AH! Mah jah hursh! (or, Grelby gets his wisdom teeth out)

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Yesterday was the big day - my appointment at the oral surgeon to have my wisdom teeth removed, before they could cause problems, I guess. I was a bit cheesed off over having to miss school, cause important things that required my presence were going down, but whatever. Anyway…

My grandmother came over the night before so she could take me and my three sibs home from the oral surgeon, since my dad is on a business trip in Atlantic City (or nearby) and good 'ol mom didn’t want us to have to wait for each other an hour plus while in pain. It was very nice of grandma to do this. I have the best grandmother in the world.

So, we got there, and after a looong wait, I was the last one to go in. I sat down and was introduced to this interesting device they have that can best be described as a high-pressure novacaine squirt gun. They put it against your arm, hit the button, and novacaine squirts out and numbs the spot on your arm where they’re putting the IV. I found out when they did this procedure that the novacaine squirty device hurts quite enough on its own, thank you very much - my theory is that, as dental specialists, they aren’t worth anything at putting needles in with a mininum of fuss. No way to get around the pain, I guess, but I was actually pretty happy with how they did things. They calmed me down pretty good. Then they gave me the tranquilizer before loading me up with anesthesia.

My main issue with tranquilizers and anesthesia is that I’m never sure of when I actually lost consciousness, which sort of bugs me. It seems I always remember up to a couple minutes after they give me the trank, and then I wake up. It was the same way the last time I was under general anesthesia.

When it came to waking up, though, this was good. I was still doped up on novacaine, and couldn’t feel much other than slight discomfort due to the gauze stuffed in my mouth. Getting out to the car wasn’t even that bad, leaning on my mom’s shoulder.

I think the biggest problem I’ve had so far was that once I got home, it took hours to stop bleeding, especially on the left side of my mouth. The gauze actually seemed to pull away any clotting when I removed it, so I had to give up on that. Other than a headache and sore jaws, though, I was fine. I would have gotten up and gotten to my computer, but it seems the combination of a headache and lots of Percocet (on second thought, maybe that’s why it wasn’t so bad - I recall that sitting there with gauze stuffed in my mouth was actually quite uncomfortable at times) made me too nauseous to stand up for more than long enough to answer a call of nature. This is consistent with my previous experience with percocet and and other painkillers. Fortunately, this time I had strength enough to walk and wasn’t attached to a catheter with the nurses refusing to believe thatI coudn’t handle sitting up for half an hour.

So now it’s about 18 hours later, and aside from some very sore lower jaws, I’m pretty good. Up top, it’s not so bad at all, and I’m not sure why. I think I could even go get something soft to eat now. Hmmm… chocolate pudding… mmmmmm…

2

Pepper Mill, who is a dental assistant, told me to put (used) tea bags on the former wisdom tooth sites to relieve swelling and pain. I also ate an entire container of Breyer’s vanilla ice cream that day.

3

I actually seem to have a flap of gum in the upper left side that either was not removed or whose stitches broke or something. It’s not really loose, but loose enough that I’m now afraid to eat for fear of getting something in the hole… someone please tell me that I’m safe…

:stuck_out_tongue:

4

Just don’t get a dry socket. Ooooooh baby, that’ll wake you up in a hurry! If you feel like you should be feeling better than you do, you probably have a dry socket. Go back to the dentist and get it fixed. You’ll be glad you did. Trust me.

5

When I had my wisdom teeth out, Mom tells me that I screamed the whole time, loud enough to really worry the patients in the waiting room. Mom was terrified that they hadn’t put me under properly before they started cutting. But they must have, because the last thing I remember is the dentist looming over me, moving in with his implements of destruction … and then Mom was waking me up. The only thing I remember really clearly from the next couple of days is lying on the couch eating a really good peanut-butter milkshake. (With a spoon, because you can’t use a straw without sucking out your stitches.)

Grelby, go ahead and eat something soft, you’ll feel better.

