts to hurt.

@Tropical_Willie Why would the assistant lose it?

She had never seen a extraction done with only Novocaine, she turned grayish and held her breath. I remember the sound still but little pain, I had taken an Advil before I went to office, they were not impacted.

Taking a tooth out when not impacted is a whole different story. I went with my husband to the dentist when he had a wisdom tooth pulled that was already up above the gum line. My husband didn’t even know the dentist was done, it took no time and was like a nothing.

If they are under the gum you have to cut the bone (or, at least that is true with some extractions, I don’t know about all) it’s surgery.

@Tropical_Willie Weird! Mine were all impacted, and I had local. It probably took a bit longer, and he had to work to get them out, but the freezing was certainly sufficient.

My experience was $500 a tooth for extraction… cost my dad $2000. I was knocked out and didn’t feel anything until I accidentally ate a taco. I was bleeding and drooling for 3 days.

(How does one “accidentally” eat a taco? LOL!)

@Dutchess_III I wasn’t being mindful and ordered taco’s from a restaurant thinking that they were soft tacos. I thought I could handle it. they turned out to be hard taco’s and I split my stitches
: ) ::) <——spider smile
Now I throw out food that I don’t like.

My experience with my impacted wisdom teeth: I was 19 and all I really remember was them giving me a shot and telling me to count backwards from 100. I was like, “100, 99, 98, 97…oh WOW man!” I heard someone chuckle and that’s all she wrote.
If that didn’t peg me as a pot smoker I don’t know what would!

They had me count down 10, 9, ... , 1 – then suddenly it was time to go home. 4 wisdom teeth pulled while I was out. As @jonsblond said, 24 hours feeling crappy, more days semi-crappy, used tea bags for cheap gauze. Tea helps stop bleeding too.

Similar to @talljasperman – I had salad with croutons. A crouton fell into the hole, and I bit down. Pain and blood! => lesson: eat no crunchy stuff until several weeks after the operation!

I was put out. I don’t remember a thing from it. I had pain in my jaw for a day or so and went back. The doc pulled a 1.5” green bean out of the socket. I was drinking soup without chewing and it got stuck. Be sure you keep the empty sockets clean.

@JLeslie: Mine were out. One was impacted and the gum was swollen over it. Dentist (regular dentist, mind you) did “snip” and it was over quick as a wink.

@jca The OP they sound still semi impacted.

Thanks for all of your stories, everyone. I want to be fully asleep, because I’ve seen and heard of people doing way too many weird/embarrassing things when they’re awake and getting them removed. It shouldn’t be this big of a deal to me, but… anxiety. sigh

Here’s why you should be put to sleep and why general dentists shouldn’t be extracting impacted, or fully developed wisdom teeth. To get the level of numbness and to control bleeding, (so you can see what the hell you’re doing), you have to use anaesthetic with epinephrine (adrenaline) in it. It would be more epi than a person should have and oral surgeons have crashcarts and all their staff are highly trained for an emergency. Some people have little, cone shaped wisdom teeth that anyone can flick out. I’ve done these myself, but the other kind need a specialist.

@trailsillustrated Yeah, my regular dentist said they won’t even touch mine. They were referred to as being “very, very bony”. I don’t even know, exactly, what the person meant by it, but I really didn’t like the sound of it. I still haven’t heard from my insurance about a referral, so I’m not sure exactly when I’ll be getting them out yet, but I’m scared. Sigh.

@DrasticDreamer he meant that they are rotated ( on their sides) or deeply impacted into the bone. An expert knows just how to get them out without removing too much bone, which is what people do when they don’t know how to get the tooth out properly. You’ll be just fine. Keep nagging the insurance company. Make sure you note that you have anxiety on the medical history. You’ll be just fine. Let us know how it went. Your dentist should be the one doing the referral.

All four of mine were fully out when I had them removed. They were simply pointed inward toward my tongue. While I got stitches, it was all done under local. He just grabbed my head and popped them out. I was surprised how small the top ones were.