[OT] Wisdom Teeth

[Klaatu B. Nikto]

My semigruesome wisdom teeth story.

The doc gave me some nitrous oxide (no laughing matter I might add) before the locals so when he started jabbing needles in my mouth, I only felt pressure of the needle going in and again when it came out.

Three teeth were no prob as he just yanked 'em out. The last was the problem since it had to be cut out. I kept my eyes closed since I didn't want to see it coming but I still had my senses of smell and touch. Ugh.

I didn't swell up afterwards cuz I just slept on a big icepack (the chemical ones didn't work for me). Replacing the bandages wasn't too bad other than the taste. No soft drinks for 3 days sucked tho I had a hard time eating anyways since my entire mouth was sore, even two weeks later at my birthday. Joy.

So anyone my advice to anyone needing to remove their wisdom teeth: get removed all at once unless you like pain.

 

[LGodamus]

Mine were horrid....I had to lose all 4 and a good bit of jaw bone that they had destroyed and caused to decay...it sucked

 

[LightPhoenix]

but the dentist said, "No, the one in the roof of your mouth will be worse."

(Geeky moment)

It's because the teeth in the roof of your mouth are more secure - more bone mass and such.

 

[The Forsaken One]

Have all of them, non of them had to be pulled/removed. And my teeth are looking great =]

 

[Morbidity]

Oooh goody … horror wisdom teeth stories!

Here’s mine.

All 4, impacted, pressing on nerves etc, so had one of the best surgeons in Sydney. Foolishly hadn’t eaten for 24 hours before going to the initial interview with him and fainted in true dramatic damsel fashion when he started explaining the procedure … standing up looking at X’rays for 10 minutes on a very empty stomach was just too much. Anyway he decided that I should go under general. This turned out to be a fantastic thing, considering that the operation went very wrong. Turned up for my 30 minute operation, which ended up lasting for 3.5 hours, required about 20 stitches, involved teeth breaking in half and being lost in my nasal cavity. Overnight in hospital for observation, not allowed to lie down for a week or I could drown in blood (fun!), from memory I was on fantastic painkillers for a week or so (so fantastic I don’t really remember anything about that week), no solids for a week and a half, 2 weeks off work, 3 months before the swelling completely vanished. The surgeon was starting to get very nervous about the swelling and started to discuss plastic surgery, but luckily it finally went down. Even more fortunately the whole event occurred during the cricket world cup, so I stayed at home and watched cricket for a fortnight!

 

[Zerth]

I had all four wisdom teeth removed, when I was 17. Three pulled out and one required little surgery, because it hadn't fully came out yet. No big deal, everything went just fine. None of my wisdom teeth had caused any problems, but they had to be removed to make room for further dental operations.

First, I had braces for over 3 years. Then an operation, what was required to fix my bite. They literally broke my jawbone, took little bits from both sides, and put it back again.

All that was quite an experience, especially the time I was recovering from the operation. My teeth were wired together for the first month and then I had to wear rubberbands attached to my braces for two more months so my jawbone would stay in proper position. I had braces two more years after the operation. But afterwards, I'm happy it was done. I have a great smile now and absolutely no fear for dentists

 

[Shiv]

My teeth hate me.

First, when I was about 14, I was in need of braces. The dentist decided four of my teeth needed to come out because there just wasn't enough room (hence the jumbled teeth and need for braces).

So he novacaines me up and starts cranking. After a half hour of listening to him scrape and crack teeth and yank them out, pulling my head all over the headrest in the process, I vowed that if the wisdom teeth needed to come out, I'd go with general anesthetic.

So 19 rolls around and the wisdom teeth need to come out. Two were impacted, and the other two were threatening to destroy the lovely brace-straightening I had done five years earlier.

A short nap later, I was officially eight teeth short of a normal total. And quite high. And I lost five pounds in the next few days as was pretty much on a liquid diet.

And so it was all over.

Until about a year ago, when I had my yearly dental exam, complete with x-rays. My dentist tells me I'm one of those rare people who has TWO sets of wisdom teeth. Granted, the second set is tiny and not fully formed, and they're far from emerging, and probably never will. They'll just sit there and taunt me, making me wonder forever if I'll have to have four teeth pullled...AGAIN.

My teeth hate me.

 

[Balsamic Dragon]

I'm a mutant

I was born without any wisdom teeth. I consider it an evolutionary advantage after reading this thread! I will endevour to pass the trait on to my children.

Balsamic Dragon

 

[Bran Blackbyrd]

If you are of African decent you stand a better chance of having room for your wisdom teeth. More jaw room. Though that doesn't guarantee they'll be fit to keep, even if they fit in your mouth.

I had mine out the November after I graduated high school. All four were impacted, coming in at an angle, and had twisted roots. My dentist puts you under for the procedure (general anesthesia through an I.V.), I don't think he gives you the option of staying awake. They had to be crushed to get them out.

I was on vicodin (how people can get hooked on that stuff I will never know) and something else which I cannot recall. I got the flu (it was November after all) during my recovery and dropped to 111 pounds. I'm about 5'10" and weighed about 120-124 pounds. Between the medications' side-effects, the flu causing me to puke my guts up and recovering from surgery I became seriously dehydrated.
In the emergency room I discovered, putting this as delicately as possible, that due to the medication and the flu I had become "backed-up" in a major way. Oh well.
As a highlight, I had to operate the flow-control thingy on my I.V. because the hospital staff had forgotten to charge its batteries. Every time it was unplugged so my bed could be moved I had to reset the rate myself. At least I was only there for a few hours, any longer and the quacks may have amputated something.

Good times, good times...