My wisdom tooth extraction experience

emzolita

I have been waiting a long time to get my teeth out, ( I have 5 wisdom teeth, 2 bottom ones impacted)
The surgery was Tues, it went well, but the maxilliofacial surgeon had to take a bit of bone as the tooth that was impacted was really stuck into the bone.
It's Friday now, and I still cant open my mouth further than 1cm, and am not eating solids other than mash atm,

Does anyone know when the movement comes back into your mouth and jaw?

hotbabe1992

Oh god just reading all this makes me think of my wisdom extraction experience,it was about 20 mins to get my teeth out,and yes there was pain involved painkillers werent too bad,but i honestly felt like eating them.

It subsided about a week after - my gum was sore swollen and hanging down i couldnt open and close for a while without it hurting really badly.

I had ensure nutritional liquid supplement basically you buy it in a pharmacy and its a meal in liquid form.

I would reccomend ensure to everyone,however do not suck it through a straw for the first few days as the pressure could dislodge the clot and bam dry socket which is supposed to be really bad.

Thats all i could take. Having said all that it wasnt too bad,it took about a week or two to fully recover.

I know a girl i work with who had hers out at 30 shes 32 now and she said that her blood pressure went so low that the docs had to put her on really strong painkillers to bring her out of it,thankfully she got it done in hospital so when they were faced with the emergency they knew what to do and quick.

was.deevey

Does anyone know when the movement comes back into your mouth and jaw?

Took me about a week before I could open my mouth enough to eat anything more than soup (the first stitches dissolved which were holding my cheek to gum as protection) - it was another 2-3 weeks before i could open my mouth enough to chew anything solid like meat though, and that was just one tooth.

Feel really sorry for ya' getting 5 out !

Spagetti, pasta, soups, minced beef and rice is what i lived on, pretty much anything I could down the hatch without chewing - still lost over a stone though.

Rikand

Heading to the dentist tomorrow and going to suggest getting my wisdom teeth out, definitely the bottom right one, lol. Have had them coming in for ages, but that one started to hurt the last 6 months. Been enduring it, but I lost a filling 2 weeks ago, so it's just time to go.

Reading this thread has made me feel a million times better about the whole thing and its definitely going to be a vote for general anesthetic if I can get away with it, lol

willmunny1990

I need to get two wisdom teeth out but was told the wait is around two years on the NHS so I am thinking of going private.

Anybody have a ball park price range for what an impacted wisdom tooth extraction costs these days?

Emmy098

I am 22 now and have had pain with my wisdom teeth since i was about 19. it started off not so bad but since the beginning of this year it had been unbearable so after 4 years i plucked up the courage to go to the dentist! she has known me for years and know how petrified i am of dentists but it needed to come out so she referred me to an oral surgeon so i could have a General Anesthetic. It felt like i was waiting a lifetime for surgery and you have to go to the hospital for a pre consultation beforehand where they will take xrays and examine so you know what to expect. Overall from the day my dentist referred me i was waiting about 6 months, this could have been a lot longer but i got a phone call last Wednesday to say they had had a cancellation and did i want to go in on Friday. So i was really lucky with that - no time to dwell!
I had the surgery last Friday (today is Wednesday) under local anesthetic on the NHS. It was my lower two teeth that needed to be removed and i was petrified having never had GA or even a filling before. The surgery actually went really well and i was awake in little over an hour after being wheeled away. When i woke up my throat and lips were incredibly dry and i felt sore and bruised. I was in recovery for a couple of hours, had to have a wee and then allowed home. I didn't eat anything at all for the first day and just felt really sleepy a lot, to be honest i am still tired all the time now but i think that is due to lack of food which is killing me by the way. My mouth was sore at the edges from the clamp i believe but this goes in a couple of days after using vaseline. I believe my holes are healing well, i had no stitches as both teeth were basically out of the gum and had no bleeding at all after leaving hospital. My face wasn't really swollen that much and the pain is completely bareable with ibruprofen and paracetemol (i'm now on day 5 of recovery and went back to work yesterday). So my experience was pretty good until i got to Sunday. I have developed the most evil painful ulcers around my mouth, tongue, teeth and down my throat. I've read this is quite common if you are prone to them which i am and can be from the breathing tube when you go under. This is honestly probably the worst pain i have ever experienced in my life, it hurts to talk, drink, eat and breathe. I can still only manage soft food because of where they are positioned it just hurts so much. Does anyone have any idea how long they might last and if there is a way i can get rid of them quicker? I have been doing salt water rinses and using Corsodyl.

fryup

i'm having it done tomorrow, not looking forward to it

Micky Dolenz

fryup wrote: »

i'm having it done tomorrow, not looking forward to it

Good luck.

