Wisdom teeth extraction

[AlmightyALT]

I was 16 and mine hadn't even come in yet, but my mouth is so small that the act of them coming in would have ruined several thousand dollars worth of braces and Mom wouldn't have that. I had them knock me out because if I'm doing nothing stimulating for long periods of time I get really twitchy and antsy.

I remember being woken up and told my parents were there. Then I don't remember anything till we got home and I had to step up into the house from the garage (two inch step but I acted like it was a foot tall ). I was put to bed and didn't move until 4pm when I got up randomly, zombie walked into the living room past Mom and her bridge group, turned on Sailor Moon (on Cartoon Network), turned it off when it was over and zombie walked past Mom and her bridge group again and went back to bed where I didn't get up until the next morning.

My Dad and I are champion sleepers in my family.

We did this on a Thursday as Friday was a school holiday. So I was back to school on Monday and being called 'Chipmunk Cheeks' for the next week or so.....

[Andara Bledin]

Local anesthetics are injected into soft tissues and/or a specific nerve. Novocaine (a variant of lidocaine) is commonly used in dental procedures (the usual nerve involved is the 7th cranial nerve, or Facial nerve).

I used to have this when having dental work. But, aside from the 30-minute limit (after 30 minutes it starts wearing off and no additional shots will keep it from going away), the last work was done on my upper teeth, and the sound of the needle going in freaked me out to the point where there is not a chance in hell anyone is ever getting a needle near my mouth while I'm still conscious.

If the wisdom teeth are impacted (growing in the wrong direction, usually against other teeth or into the jaw) the moderate sedation is often used.

General is rare, for situations such as Seshat described.

I fear that I will have a similar problem to Seshat or RK. At least two of my wisdom teeth came in sideways, and my mouth is severely overcrowded; all four canines are pushed completely outside my normal bite and all four lateral incisors are slightly turned to fit in the space left. >_<

^-.-^

[Blue Ginger]

Thanks for the warning about jelly though. Fortunately we're starting to warm up around here, so I have an excuse for icecream and iceblocks.
As for the Aeroplane Jelly, they have Create-Your-Own Jelly, so you can mix up your favourite drink within. (You can't put pineapple, kiwi or pawpaw in it because it doesn't set) So I might do some Vanilla Coke Jelly

Damn, when did Aeroplane Jelly start doing that? That could be so much fun. I wonder if it would work with midori or malibu or something. Maybe not mixed with the wisdom teeth coming out though.

I think I have been away from Oz for too long.

Hope it all goes well when you have them taken out, no matter which way it is done.

[Imprl59]

I'm a big chicken and get sedated for all my dental work including cleanings. They give you a couple of pills to take before you go in and another one when you get there and you are gone for a few hours. No IV's or machines or anything, you just sleep for a while. You shouldn't be responsible for getting yourself home if they give you anything more than novacaine! Get a friend to go with you to make sure you make it back.

Everyone has covered everything you need to know pretty well. Mine were impacted and I was sore for a few days but all in all it really wasnt a big deal.

[MaggieTheCat]

One more thing I forgot to mention, is that my dentist advised me not to eat or drink anything really hot for a few days after the extractions. Hot foods and especially liquids could "dissolve" or dislodge the blood clot forming over the sockets. Stuff like coffee, tea, broth, etc. are all fine, just make sure they're warm, not hot before you drink them.

[macphile]

*delurks because she loves talking dentistry*

I opted not to get drugged up, not that a regular dentist can give you general, anyway. He gave me local, of course (with numbing gel first) and Valium because he thought it'd make the painkiller last longer. I didn't care for it, as it just made me cold.

The whole thing (4 teeth and a filling) took 3.5 hours, including a bathroom break. He gave me video goggles, but to quote McBain, "The goggles do nothing!" I couldn't hear the movies over the equipment, and they kept knocking them further back on my head. Still, maybe it was better than nothing. Maybe.

I didn't feel any notable pain, that I recall, except when he jabbed my cheek accidentally. There was a whole lot of yanking and vibrating, though, so it still wasn't fun.

