Wisdom Teeth Horror/Vent

[amychelle]

Thursday I had all four of my wisdom teeth cut out. I called Wednesday because I wasn't sure if they were going to put me under or not and wanted to know about eating, etc. and she said "Well, we can give you Valium and then gas and you will be in a daze that is like being under." OK. Let's do that. So I go get my two Valium, take them, and proceed to my 8:30 appointment.

The valiums did nothing for me. I wasn't woozy, or in a daze or anything. I kept getting up out of the chair and going to the waiting room to talk to my fiancée checking on my pain med. prescription, going to the bathroom, getting up to get a tissue, etc. (it was 10:30 the last time I looked at the clock, 8:30 appointment) I think, well, the gas will do the trick. No gas. They didn't gas me. Arg.

He comes in and starts looking at my mouth and poking at my spacer wire, etc. (My dentist is also my ortho.) He calls his ortho assistant in and tells her to "unhook this and this and add some spring here and get some brakes and do this and this and this and this... etc." UGG! NO! He put brakes just before my bands on my molars and made the archwire bow out. He also added some spring.

THEN here we go with the removing of the teeth. ARG! He said "Wow, that ones tough." "Gosh, look at that J hook on that root!" Etc. It was a difficult procedure to say the least. All four were really hard to remove. The top ones had curvy roots and the bottoms were all weird about being into my jaw. It was not fun to say the least. You could tell he was physically tired at the end of the ordeal.

Then Friday (day 2) it looked like I had a wad of gauze in my cheek. I called a friend while I was on the way to his house and told him I was going to stop by, but warned him "My mouth is huge." He thought I was kidding, like most people exaggerate. But no. He was amazed. IT WAS HUGE!

I called the dentist and he said it was edema. There was fluid built up in my cheek and to stretch it to get it to go away, as well as warm moist heat. When I would try to rub my eye it sounded like I had a wet sponge in a ziplock under my skin. GROSS! Popping and crackling and ewww. Five days later, still really swollen.

I'm still not doing very well with solid food. I can't open my mouth very far. And the braces adjustment hurts too.

This stinks.

[Geri]

Amychelle - I haven't had my wisdom teeth out so I can't really know what it was like but just wanted you to know that I really sympathize - it must have been horrible to be so alert to all that was going on in the dentists chair. I'm sure others on this board can tell you how long it takes to get over extractions and I hope your swelling and soreness goes away soon. Lots of pampering yourself is due now!

[Granola]

I am really sorry it was such an awful experience. Ouch!
Mine were impacted and I had them out under general anesthesia, but I did have eight teeth pulled (some years ago) in the office and you're right, it stinks!

I hope you feel much better soon.

[ebjones1]

I feel for you! I just had my wisdom teeth out week before last, and it was a really positive experience.. Thought I'd share for all the newbies that might get freaked from reading your post
Anywho, I got mine out on the 11th. All four complete bony impactions. One of the biggest concerns was a cyst that was actually growing around my lower left.. Not to mention my mouth is WAY too small for these teeth, and even I could tell that no matter which direction they ever decided to come in, there would be no room. I'm also getting braces in January.
I got there that morning and they took me in the room and started prepping for the surgery. They set up and inserted the IV in my hand, and then the doctor came in (BTW - he was an absolute dream.. Nice to know I was looking like crap during the procedure, hehehe) with the shots to inject into the IV for sedation. The last thing I remember is him sitting down and telling me he was fixing to inject them.. The assistant put the oxygen tubes in my nose.. and BAM! I'm back awake with a crapload of gauze in my mouth. I could even talk - For some reason I decided to ask the assistant (very muffled, naturally), "Cah I haf muh teef bah?" Translation = "Can I have my teeth back?" Don't ask - Even I'm not sure. Hehe.
So that was on a Friday.. I pretty much stayed in bed until Tuesday afternoon, but had absolutely NO problems and NO pain! It was just really uncomfortable. I was swollen, "Aunt Erin looks like a squirrel!!" said my 4 year old niece) and it kinda felt like I had sinus congestion in my head, but it wasn't bad at whatsoever. The pain meds and 800mg Ibuprofen weren't a bad addition to the situation either.
It's been a week a a few days and I'm completely back to normal now. No more swelling (that went down after day 2) and most of the time I forget about it.. My jaw does still get a little sore if I talk a lot, though. I went for my follow-up and got a cool little syringe from the Dr. that I put half mouthwash, half water in to flush out the extraction sites so food doesn't get lodged in them - You wouldn't believe the stuff that gets stuck in there!
It wasn't enjoyable, but it definetly wasn't as bad either. I'm really glad I got it over with and won't ever have to worry about it again.. Especially since I'm getting braces. I'm not investing all that time and money for my teeth to get screwy again!!
Good luck to everyone!