I thought I had moved past the age of worrying about wisdom teeth, but the top two decided to break through a few years ago. One just broke the gum at a funny angle and hasn't grown at all in over a year, just a little jagged tip.

The other is a different story. It has been growing at stages over the last few years. My dentist said if it doesn't cause an issue it would be fine to leave them alone. He did advise me to go get a x-ray at a specialist dental xray place, of course I didn't.

I am going for the xray tomorrow, I can actually feel the tooth growing into my jaw bone, if that makes sense. One side of the tooth is only visible, it's like 75% of it is inside my gums.

How tricky are these to remove?

Oral Surgeon

Upper wisdom teeth are usually handy enough for the right operator. See an oral surgeon and you'll be grand.....

Micky Dolenz wrote: »

Good luck.

I thought I had moved past the age of worrying about wisdom teeth, but the top two decided to break through a few years ago. One just broke the gum at a funny angle and hasn't grown at all in over a year, just a little jagged tip.

The other is a different story. It has been growing at stages over the last few years. My dentist said if it doesn't cause an issue it would be fine to leave them alone. He did advise me to go get a x-ray at a specialist dental xray place, of course I didn't.

I am going for the xray tomorrow, I can actually feel the tooth growing into my jaw bone, if that makes sense. One side of the tooth is only visible, it's like 75% of it is inside my gums.

How tricky are these to remove?

Micky Dolenz

Oral Surgeon wrote: »

Upper wisdom teeth are usually handy enough for the right operator. See an oral surgeon and you'll be grand.....

Thank you for the reassurance.

Got an x-Ray this morning. The top two are coming in at 30 degree angles and in my amateur opinion, certainly have to come out.

I can see the bottom ones too. They are straight, seem to have room,look developed but are under the gum. They have never caused me grief. In fact I didn't know they were there till now.

I know it's hard to have an opinion but what are the chances of them having to come out?

italodisco

had a lower and upper done , three weeks apart.

both were surgically removed but in the dentists . I was told mine were a huge job and I should be getting knocked out etc etc

anyway all I can say was that it was fairly easy and straight forward but the pain that kicked in during second week of recovery omg lol

Oral Surgeon

Micky Dolenz wrote: »

Got an x-Ray this morning. The top two are coming in at 30 degree angles and in my amateur opinion, certainly have to come out.

All angled teeth teeth don't need removal. If completely buried then often they are best left alone. If partially into the mouth then yes they usually cause issues and need removal....

Micky Dolenz wrote: »

I can see the bottom ones too. They are straight, seem to have room,look developed but are under the gum. They have never caused me grief. In fact I didn't know they were there till now.
I know it's hard to have an opinion but what are the chances of them having to come out?

This depends on a load of different things. It's impossible for you to judge if they have space or not as in practice the jaw bone curves up and back in the region of the wisdom tooth and gives less space than you might think from looking at the x-ray alone....

If completely un-erupted and causing no problems and you are 30 years old + then probably leave it alone. If completely un-erupted and causing no problems and you are 20-30 years old then there is the possibility of eruption and issues as it will then be partially erupted, so maybe it will need removal.

The key here is if you can see it in your mouth or your dentist can probe the tooth under the gum. If either, it will likely need removal....

fryup

italodisco wrote: »

anyway all I can say was that it was fairly easy and straight forward but the pain that kicked in during second week of recovery omg lol

What!!! ah janey don't say that

Oral Surgeon

fryup wrote: »

What!!! ah janey don't say that

that was most likely a dry socket or late post op infection, not very common...

fryup

how long before i can go back on solids? the surgeon yesterday said 5 days +

i'm starvin

Micky Dolenz

How was the procedure?

fryup

fine, straightforward no severe pain (thank god)

one bottom one and two top ones taken out....he said he'll leave the second bottom for now cause its too crooked and too close to the nerve but with no sign of decay

Micky Dolenz

So, it turned out I needed one wisdom tooth pulled and the neighbouring molar, the wisdom tooth had grown straight into it's roots and effectively killed it. I felt no pain at all while this happened.

I wasn't overly happy about losing a molar and got a second opinion. Second Doc said exactly the seem thing as my regular Doc.

I arrived into the surgery on thursday morning, got numbed up with a local. I decided to pass on any sedatives as I had stuff to do for the rest of the day, needed to drive etc.

He had the two teeth out in a matter of minutes, I actually didn't realise until he told me. Every 15 minutes or so, he give me an up date on what was going on. I had an infection in the area that ate a lot of the bone away so it took a bit of time to scrap the area clean. The stitches seemed to take the longest time. Over all, it was done in just over an hour.

There was no real pain, the thing that hurt was paying the bill . I left the surgery with an ice pack for my cheek but I had zero swelling. I went about my day and even made it to a function that evening. I laid of the booze for a few days but otherwise I did all the things I normally do.

