Running wisdom tooth extraction thread.

[novelist_wannabe]

OK, so maybe it won't be running ... I won't be posting from the chair (brimming with fail, I am). But I'm having a wisdom tooth out this morning, and I thought it might be fun ... or therapeutic ... or something ... to have people share their dental experiences.

So, after a coupla decades of neglect, my top left wisdom tooth is being let go. Downsized. Assigned to an outplacement project. Being in my early 40s, I'm wondering how this is going to go. They're using local anasthetic and I was not told to have a designated driver. No, Steve Martin is not my dentist. Don't recall any flora in the house of pain, either ...

I'll check back in after I get home, assuming I'm coherent ...

Any wisdom tooth stories out there?

 

[JR]

Just think of Dustin Hoffman in "Marathon Man" and you'll be fine.

 

[Chef]

Have fun.

 

[novelist_wannabe]

I was talking to a bud this morning and he asked if there was going to be a string and a door involved. I told him they were bringing in engineers from Otis ...

 

[Chef]

A true story;

Father-in-law

Very sore tooth

30-pack of Old Mil, and half a fifth of Jack.

The tooth is no longer sore......granted, it's no longer in his ****ing head, either.

 

[StormSurge]

Good luck. I am certainly not envious of you this morning.

I had all four done this past November. I'm 34 & should've had them ripped out a long time ago, but I'm a wuss.

I won't bore everyone with details. I'll just say it wasn't pretty. I've had four knee surgeries of varying degrees & I'll take one of those any day over what I went through in November.

 

[Oggiedoggie]

A true story;

Father-in-law

Very sore tooth

30-pack of Old Mil, and half a fifth of Jack.

The tooth is no longer sore......granted, it's no longer in his ****ing head, either.

Wait.

Father-IN-LAW?

I thought that maybe it was a genetic thing.

 

[BigSleeper]

I had one wisdom tooth pulled in my life. Hearing all the horror stories, I prepared mentally for the worse. The dentist prescribed me some vicodan (the only prescription I've had in the past 12 years) and yanked the tooth. The next day? Nothing. No pain, not even numbness. Bottle of pills sat in my medicine cabinet for five years untouched before I threw it out.

 

[Ace]

novel,

You should at least go with the option of not driving home. I've had all four out -- two at a time -- and just had local anesthetic.

They assume everyone wants gas, though, and will give it to you by rote if you don't watch it. I had to tell them no gas three times each visit.

It really wasn't bad. Even when the doc had to break one tooth in half to get it out after grunting and straining both times.

I also don't like the pain pills took one afterward. Took it easy for a day. Might bleed some that day.

Worst thing is that hole in your mouth feels weird for a while.

 

[Pencil Dick]

Had all four removed at the same time when I was 17 on a Wednesday morning. Was able to play limited minutes in a high school basketball game two nights later, despite cheeks full of cotton.

For me it was an easy procedure. But I've heard many horror stories about extraction since, especially when the patient is older.

 

[Flying Headbutt]

Had all four done at once back in high school. For the next two days it was milkshake time!

 

[OnTheRiver]

Had all four removed my senior year in high school. They hooked up an IV line, told me to count backward from 100, and I was out cold by 97.

Next thing I knew -- it seemed like only a few seconds had passed -- I woke up, got an escort to the bathroom for some personal drain time, and then headed home for some jello and milkshakes.

Make sure you get one of the little plastic syringes to clean the area so you don't get a dry socket. Buddy got one once. Worst ****in' pain he says he's ever felt.

 

[Chef]

A true story;

Father-in-law

Very sore tooth

30-pack of Old Mil, and half a fifth of Jack.

The tooth is no longer sore......granted, it's no longer in his ****ing head, either.

Wait.

Father-IN-LAW?

I thought that maybe it was a genetic thing.

Not quite.

 

[gretchd]

Had mine out in high school. All four.

Went out for pizza that night. No big thing.

 

[novelist_wannabe]

WARNING -- gory details included

You cannot make this **** up. Yes, I'm back already.

