BaldDudePeekskill, $2500 is a lot for a crown. Well above national average. Ours our $900 and something, don’t know for sure but under $1000. They are more in other areas but $1500 should get one in most places. Shouldn’t be any more pain in a RCT v. extraction, if it is hurting when being done the doc needs to improve the anesthesia. As for losing them anyway, there are huge variables. Of my six rootcanals one is over 40 years old and two more over 35 years old.
choie, No all wisdom teeth do not have to come out. A lot of people have no problem with them. My ball park numbers(just my opinion no cite and opinion varies widely among dentists) about a third really need to come out, a third could go either way and a third are no problem. I had a guy in day before yesterday with an impacted WT with decay into nerve. Caused a non restorable decay on second molar. Had to take them both out. In his thirties. If he had the third molar out at 18 would still have the second molar. Of course he hadn’t seen a dentist in almost 10 years which didn’t help.
So, choie, in the interest of helping you, I paid attention this morning.
Local anesthetics: the gum one to ease the needles. then the usual one, to numb the area. then I had the option of a third that lasts longer than the usual one. I took it, and am glad I did - I had to go get antibiotics at the pharmacy afterward, and it took longer than expected.
Once numb, the procedure involved lots of pushing and such. The worst part, to me, were a couple of instances of cracking, but I was warned before that part started. Then they put in the bone graft, and sutured it closed. It took maybe 20 minutes once it started. Gauze was put in, I was instructed to change it regularly. I left, stopped to get my antibiotic, and now I’m home. I’m only doing OTC painkillers, fwiw.
I go back for a follow up on Monday, then heal for months and do the implant.
I unfortunately had quite a lot of dental work, including 4-5 extractions. And frankly, most of the times they were no big deal : local anesthesia, and very quickly done. A little pain after the anesthesia wore out, but dealt with an ordinary painkiller. Once, however, it was seriously painful for a week or so (no particular reason for that, the extraction wasn’t any longer or more difficult than the others. Apparently it happens.
I only ever had three wisdom teeth. One of them was yanked out that way on Friday. It surprised me that he dove right in with the pliers. During a pause I asked, ‘Do I taste blood?’ The periodontist said, ‘Just a little.’ I waited for him to continue, but he was already done. I didn’t even know it. Of course there was a local anesthetic. Very little pain after the anesthetic wore off. I took ibuprofen.
This coming Friday, the other top wisdom tooth comes out. The one on the bottom hasn’t emerged, and isn’t going to. It will stay in place.
As for surgical extractions, I ground/clenched my teeth enough to crack a molar all the way down. It came out in pieces. I had an implant put in. The whole ordeal was rather painful. I took Vicodin for a day, then switched to ibuprofen for however many days it took to stop hurting. I don’t know what ever happened to the extra Vicodin.
Ahh thanks for sharing your experiences (both painful and non), everyone! Glad things went well for you yesterday, Lsura! Good news that they only needed to remove one tooth after all. Or will they be working on the other one later?
It does seem like it’s a case-by-case thing as far as the pain goes. I’m somewhat grimly prepared for that, at least once the numbness wears off. Hopefully I can avoid the Vicodin thing, as mentioned, but if it’s too awful I don’t want to be a martyr. Already bought an ice pack because the Evil Tooth acts up every now and then and suddenly I’m hyper-aware of the discomfort. Considering the problem is still there, that tooth is probably not long for this world either. But clearly it won’t come out the same day as the other one; they’re both on opposite quadrants and I’m certain my dentist wouldn’t consider it ever a good idea to make both halves of my mouth miserable at the same time unless it was some kind of crazy emergency. Which this surely isn’t.
Anyway thus far it sounds like the majority of you have had local anesthesia instead of sedation, which as I’ve mentioned is the biggest fear I have. So that’s comforting, at least. Thanks again!
I’ve only ever had teeth pulled in the chair, by the dentist, after a local anesthetic from a needle. Never had gas.
Most of the time they just use these special sort of pliers, grab hold and you don’t actually feel pain, just pressure. Then a cracking noise and out she comes. Bite down on a bit of gauze for about 20 minutes and eat on the other side til next day.
Only time it went a bit different was a stubborn wisdom tooth and an average dentist who needed to get one knee up on my chest for purchase to pull the tooth out.