[amiyumi]

hey amychelle
weird i got all my wisdoms out on thurs morning!
sounds like u had a nasty experience-poor thing-i sympathise!
my tongue is still completely numb!
let me know how you progress tho!

[Carmella]

I offer you all my sympathy, but remember, I promise it will get better! I had 8 (EIGHT) widsome teeth and doubles all the way around, and my extra two on the top were a nightmare to get out, I went to an oral surgeron that took a look at my XRay and sent my to a reconstructive/maxillary surgeon.

You will feel better I promise, the worst is over now. Just try to sleep it all away!

I have felt your pain! Don't be scared to call the Dr. back and ask for a new pain reliever or sleeping pills.

[amychelle]

I guess I shouldn't really complain too much. I never really had any pain. Discomfort. Never pain. Annoying really. Just the fact that I still sound funny because of the swollen cheek, and the annoyance of having to be so careful.

No pain.

Discomfort.

Sorry if I scared anyone. I really didn't mean too. It wasn't that bad, and I've been lucky otherwise.

[spragers]

I feel your pain, or at least your frustration. When I had my wisdom teeth removed, I had such pounding headaches that I was basically home in bed for a week afterward. Thankfully, I didn't have any dry sockets or other complications, so I guess it could have been worse!

[bethne3]

I completely feel your pain. I got my wisdoms taken out last Monday and I am still pretty sore and cannot eat solid foods.
I didn't think it was going to be this rough but look at it this way, at least it's over! That is something to be thankful for!

[fyrelight]

I had mine out under local anesthesia last year as well... but mine were IMPACTED UNDER BONE!!!! I heard the saw, etc.... and boy was I bruised afterward. Here are a few photos:




I only had the TOP cut out, as I am congenitally missing bottom ones, thank God! But just the top ones bruised me that bad. I could only imagine top and bottom! I didn't have any pain during the surgery, though, of course, and not that much afterward, either.. just looked bad.

[OceanGirl]

I had my two lower wisdom teeth removed over a year ago by a dental surgeon in his office. They were impacted so I had to be cut. One came out with very little effort but the 2nd one he yanked and pulled to get that sucker out. Finally when the tooth let go he was pulling with such force that when it came out it slipped out of the pliers and went flying across the room. He bruised me big time. I had to go back to the office the next day to pick up insurance forms and he seen me and was like 'DID I DO THAT TO YOU?" I laughed and told him he sure did. He said he rarely ever bruises anyone. I guess I was one of the lucky ones. My cousin had his 2 lowers removed in a hospital by the same surgeon and didn't get bruised at all.

I had my 2 uppers removed a few years ago by another denist. They weren't impacted but they were barely down through the gums and they got infected. It took me about 2 years to get rid of the sensitivity in the sockets. I didn't go back to him anymore. My experience with the dental surgeon was so much better then the regular denist.

[jcdamon3]

I was sixteen when I had all 4 impacted widsom teeth out! They put me at least part of the way out. The reason I say that is that I have had other surgery and have had alot of trouble waking up. I just remember feeling really silly when I woke up from that surgery.

It took an entire week for me to recover and I lost all that time in school. I had very swollen cheeks and could not eat anything solid. All I could do was drink out of a straw. I lost alot of weight. My face turned purple then red, then green, then yellow.

I had probably 10 stitches in various parts of my mouth that eventually had to be removed. There were stitches in places where there were no extractions. I always wondered if they slipped with the knife! I got a dry socket which was just loads of fun.

I totally Sympathize! All my sympathy is pouring your way!!

But just think. You will never, ever have to do this again. And in retrospect that surgery was not nearly as bad as any of the other surgeries I have had since! Try sinus surgery ! Ugh!!!! And I have had other really bad surgeries that I won't mention on this board!

I am glad that I didn't have to have any extractions with these braces. I probably would have said no. But I have heard so many stories on this forum that have said that their extractions were totally pain free. The different I think is when those darn wisdom teeth are all wrapped around in places they shouldn't be.

I am also glad that I know my wisdom teeth will never come to plague my now being straightened teeth. I claim it was my wisdom teeth that made my lower teeth so crooked. The dentists says no. But I remember!

[weird_wired]

Oh you poor thing. *sends virtual smoothie*

I had my wisdoms out last year - they weren't impacted and came out quite easily, though she really had to tug on one of them (the last luckily, had it been the first I would have been way less relaxed for the others).

But she did mine in two sessions, so I never had the entire mouth feeling like hell thing. I do remember how horrific it was though. The worst is getting stuff stuck in the holes, it really stinks/tastes bad because it is so hard to get out - you don't want to go poking around too much in a raw wound. So in a way it's a blessing to be only able to suck soup through a straw etc.