They gave me Tylenol with corticosteroids in it and sent me home (bonus of not being drugged, you can go home yourself). I spent the day on the internet and watching reruns of Kids in the Hall. I ate soup. I felt some pain from it once the local wore off, but it was never agonizing. They gave me Vicodin, but I tossed them. The worst of it for me was the constant fear of dry socket. I never thought I swelled up that much, but other people said I was a little swollen after it. Of course, you have to be careful with your food and drink intake and all that jazz for a bit.

(In case you're curious how it works, this is what mine involved: They cut away your gums with a scalpel to get at the tooth properly. There is quite a bit of blood. They drill a hole [probably pretty big] down the center of the tooth and stick what amounts to a screwdriver [but without the screwdriver tip] into the hole. Then they pull. And pull. And yank. And pull. They do everything short of pushing your chest down with their foot or straddling you comically. Despite all the advances in technology and digital x-rays, a lot of dentistry is just brute force and hacking. Honestly, it took ages to get the bottom ones to budge. Then they pack it all up and stitch it, of course.)

[MaggieTheCat]

Macphile, were your teeth crooked/impacted/somehow complicated? When I had mine pulled, there was no cutting or drilling involved. The dentist reached in with some kind of grabbing tool (like a pair of pliers for teeth, I guess), grabbed my tooth, and yanked. It came out. They stuck gauze in my mouth (no stitches) and sent me home. It's interesting to hear all of these extraction stories and how different each one is, depending on the situation and the dentist involved.

[macphile]

I don't think so...they were tilted towards the others a bit, which is why they decided to pull them. They'd come through and all but weren't going to go any further without ripping their neighbors a new one.

Of course, they also had to hack me up to prep a crown recently. I'm just poorly built, maybe.

[fireheart]

Damn, when did Aeroplane Jelly start doing that? That could be so much fun. I wonder if it would work with midori or malibu or something. Maybe not mixed with the wisdom teeth coming out though.

I think I have been away from Oz for too long.

Hope it all goes well when you have them taken out, no matter which way it is done.

A couple of years ago. I joked to a former coworker of mine that he should make jagerbomb jelly (as he'd made Red Bull jelly)

One more thing I forgot to mention, is that my dentist advised me not to eat or drink anything really hot for a few days after the extractions. Hot foods and especially liquids could "dissolve" or dislodge the blood clot forming over the sockets. Stuff like coffee, tea, broth, etc. are all fine, just make sure they're warm, not hot before you drink them.

That shouldn't be a problem as we're warming up down here.

[trailerparkmedic]

Damn, when did Aeroplane Jelly start doing that? That could be so much fun. I wonder if it would work with midori or malibu or something.

Is that like Jello? If so, yes, you can put alcohol in it. Generally I've found the best jello shots to be between 1/3 and half alcohol, depending on the alcohol.

[fireheart]

Is that like Jello? If so, yes, you can put alcohol in it. Generally I've found the best jello shots to be between 1/3 and half alcohol, depending on the alcohol.

Yes it is.

[Seshat]

I fear that I will have a similar problem to Seshat or RK. At least two of my wisdom teeth came in sideways, and my mouth is severely overcrowded; all four canines are pushed completely outside my normal bite and all four lateral incisors are slightly turned to fit in the space left. >_<

Get them done as soon as possible, then.

After they'd seen mine, my parents sent my brother to the dentist to have his teeth X-rayed: he was going to have the same problem as me. So they did his straight away, and he had a much less serious extraction, and a much shorter recovery time.

Basically, if you're going to end up with impaction, get them removed young.


Another option that a friend of mine took: he had his existing (pre-wisdom-teeth) last molars removed to make space for his wisdom teeth. Those molars, in his case, were half practically more filling than tooth. So the wisdom teeth came in and took that space, and thus he had new healthy molars instead.

[Andara Bledin]

Considering I just celebrated my 40th birthday, I don't think I'm early enough.

^-.-^

[suburbandecay]

I had all of my wisdom teeth pulled under local anesthesia. They pulled one side one week, the other side the next. First go round was pretty simple, I think it took longer for the novocaine to take effect than it did for the extraction. Second go round was more interesting. He had a hell of a time getting one of the bottom ones out and broke it at the root. Aside from that, it wasn't too bad. Got a script for hydrocodone (generic vicodin) and he told me to take 600mg ibuprofen on top of it when that wasn't quite cutting it.

[Seshat]

Considering I just celebrated my 40th birthday, I don't think I'm early enough.

^-.-^

Ah ... no, probably not.