6

Mine was a horrible experience - here’s the dirty details…
My top two were sideways, the bottom two impacted. I woke up from the surgery and went home, quite dizzy and sick feeling. I had to beg for a cup of water to rinde my mouth because the huge clot of blood on the roof of my mouth was making me nauseous, but they didn’t want to give me anything because I was nauseous. It was tough trying to explain with a mouth full of gauze.

I got home and fell asleep right away without taking anything. MISTAKE. I woke up a few hors later in AGONY. I took some tylenol 3 and tried to go back to sleep. An hour later I woke up and began throwing up. Thus began a short love affair with Gravol suppositories.

I ended up with dry socket. The doctor put gauze soaked in clove oil in the holes. I though “MMmm nice, taste of cloves.” Fast forward a few hours later and it was making me throw up too. Eventually it was determined that my tummy was now hyperacidic, or used to throwing up.

I didn’t really bruise, but the swelling took a month to be completely gone.

By the way, loose, flap of gum? no biggie, the inside of my mouth was all screwed up for a while after. Wait till the stitches start coming out.

7

Ooooh! Ooooooh!

I had my wisdom teeth out when I was 18. They were impacted and my dentist wanted them out before they caused me more pain/problems.

Getting put under wasn’t that bad, although I remember freaking out because I’d never been put to sleep before, and I was afraid I wouldn’t wake up.

However.

I woke up about halfway through the procedure. My nose was itching, and my mouth was propped open with some kind of spacer. I remember blinking and hearing the nurse go, “Oh, she’s awake!” and me moaning and trying to move my arm. The nurse scratched my nose for me, and I was out again until it was over with.

I managed to change the gauze inside my mouth three times on the 20 mile ride home. The blood just would not stop, and I’d end up with blood soaked gauze, which made me gag. When we got home, I hit the couch with a mouth full of gauze and napped for a couple of hours. I woke up that evening hungry, and I think I had some pudding. It came back up really quick. . . and pinkish colored. I made my mother call the oral surgeon, and his nurse said I probably vomited because of the blood draining down my throat. Ick.

So things were fine. . . I was scheduled to have my stitches removed seven days following the procedure, and in the meantime, the surgeon told me to brush as I usually did, but to gargle with salt water instead of my regular mouthwash. Now, part of the original problem is that I have some severe over-crowding in my mouth. My mouth is too small. Hah. Getting a toothbrush to my back teeth was pretty hard, and I couldn’t open my mouth very wide, so I ended up with a little kids toothbrush, which almost did the trick. Almost.

The day before my stitches were to come out, my parents went out of town. I was sitting home alone, picking at my teeth with my finger. My mouth smelled like a garbage dump, and it was driving me crazy. I was scratching at a gum or a tooth or something, and my finger slipped and went right into the recently wisdom-tooth-vacated spot. I actually heard a ‘sluuuuuurp’ type suction sound when I retracted my finger.It hurt like a sumbitch. Blood poured for a while and I packed in the gauze, took a Vicodin (which is what they gave me for pain) and hit the couch. The next day when I went back to the oral surgeon to get the stitches out, he said everything was fine and he couldn’t even tell I’d stuck my finger in the hole!

8

Ooh, it sucked when I got my teeth out a year ago, but it was great to have it over with. My experience was pretty calm, the worst part was the night after I had it done - It was a few hours after I had gotten back from the oral surgeon, I had taken the prescription painkiller, and half an hour later I started feeling dizzy, 10 minutes after that I was collapsed on the kitchen floor in front of the trash can. All I had eaten for the last 24 hours was a little butterscotch pudding and half a milkshake, and I threw it all up. I looked like death, I was so pale and I was shaking a little bit too, so I went to bed. I woke up early the next morning, took another painkiller and went back to sleep. Then later that day, when it was time, I popped another pill and felt all shaky and nauseated again so I forced myself to sleep it off. After that I threw the painkillers out and just used aspirin - it got rid of almost all of the pain and had no side effects. So, if your prescription medicine is too rough, don’t hesitate to reach for regular OTC drugs for the pain.