My gum is healing nicely, the stitches are irritating my gum a little, they are due out on Monday. I might see if I can get them pulled sooner.

Overall it went as well as was possible and there was really no pain of note in any part of the process.

A question to dentists, is it weird for a person to ask for their teeth after extraction? My man looked at me quite funny when I asked

Oral Surgeon

I am happy that you are happy but how on earth did 2 extractions under local take over an hour??!!
It is a little odd to ask for the teeth, I tend to treat them like medical waste, you wouldn't ask for an amputated foot… (not the same, I know…). I had a junkie ask for a tooth so that his child could play with it!! eh no….

Micky Dolenz wrote: »

So, it turned out I needed one wisdom tooth pulled and the neighbouring molar, the wisdom tooth had grown straight into it's roots and effectively killed it. I felt no pain at all while this happened.

I wasn't overly happy about losing a molar and got a second opinion. Second Doc said exactly the seem thing as my regular Doc.

I arrived into the surgery on thursday morning, got numbed up with a local. I decided to pass on any sedatives as I had stuff to do for the rest of the day, needed to drive etc.

He had the two teeth out in a matter of minutes, I actually didn't realise until he told me. Every 15 minutes or so, he give me an up date on what was going on. I had an infection in the area that ate a lot of the bone away so it took a bit of time to scrap the area clean. The stitches seemed to take the longest time. Over all, it was done in just over an hour.

There was no real pain, the thing that hurt was paying the bill . I left the surgery with an ice pack for my cheek but I had zero swelling. I went about my day and even made it to a function that evening. I laid of the booze for a few days but otherwise I did all the things I normally do.

My gum is healing nicely, the stitches are irritating my gum a little, they are due out on Monday. I might see if I can get them pulled sooner.

Overall it went as well as was possible and there was really no pain of note in any part of the process.

A question to dentists, is it weird for a person to ask for their teeth after extraction? My man looked at me quite funny when I asked

Micky Dolenz

Oral Surgeon wrote: »

I am happy that you are happy but how on earth did 2 extractions under local take over an hour??!!
It is a little odd to ask for the teeth, I tend to treat them like medical waste, you wouldn't ask for an amputated foot… (not the same, I know…). I had a junkie ask for a tooth so that his child could play with it!! eh no….

Ah here, how cool would a stuffed foot be as a paper weight

yeah, as I said , the teeth were out in minutes. There was a gap under the gum between the two teeth that allowed food to enter, this caused an infection which lead to bone wastage. there seemed to be a lot of cleaning of that area after the extractions. I was also left sitting while the local kicked in. The stitching seem to take forever, He did it well though, as in, little chance of dry socket and it is healing extremely quickly.

Edgedinblue

Jesus, ive only read two pages so far and im now dreading my surgery! I forgot how long itd be before i can eat properly. Im getting all four out under general anaesthetic in the next few months. Im awful for dentists, im lucky to have good teeth as i can never sit still so being knocked out fully will help ha!

As far as asking for your teeth i fully intend on asking for mine. I recently went with my bf to get one of this teeth removed and i was the one asking to keep his tooth. I did get some strange looks but they gave me it in the end. That particular dentist said all teeth from his practice get sent to an incinerator in Norway (?!)

Gael23

What pain medication do you get sent home with after a surgical extraction?

Oral Surgeon

ryanf1 wrote: »

What pain medication do you get sent home with after a surgical extraction?

There's no correct answer to this one, we all use different protocols and combinations of analgesic meds....

Gael23

Surgery booked for Dec 11th :eek:
I have to take an antibiotic a day before and 4 days after and also use mouthwash for a few days before and after.
She's given me both Difene and Solpadol for pain relief

timetogo

Got my two lower wisdom teeth out nearly two weeks ago. I read this thread beforehand so I thought I'd share.

My two wisdom teeth were covered with gum and growing forward (totally horizontal). I got told about this 13 years ago but as they weren't bothering me and the dentist at the time made it sound like a humongous job and because I was in Australia I left it on the long finger.

I HATE going to the dentist. Dentists are nice people and all that but any sharp implement in the hands of somebody else and in the vicinity of my mouth makes me tense. Dunno why.

Anyway, over the last year my breath was smelly. I mentioned it to my normal dentist and he said it could be the wisdom teeth. He got me to get a special Xray (big metal thing spinning around my head) and go to an oral surgeon.

When I went to the oral surgeon she looked at the XRay and agreed it was probably because of damage below the wisdom teeth that was causing the smelly breath. She also saw that one of the wisdom teeth had damaged the root of one of the teeth in front of it and this meant that tooth had to go too. If I'd gotten it done 13 years ago I wouldn't have lost this tooth. She described 3 anaesthetics (one where you're awake, one where you're knocked out and one where you're in the hospital). I went for the knocked out one.