My experience with local was not good. I had pain in the exact nerve, so even when the dentist was positioning the pliers, I could feel it. If he took the pliers off or touched any other part of my face, I did’t feel it. So I ended up going to the oral surgeon. Other than having to wait for that to happen, I don’t regret it. My after op pain med was tramadol with paracetamol, but I only took it a couple of times the first two days and then ignored it. Like I said my tooth decay was so bad, I think the mouth was happy as hell the tooth was out, and didn’t miss it. It seems it may hurt more if you’re extracting otherwise healthy teeth.
Oy! That would be awkward if he was a guy and you a gal. I hope it doesn’t come to that with me! I think the pliers are actually forceps, which if true will hopefully be the only time in my life I’ll have to deal with them! (Unless they were required when I was born. Oddly enough I don’t remember that…)
That sounds awful! Brrrrrr. I’m not sure whether this broken bicuspid counts as healthy or not, since it’s already had a root canal. But there’s no pain at all there, so I suppose relatively speaking, after pulling it’s definitely gonna feel worse than it does.
There’s no way I’m getting around having my gums cut open. There’s barely any tooth above the gumline now, so I don’t think there’s anything to grab onto. Oh dear I’m starting to get a little scared. I’m 47 (well, the date of my appt. is my 48th birthday) and never had surgery before so this is a bit intimidating, even if it is minor.
I’ll go to my regular dentist for the other: the oral surgeon thinks that it likely has decay under the crown, so the crown would come off, the decay dealt with and a new crown made - unless regular dentist thinks it’s not saveable once the crown is off, in which case, it’s back to the oral surgeon (regular dentist refers for all extractions, apparently).
Here in the DC metro area my implant was something like 4,000 “rack rate” (with in-network dentists it was a bit less). About half to the oral surgeon who did the implant part, and half to the dentist who did the crown. Annoyingly, 400 or so of that was for some kind of hardware kit that insurance simply did not cover - despite it being ESSENTIAL to the procedure.
For what it’s worth, I had the tooth extracted with IV sedation, and then the implant portion as well. Someone with less dental anxiety than I have might do it w/o sedation - but nuh-uh, no way. Not me.
I had pretty much zero post-op issues with it. I did the gauze bit-down that day, and ate / drank carefully for a few. The most annoying bit was the suture, as I could feel it and it drove me batty.
When I had my wisdom teeth pulled, I opted for sedation as well. Mostly because as the oral surgeon said “you won’t feel pain, but you’ll hear cracking”. That last bit was enough to make me opt for sedation (a wise choice as it turns out given how much trouble I’ve had with local anesthesia failures).
Oh - and on the “screw sticking out of the gums”: When they place the implant, the gum covers it. When you’re ready to have the crown, they actually make a small hole in the gum to attach a second piece of hardware. THAT is where there is indeed a screw sticking out of the gum, though it’s small and this stage isn’t for very long.
I don’t know if your having a lot of decay that requires a trip to the regular dentist so you don’t necessarily need the surgery is good or bad news, Lsura! But I hope it goes whichever way you prefer.
Well, no, but I figured what the heck–it’s a Monday anyway, it’s not like I’m gonna be going out and celebrating! I’ll be nauseatingly optimistic and say I’m giving myself the gift of good dental healt… no, I can’t continue, it just doesn’t ring true. Just not that kinda gal!
With all the talk about cost, I just spotted an Amazon Local deal for my dentists for implants, including x-rays, implant, crown, etc., for $2999, usually $5K. (I’m in Manhattan so this is probably not unusual.) I’ll be paying for this for quite some time, but I shouldn’t complain since at least they’re giving me a reasonable payment plan.
Yowsa, I’m glad you were helped by the sedation! Definitely sounds like it was the best choice for you. I guess this tooth will be my test case; if I can handle this extraction with a local, that’ll hopefully continue to be the case with other procedures (depending on the severity, of course).
I’ve had a screw sticking out of my mouth since I lost the crown (it’s the mirror version of the tooth that’s gonna be yanked) about 8 years ago. I’ve gotten so used to it I don’t even know what it’ll be like to have a full tooth there again!
I had pain in the exact nerve, so even when the dentist was positioning the pliers, I could feel it. If he took the pliers off or touched any other part of my face, I did’t feel it. So I ended up going to the oral surgeon. Other than having to wait for that to happen, I don’t regret it. My after op pain med was tramadol with paracetamol, but I only took it a couple of times the first two days and then ignored it. Like I said my tooth decay was so bad, I think the mouth was happy as hell the tooth was out, and didn’t miss it. It seems it may hurt more if you’re extracting otherwise healthy teeth.