Posted by Korey Humphreys on 12/6/06 7:07pm
Msg #164401
OT: Pulling your wisdom teeth....
This has nothing to do with notary work, but I went to the dentist yesterday and he is going to give me a referral to get my wisdom teeth taken out. They aren't bothering me, but the dentist says that they will eventually become bothersome.
I'm sitting here reading stories online about others who have gotten their wisdom teeth pulled out. A few people stated that the dentist broke their lower jaw. OMG!!! I've never even had a cavity (till yesterday [I have one]) and now they want to pull out my wisdom teeth!!!
So please tell me your experience and tell me whether or not you think they should be pulled.
TIA!
P.S.: I'm thinking about this so much that I can actually feel my teeth now. LOL
| Reply by SueW/Tn on 12/6/06 7:21pm
Msg #164402
Korey, don't let the horror stories color your world, everyone is different. I'm personally scared to death of a dentist and have used a children's dentist (no laffing out there) up until a few years ago. I'm not even going to tell you my age but it should be enough to just say I can remember when gas was .19/gallon. Oral surgeons are the ones that should do this and they are masters of their field. You won't know squat, will wake up to juice, go home, be a bit sore, will use a frozen bag of peas to keep swelling down and you'll be good as new in 1 or 2 days. Do everything they tell you so that you don't get a dry socket and you'll see that you only fear what you don't know.
| Reply by Jersey_Boy on 12/6/06 7:27pm
Msg #164403
I had all four of my wisdom teeth pulled as a teenager. I went to an oral surgeon and he put me under for the procedure. If you're going to have it done, best to get all four at one time.
My wife works in the dental field and tells me stories about problematic wisdom teeth all the time. If they do become impacted or worse, infected, it can cause some very severe problems. The mouth can be one of the worst places for bacteria and infection to start, once that infection gets into the bloodstream, it can cause even further problems. This is why many surgeons make their patients get an "ok" from there dentist before performing any type of surgeries. If you have any type of infection in you mouth, no matter how small, it can greatly impact your recovery time for even a minor ankle surgery.
Having your wisdom teeth out will put you out of commission for a few days at worst. I remember having mine out on a Friday and by Monday I was fine. It's just very important to NOT SMOKE and NOT DRINK WITH A STRAW until the area has completely healed, failure to follow these simple rules can cause "drysocket" which is a very painful thing to deal with, and something that your dentist can do nothing to fix.
Feel free to call me with any questions you may have, my wife may even be able to explain a little more about what to expect.
| Reply by Korey Humphreys on 12/6/06 7:38pm
Msg #164406
Ok great! I might just do that like the day before when I am worried sick! LOL
So I've read a few online articles that stated the dentist broke their patients jaw when attempting to remove the wisdom teeth..... how ofted does that actually happen?
Thanks for all the information everyone. 
| Reply by Becca_FL on 12/6/06 9:02pm
Msg #164422
Re: OT: Pulling your wisdom teeth....Korey
DO NOT GET THE DRY SOCKET!!!!!
I am a dental wimp. For me to have any kind of dental anything, I need to be heavily medicated. I had a full "reconstruction" in 2002 under "conscious sedation" and did not have great work done. One of the crowns cracked and I was too scared to get it fixed. I didn't have pain and just wanted to forget about it. My best friend is a Dental Hygienist (go figure) and has told me for years that I need to get #20 fixed and I, the wimp I am, did nothing because it did not hurt. Well, two days after my last cleaning in October, my crown broke in half and the consensus was...that the tooth needed to go and an implant needed to be placed..........................UGH!
Any way, back to dry sockets...I had #20 pulled on 11/16 and had a dry socket on 11/19 that woke me up at 4am in total pain. My Oral Surgeon was great and gave me a better pain meds, but even I got tired of pain meds after a few day...I mean, it was fun for a while, but then you just get tired on the meds, the pain and even life dealing with it. I had to go in and get it packed three times...ohh, the horror...oh, the pain...oh the.....(if you can finish this, you are a comedy classic fan.)
I had my wisdom teeth pulled under general anesthesia and don't remember a darn thing. IMO, that's the only way to go. My point is don't get the dry socket because it truly DOES SUCK! The pain is horrible. When I had my wisdom teeth pulled I had no problem with dry socket.
Sorry, young man, but I had to give you the truth. The good news is that you are still fairly young. The longer you wait to get this done, the worse it will be.
| Reply by SarahBeth_CA on 12/6/06 11:04pm
Msg #164448
Re: OT: Pulling your wisdom teeth....Korey
humanity?
| Reply by Ndwa on 12/6/06 7:43pm
Msg #164408
Had mine pulled in Oct.
As others mentioned, make sure it's done by an oral surgeon. Haven't had a tooth pulled in 30 yrs, I was a bit leary, but the nitrous helped. My tooth was stuck with the sinus membrane and that Dentist was good pulling the tooth without damaging it. I have to avoid chewing on that side of my mouth for a month to let the pocket completely heal, otherwise I'd have stuffy ear like flying on air plane.
| Reply by Gerry_VT on 12/6/06 7:35pm
Msg #164405
I also had all four wisdom teeth removed in my late teens. I was given sodium pentothal for the procedure, so I was totally out. I took a prescription pain killer (Tylenol + codeine) for one day and regular Tylenol for a few more days. The only complication was some minor bleeding when a stitch tore. I had them removed because I was applying to West Point and the problem was found during the required physical.
| Reply by John_NorCal on 12/6/06 7:45pm
Msg #164409
I don't know Korey take out the "wisdom" teeth and
where will you be then? jk!
