I'm getting a tooth pulled for the first time tomorrow and I am a huge wuss

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
21

Weenie SouthernSky? I prefer spineless twerp thankyouverymuch :smiley:

It’s hurting me so much right now I’m almost ready to do the ol’ string and the door knob trick. Of course my 12 year old son thinks this is a swell idea, and is off looking for twine. Enh, at least it’s keeping him quiet.

My fervent hope is that it will be this painful in the morning, but it won’t be. I always experience the I’m-on-my-way-to-get-it-fixed-so-it-feels-fine-now syndrome.

Ironically enough, I’m sitting here with a horribly broken finger(3 months and counting) that will most likely require surgery. Am I stressing over THAT? Nah.

I hope this dentist has a high tolerence for profanity. And Aerosmith. I’m bringing my beloved Steven with me. The walkman sounds like a good idea, especially coupled with gas. Whoo hooo, just like high school.

I’m babbling. So sorry.

Ashkicker, I’m on my way to your thread.

22

Yet another viewpoint demonstrating that every case is different:

I had three of my four wisdom teeth pulled at once, with nitrous and novocaine. No pain during the procedure due to the novocaine and wasn’t any anxiety, the nitrous is a big help 'cause I am something of a wuss. I tend to shiver for a few minutes coming out from under it, it makes me feel cold, but it was definitely far better than without. For recovery I was given a prescription of about a week’s worth of generic Vicodin.

Eat soft stuff (yogurt, soup, rice pudding, whatever sounds good) when the instructions say you can, even if you kinda don’t want to. Between not eating much and the painkillers, I felt shaky and nauseous and threw up the first night. I felt much better after eating something.

The Vicodin didn’t do a whole lot for the pain. What it did mostly was turn me into a zombie and help me sleep through the ache. I only took it for two days. I remember thinking “either this crap isn’t working or I REALLY wouldn’t want to know how much I’d be hurting without it.” After two days, I took a chance and switched over to Advil, and boom, no more ache. I highly recommend it if it works for you, especially if you have trouble with other meds.

I didn’t swell up or bruise much. I was up and around the next day, and two days after (the day I switched to ibuprofen) I was up for a couple hours of walking and rummaging at a sidewalk art show. YMMV. My brother swelled up like a chipmunk and lay on the couch for 3 or 4 days.

I went back for a followup a week later (was off Advil by then) and the nurse asked me if was having any problems, like dry sockets. I said I didn’t think so. She said, “Oh, don’t worry, you’d know.”

Sure enough, two had gone dry. (Lost the blood clot.) Didn’t hurt a bit. :dubious: I don’t smoke, so that wasn’t the reason. It just happens sometimes. (Try not to hit the empty spot with a toothbrush, and don’t rinse out your mouth too vigorously. I think that might have been what I did wrong.) What my dentist did was pack the sockets with medicated gauze to replace the blood clots, and have me keep them clean and come back a couple of times to get them changed until they healed enough.

Good luck and get well, Witch. Once you’re done and healed, you’ll be far happier than when you still had that broken tooth. And be sure to give us a big :smiley:

23

Whoo hooo I did it!!!

Granted I was so nervous beforehand my companion had to fill out all my paperwork because I was paralytic.

But I told the surgeon I was petrified, and he was a sweetheart. He had three assistants with him, that I called The Supremes much to their amusement, and they made every effort to make me feel comfortable and relaxed.

The worst part was that first novacane shot. Bleah. I had four, but after the first it was OK. I heard a crunching noise which was kinda funky too, but it didn’t hurt, so I didn’t care. There was quite a bit of wiggling, but when the tooth actually came out I didn’t feel it. When I asked if it was out and the doc ansewred in the affirmative I exclaimed “you’re shitting me!” and they all cracked up. I did have to have a stitch too. How brave was I? Huh? Huh?

In fact, I was such a good girl the doc gave me a toy elephant as a reward :smiley:

Hurts a bit now, but taking motrin for the pain, screw codeine. I’m just glad it’s over. And thanks you guys, I felt alot more prepared after reading about your experiences. It helped this wusspuss ALOT.

24

Yeah!!! I am glad it went so well for you. And you got a toy elephant? All I got was a toothbrush and toothpaste. Oh well. Glad it is over for you. You are so brave. Hope I can muster the courage to have my wisdom teeth pulled. Eeeek! I get creeped out everytime I think about it.:slight_smile:

25

Coolness. And good luck on the recovery.