My only other advice would be to be VERY VERY careful when you brush your teeth. Go slowly and be very conscious of how you’re moving your toothbrush around your mouth. Two times last year when I was brushing my teeth, I was going slowly but wasn’t really concentrating, my hand slipped a little bit and I ended up tapping the head of my toothbrush against my swollen gums. It was just a tap, but OHMYGOD IT HURT! shudder It was very bad, so honestly, concentrate (at first anyway) when you brush your teeth.

But in a week or two you mouth should be feeling totally normal again and you’re done with your wisdom teeth saga. Hooray! Until then, hang in there…

9

I really shouldn’t have opened this thread. My dentist wants me to have my wisdom teeth out – they’re all in, and not impacted, and he says they should come out easily because of the root structure… but I dunno. The part that worries me the most is all of your stories about throwing up! I have an honest-to-goodness phobia about it, and that’s what’s keeping me from making the appointment to have 'em yanked.

Anyone had them out when the teeth were already grown in?

10

A good way to avoid throwing up is to lie down and stay down when you take strong prescription pain meds, like Percocet. I haven’t thrown up yet, but I’ve had enough experience with Percocet to connect it to serious nausea when I’m moving around. With luck, you won’t need it for more than a day or so. I only needed it last evening and night, right now I’m sticking to good old ibuprofen.

11

I had three impacted wisdom teeth pulled. They knocked me out for that, of course. Overall the pain was not nearly as bad as I had feared, until one of the holes got a good case of dry socket. Having dry socket irrigated is incredibly painful. I wish they would’ve knocked me out for that, too.

12

I had my wisdom teeth removed when I was 18. My dad was the one who drove me to it. I handle anaesthesia fairly well, and was able to walk out of the doctors office when the surgery was done.

I bled for 18 hours. Instead of Percocet or Vicodin, my doctor gave me something like Tylenol 2 or 3. Absolutely useless. He also didn’t give me very many of them. I didn’t get nauseous until the next day when I went with a friend to MacDonalds and had 2 quarter-pound cheeseburgers and a large fries.

13

Ibuprofen is the drug of choice when it comes to dental pain. It has an analgesic effect, but also an anti-inflammatory effect. Take the “hard” drugs as long as you need them, then switch to Ibuprofen. Aspirin is not a good choice.

If you have bleeding, more than just color in your saliva, fold a gauze sponge (they should have given you some 2x2’s, right?) in quarters, moisten it and put vaseline on any side that will encounter a “socket” where a tooth was pulled. Place the little “bundle” on the “socket” and bite down on it for at LEAST half-an- hour. Sit or lie down while you are letting it work. Longer is better, if you can do it.

The vaseline prevents the blood clot that forms from sticking to the gauze, so that when you pull it out it doesn’t take the clot with if. Hopefully, this will prevent a dreaded “dry socket.”

Good luck, dear…this is NOT fun, but at least you know…you will NEVER have to go through it again! They are ALL GONE!!! YAY!!!

stargazer, impacted wisdom teeth are FAR more difficult than ones that have grown in.

If either of you want to ask me any questions, my email address is Scotticher@aol.com

14

I had them out-twice. First time, one wisdom tooth and an abscessed tooth. I went under, came up, drooled on the way home, and then went to sleep. I think I slept for 24 straight hours.

Same thing the second time, when I had the remaining three removed. Slept a lot, drooled, etc.

And I think three of mine were impacted-or wait, only two. One came in okay, another one hurt like hell. I was glad to be rid of them.

Never even needed the codeine they gave me.

What is “dry socket?”

15

I had all four of mine yanked out, under nothing more than the usual moth-numbing stuff. And my wisdom teeth had been in for… hm… 5 or 6 years by that point?

No stitches, only thing unusual was that each tooth had more than two roots: one had five (although they were mostly merged together).

The one problem I had: because they were so far back, my mouth had to be as wide open as I could bear for a prolonged period of time. Next two days, my jaw was so swollen I had no choice but to suck liquids through a straw. Even then, getting my jaw to move enough to let that work was almost impossible. (It sure made trying to get the anti-inflammitory pill down interesting.)

<< Ambition is a poor excuse for not having enough sense to be lazy. >>