Not to worry! Share your fears with your dentist, they are far different than they were in my day (19 cent a gallon gas too!) and they will try to do everything to keep you calm. I was in the Army when I got my last wisdom tooth pulled. I avoided the dentist so much they had to give me a direct order to go have the procedure! Of course they never said anything about not stopping at the EM club before I got there, I think I had a double of everything to give me courage. As for broken jaws? Nah, I doubt it, maybe in the old days when some dentists would actually bring out a mallet and break the tooth, I did have one do that to me. But nowadays, I don't think you have to worry! Good luck!
| Reply by Melissa Liberty on 12/6/06 7:53pm
Msg #164411
Re: I don't know Korey take out the "wisdom" teeth and
Diddo to that!
I was a dental assistant for many years and I have NEVER heard of a dentist breaking a jaw BUT I will say that IF I were to have wisdoms removed I would DEFINTELY recommend an oral surgeon as wisdom teeth removal (Unless VERY easy and straight forward) Is not something that MOST general dentist do everyday. The Oral Surgeon may cost a little more BUT the expertise and comfort level is well worth a couple hundred bucks!
Happy recovery!
| Reply by Korey Humphreys on 12/6/06 8:13pm
Msg #164413
LOL thanks for the advice everyone n/m
| Reply by Gary_CA on 12/6/06 8:12pm
Msg #164412
It's a wise thing to do
I put mine off till they caused me pain. Had one pulled when I could bare no more then the rest later.
Just get it over with...when they start pushing the rest of your teeth and you get cavities in the ones next to 'em it's ugly.
| Reply by MikeC/NY on 12/6/06 8:29pm
Msg #164418
Had all four pulled many moons ago, and two were impacted. I was scared sh*tless going in; the dentist hit me with sodium pentathol, and I didn't remember a thing after that - he could have removed my entire head and replaced it with another for all I knew. There were maybe one or two days after that with mild discomfort, but it wasn't all that bad. We're talking more than 30 years ago - dental technology has advanced since then, so it's probably a lot easier now.
As far as breaking your lower jaw - I've never heard of that happening, but if it's really a concern for you my advice would be to check out your dentist for past problems (in some states you can do that online; in others, you may have to make a couple of phone calls).
Good luck, and remember this - anticipation is usually a heck of a lot worse than reality...
| Reply by Brenda Stone on 12/6/06 9:54pm
Msg #164433
I was 23. You go in, go to sleep, wake up...go home. Do what they tell you to and it will be fine.
| Reply by christiSocal on 12/7/06 12:58am
Msg #164464
Also keep the ice on like they tell you
I had 1 kid that didn't and he had alot more swelling (think chipmunk on steroids) than the others. If you have a low pain tolerance plan on a week down. The only thing I remember about mine is the incredably cute hunk that woke me up after, in all my face packed drooling glory!
| Reply by ReneeK_MI on 12/7/06 9:11am
Msg #164505
And now comes the PITA w/ the OTHER perspective ...
I'm baffled by how easily we subject ourselves to 'prophylactic' invasive surgeries. There is no such thing as "routine" when it comes to BONE invasion (which is what this is), and the risks should be researched and given careful consideration.
The argument is that right now you are young, you are healthy - why wait until there's a problem, and run the risk you might NOT be so young or so healthy?
What is rarely given equal air-time are the risks to bone-invasive surgery, as well as the equal/opposite chance that you will be old, healthy or not, and NEVER have trouble with those wisdom teeth.
just to keep things balanced =)
| Reply by Dorothy_MI on 12/7/06 11:06am
Msg #164544
Re: And now comes the PITA w/ the OTHER perspective ...
I operate under the premise that "If it ain't broke, don't fix it". My personal experience is as a young woman (under 25) during a routine dental visit the dentist said I had a cavity in one of my upper wisdon teeth, but "don't waste your money filling it because it will just have to come before long any way". So I didn't "waste" my money. Of course the cavity got bigger and got to the point that the pain was so bad that I had to have it pulled. Same scenario a couple of years later. Didn't get it filled and sure enough it had to be pulled in a few years due to pain. About a year later discovered a cavity in my lower wisdon teeth, only this time I said "Fill it". Again I got the same story, well, you'll just have to have it pulled in a few years and you're "wasting" your money. I told him it was my money and if I wanted to waste it filling a wisdom tooth it was my right. Long story short, both were filled and 2 years ago I had to have one of them pulled and I'll probably have to have the other one pulled as filling is deteriating (sp), BUT I had them for DECADES!!
| Reply by MelissaM_FL on 12/7/06 10:57am
Msg #164539
I've had 2 of my 3 wisdom teeth pulled. Apparently, I'm not smart enough to grow a 4th wisdom tooth!  The first one (an upper) had to be pulled because it cracked...felt like I had a popcorn kernel in it for a couple of weeks. It came out in two neat-looking pieces! The second was hooked around my lower jaw, but came out very easily as well. My third is on the chopping block for early 2007 because of $$ and because my mouth is very small, although no one who has heard me talk would believe it!
Personally, I'd leave the teeth alone unless they are crowding other teeth, have a cavity, or have cracked/rotted. If the dentist were doing other work at the same time for which you must be numbed, then I'd go ahead and have them pulled.
May I remind you that, if you do have them pulled, KEEP THE GUAZE IN YOUR MOUTH AND OVER THE HOLE!!! Dry socket is a killer!!!
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