I’ve had eight teeth out at various points, ranging in difficulty from knocking me out completely to hammer out an impacted wisdom tooth, to my last two wisdom teeth which came out without a fuss:

My dentist: Right, we’ll just check to see how tightly this one’s in, and …

<wiggle><wiggle><wiggle><pop>

Hmmm…that was easy…okay, let’s check the other one…

<wiggle><wiggle><wiggle><pop>

<pause>

You know, I had a whole hour scheduled for this procedure…

:smiley:

26

Ashkicker…turns out this was a wisdom tooth…and it was not bad at all. Really. I have another one that’s gotta go, but they figured they’d better not stress me out too bad today. The other one will go next month, and I’m not worried. It’s easy having it out, and it’s just a bit sore after. But let me tell ya, it feels a helluva lot better than having that broken tooth digging into the side of my mouth.

Don’t be scared, Ash. Seriously. Just get 'em yanked. You will feel invincible.

Rinsing your mouth with hydrogen peroxide is nasty tho. But since that’s the worst, I’m ok with that!

27

Good job on the tooth – and the toy elephant! You done GOOD to get that!

I’ve had one of those easy outs, too, jr8 – I said to the dentist, “So how long do you think it’s going to take to get this tooth out?” and he waved it in my face. If only they all were so easy! (The others weren’t, but we won’t go there!)

Minor hijack: Has anyone else grown extra wisdom teeth? I ended up with two extras – only one root each, but definitely not supposed to be there – and my poor sister had to have two full sets of wisdom teeth out.

28

excellent! always demand a toy.

it sounds like you have a great dentist there.

my dentist will actually sing to try and distract me.
i’m glad things went well for you.

29

I’ve had two baby teeth pulled because my adult teeth had grown behind them. Other than that my teeth are perfect. I was probably 7-8 at the time. I remember my mom gave me a present, that made me forget about all the horribleness. Trust me, it’s fine! Really! You don’t feel it, it only tickled a bit for me. You’ll be gassed, and there is probably a 0% chance of them messing up or anything.

30

I have two more wisdom tooth buds lurking in my upper jaw. I hope to God they STAY THERE.

Yay, Witch! I HATE getting my teeth worked on.

31

Thank you so much for your inspiring stories!! I have horrible dental fear. I’d had 5 abcessed teeth pulled by the time I was about 10, and Since I’ve become an adult I’ve been terrified by the thought of the dentist. I desparately need to go, I have good dental insurance, but I can’t bring myself to even find a dentist. I need someone to make the appointment for me (explaining my panic), take me by the hand and walk me in the door.

I have a friend with multiple personalities. Many times I’ve I’ve wished I had an alter to take care of scary things like doctors and dentists. I’m getting a little better - I recently went to the doctor for the first time in over 25 years.

StG

32

I stupidly let my 800mgs of motrin wear off before dosing myself up again.

NOT a good idea.

I repeat, NOT a good idea.

Did I mention that wasn’t a good idea?

33

This is in response to Southern Sky about the back molars not hurting. I also am very freaked out right now cause this Friday I am having my bottom left back molar pulled. I also suffer from severe anxieties. I had the 2nd to the back molar pulled on other side on bottom about a year ago. The thing that freaks me out the most is I am afraid they won’t get me numb enough and I will feel it. The last one hurt my jaw so much that I hurt for 2 months! I also don’t like it when the dentist tells you that you will feel some pressure. Excuse me but their pressure is my pain! Who do they think they are kidding. Can a person get numbed up enough to not feel this “pressure”? Also when they have my mouth open so wide the nitrous gas thing barely is even over my nose so that I can breathe the gas! Any help would be appreciated as I am so overwhelmed all ready and my appointment isn’t til Friday.

34

This is a 13 year old thread, and **Southern Sky **hasn’t posted here for the last 12 years.

That noted, you can get general anesthesia for having any teeth extracted, it’s very common for molars. You will be asleep, you will not feel a thing.

35

Zombie noted. Dentist here, probably not general anesthesia, but IV or oral sedation. No with local anesthesia you will always feel pressure. If your dentist doesn’t do sedation ask for Valium, one before bed and one an hour before the appointment. You’ll need a driver. Anything still hurting after a couple of days or so is a problem and needs to be addressed.

36

I’ve had teeth removed under general and teeth removed under local, depending on the complexity of the operation. Some teeth had to be broken up and carefully removed, which you don’t want to be awake for, but the last two wisdom teeth came out “wiggle wiggle wiggle pop” which was barely worth the anesthetic.

To be honest, I get more pain from the aftermath of having someone’s hand in my mouth for half an hour continuously than I do from the actual procedure. I have a small mouth and get jawache from holding it open for so long.

ETA: Just realized I’d already told the “wiggle wiggle wiggle pop” story" 13 years ago. Oh well.