She described the work that had to be done and looking back this was the worst bit of the experience. As she was describing cutting teeth and peeling gums I was imagining it. Felt a bit faint.

On the day of the op I went in, got the anaesthetic and got knocked out. I remember waking up and talking ****e (no change there then). My missus took me home. I don't remember leaving the dentist or getting home but apparently I seemed OK. I had a couple of hours sleep. When I woke up there was slight pain in my mouth but nothing major. I took the prescribed painkillers on day one. I ate yoghurt that day.

On day two I didn't need any painkillers and ate some soft foods. I kind of stayed on mostly softish food for a week. Not because of pain but because I didn't want to bite into anything and push it into exposed gum.

Over the last week in work I've had a couple of dull aches in my mouth but nothing big and just popped a couple of panadol and it went pretty quickly.

I had a check up yesterday. The stitches hadn't dissolved so she said she'd take them out. My initial though was shiiiiiiiite but there was very minor discomfort and she had them out in 2 minutes. I noticed when the stitches were out I've less stiffness in my mouth. Didn't really notice it before she took them out.

So the end result is that I should have really done this 13 years ago. I think though the surgeon that did this job had a really confident manner. I'm sure they're trained or practised in this. You really don't want to hear "I've never seen one like this before". Her confidence really helped me. I wasn't too worried about the op after talking to her.
When I spoke the surgeon in Australia he wasn't as confident. Actually he only offered me the option of going to hospital.

The post op experience was way better than I expected. I had no bruising or swelling and had a lot less pain than I expected.
Smelly breath is gone too which is a huge bonus for my other half.

I'd do it again if I had to but now I've no wisdom teeth left so that's one job off the bucket list.

Gael23

timetogo wrote: »

When I went to the oral surgeon she looked at the XRay and agreed it was probably because of damage below the wisdom teeth that was causing the smelly breath. She also saw that one of the wisdom teeth had damaged the root of one of the teeth in front of it and this meant that tooth had to go too. If I'd gotten it done 13 years ago I wouldn't have lost this tooth.

This is the scenario you try to avoid with wisdom teeth and from what I've been told. Two of mine are impacted and although not an immediate problem, they will one day decay and also cause decay in the adjoining tooth. The OS wants to take them all even though the top 2 have developed normally. I understand her reason but I'm just not sure I can tolerate the pain.

Micky Dolenz

There is minimal pain. No bother.
Don't put of stuff till tomorrow that can be done today.

wonderboy76

I feel very lucky reading this thread. I had mine take out at Guys London dental hospital under sedation (completely free of charge – god bless the NHS) – I was in and out in about 15 minutes (though post sedation I was like a drunk,) and didn’t remember a thing. No dry socket, no pain, only about 24 hours of discomfort and a bit of bleeding the first night. The horror stories led me to believe I’d look like something out of a Saw movie by the end of it. I do remember seeing my teeth on a tray after coming around… I shudder at the thought of that!

Good luck to everyone having it done though.

timetogo

ryanf1 wrote: »

This is the scenario you try to avoid with wisdom teeth and from what I've been told. Two of mine are impacted and although not an immediate problem, they will one day decay and also cause decay in the adjoining tooth. The OS wants to take them all even though the top 2 have developed normally. I understand her reason but I'm just not sure I can tolerate the pain.

Sounds like mine. The top two were normal. The bottom two were growing forward. The top two were easy to remove (normal job).

It didn't cause decay, it just grew into gum space that should have been taken by the root of the tooth in front of it. So when the wisdom tooth was removed the tooth in front had little gum to hold on to.

The pain for me was all in my head prior to the op. Yes there was some pain but nothing worse than a mild headache.

If you don't get it done and they damage your teeth you'll have to get 3 or 4 out instead of 2. Same pain, less teeth left in your head.

timetogo

wonderboy76 wrote: »

I feel very lucky reading this thread. I had mine take out at Guys London dental hospital under sedation (completely free of charge – god bless the NHS) – I was in and out in about 15 minutes (though post sedation I was like a drunk,) and didn’t remember a thing. No dry socket, no pain, only about 24 hours of discomfort and a bit of bleeding the first night. The horror stories led me to believe I’d look like something out of a Saw movie by the end of it. I do remember seeing my teeth on a tray after coming around… I shudder at the thought of that!

Good luck to everyone having it done though.

That was actually the biggest pain for me. The cost. 2 awkward wisdom teeth, one extra tooth and anaesthetic cost €870. Ouch.

I dont have health insurance. At least 20% is reclaimable against tax.