So i get in there, and I'm not within 25 years of any other patient there. Apparently it was senior citizens day or something. Not that that's a big deal, but some of them had to have another person bring them in because they were unable to drive. Again, no big deal, except that one of those was next to me, and this person's designated driver was some kind of mechanic/technician. I know this, because right after I got my xylocaine shots (the one in the roof of my mouth hurt like very bad words) I hear the drill the other dentist was using. Then, "Is that an electric drill or pneumatic?" The dentist says, "uh, pneumatic, I think." Yeah, confidence inspiring. "You know, I had a battery-powered jigsaw once that worked really good." The conversation was interrupted by my own dentist, who checked to see if my gums were numb yet. That done, I hear from the next chair, "I've had a lot of luck with pneumatic jackhammers." More drilling, then my dentist came back to loot my jaw.

As for the extraction, I was shocked at how fast it went. I wanted to pay beforehand because honestly I didn't think I'd feel like it afterward. The hygienist explained that they didn't know how much it would cost until they did it. If it was a "simple extraction" (someone is going to have to clarify that concept for me) it would be one price, and if it was a "surgical extraction" it would be another, higher prices. This would come into play if the root broke or something. So I'm in the chair, numbed up, and the dentist keeps saying, "lotta pressure here." And I hear this pop that I was sure was my tooth breaking in half. Then they put gauze in and he says all done. Whole thing took like 90 seconds. He said the popping I heard was bone fragments from my jaw. He showed me the tooth, and sure enough, there were some small pieces o bone on the side of the root. I asked if I could keep the tooth and he got this weird look on his face. "I guess, if you want. It's just biomedical waste." You know, it may be biomedical waste, but it's MY biomedical waste, dammit!

Wrote me a prescription for motrin and one for demorol, gauze in so I look like I'm chewing tobacco. Think I'll take a nap.

 

[Armchair_QB]

Had mine done back in high school and was higher than a kite for most of the rest of that day. I remember waking up at one point during the extraction and thinking it felt like the dentist had both hands in my mouth.

 

[Chi City 81]

I had two out when I was 21, both were impacted. The dentist had to open my mouth so wide, it looked like I got punched in the mouth for about a week afterward. Heavy bruising.

But that's nothing compared to the one I had removed two summers ago. The novocaine, all three shots, didn't ... ummm ... work. I felt the nerve being ripped out of my head. Worst pain I've ever had in my life :-\

 

[TwoGloves]

Had one taken out when I was in my early 30s. It had broken through the skin and food had gotten under the gum and infected it. So when they gave me the shot to numb my mouth, it didn't work. I got about six shots before they finally kicked. Dentist told me he had fixed a broken jaw with less shots the night before. He told me he could probably cut me head off at that point and I wouldn't feel it. Then, he couldn't get the damn thing out so he gave me gas and had to break it with a drill. Nobody believed me until one of the dental assistants who knew my sister confirmed it. It was almost funny ... until a couple hours later. Then the pain hit. Took one percodan per hour for FOUR hours before the finally eased. Stayed at my mom's house that day and she pulled the curtains because the light felt like a needle poking me directly in the eye. When I finally woke up a couple hours after the percodan knocked me out she made me scrambled eggs. Best freaking meal I ever had. Went through the percodan in about three or four days and when I asked the dentist for more, he gave me Tylenol 3s. Didn't work. I saw him at the hockey game I was covering later that week, he sees how swollen I was still was and went out to the car to get some vicodan. Of course, one of the players thought it would be funny to playfully slap me on the cheek. I was not amused.

 

[Elliotte Friedman]

I refused to let them do it. They are still in my mouth. No pain, so no worries.

 

[Batman]

Had all four done in January (I'm 31). Only took like 30 minutes, which seemed amazing to me. That must be like the dentist equivalent of a NASCAR pit crew. On the way home, usually a 20-minute drive, I closed my eyes and the next time I opened them we were halfway. It felt like 30 seconds. Spent most of the first day in bed, took the painkillers they prescribed (something called Combunox -- the leftovers made great sleep aids) and ate soup and pudding.

Got the surgery done on a Friday, and the worst part came the next Wednesday. I had tried eating solid food, and apparently some crumbs got up inside the gums where the wisdom teeth used to be. No dry socket, thank god, but some minor irritation that made it almost impossible to even open my mouth. I went back to the dentist, got one of those syringe things, squirted in some mouthwash and water and was fine the next day. By that Friday it felt like I had never even had the surgery.
Novelist, if you get one of those syringes USE IT! That thing is a lifesaver.