Pulling teeth!

I have an appointment with a dentist in a week, so I will ask him then, but in the meantime…

Is it normal to bang, chip, break a wisdom tooth up in order to extract it? (Bottom ones specifically)

Also, how rare is it to have 4 roots on an upper wisdom tooth? I had four on mine, and the doc said it was rare, but I couldn’t ask him how rare.

When my wisdom teeth were removed, the dentist sawed two of them into several parts so he could coax the bits out in the appropriate direction of how the twisted roots were going, rather than yanking the whole thing out in one piece and ripping gum in the process. This made “chair time” much longer, however, the healing was overnight and I really didn’t need any help with pain, even though all four came out at the same time.

But, this was a precision job, without banging, beating or otherwise acting as if the object being removed was a rusted exhaust manifold.

Years ago, I had a wisdom tooth removed that had a large cavity in it. (Poor college student with no money for dental care.)

The dentist put a metal collar-like thing around the tooth, and then began turning the handle to tighten it around the tooth. As he was doing so, there was a sudden crack, and he looked in and said the tooth had split. But he just tightened it some more, and then pulled out both pieces. They came out very easily – I don’t even remember any big ‘pulling’ at all.

The dentist told me this wasn’t unusual – wisdom teeth aren’t real strong teeth in the first place, and they are often in bad shape when it comes time to pull them (that’s why they’re being pulled).

I had all 4 wisdom teeth pulled at the same time. They came out in chunks too. I could swear when my dentist showed me the bloody remnants of them, be pointed to a piece at the bottom of what appeared to be a root and said “and thats a piece of your jawbone!”

I had an upper wisdom tooth with four roots removed over 50 years ago. It was a long and tedious process. the good DDS would work on it till he was worn out (what about me?) went to the patient in the adjoining room and did mickey mouse work till he regained his strength. He then came back to me and we went round and round again. After about four hours of this torture he triumphantly held up the offending tooth with all four roots complete and intact! The amazing thing about the roots was that they were all turned in as if to clamp a rod. I should have asked for it as it really was mine but he asked for it to keep as some kind of trophy.

The next time the remaining three were to be removed. The DA dental ASSistant deadened the remaining upper one and the lower on the same side. This DDS was an artist. No sweat, blood, nor tears. Both were out in short order but not intact, but who cares they were out. He asked me why didn’t I have the other lower out and save another trip. I told him I wasn’t asked and go ahead and deaden it now. His reply not enough time today. Hence another trip and a bit more pain.

I was knocked out for my wisdom-teeth-pulling, so I have no idea how it went. They had my gross bloody teeth in a tray in the recovery room and asked me if I wanted them. I was just coherent enough to refuse. :wink:

:eek:Warning!: If you’re disturbed by graphic descriptions of oral surgery… read no further!:eek:

I’m 43. Last year, my dentist here in Japan extracted my final remaining wisdom tooth.

My lower left wisdom tooth had never surfaced. In fact, it had stopped growing altogether (with only a crown, no roots had ever formed), and was sitting on its side, pointing at a slightly outward angle (towards my left cheek), deep in my jawbone.

My dentist showed me the X-ray, and recommended that the tooth come out within six months. I made my appointment for the following month.

First, I received lots of local anaesthetic. This guy is so great! I have never even felt it when he gives me that injection of Novocaine or Procaine or whatever! Then, he had to cut and peel away my gums to expose my jawbone. I felt no pain, but I could hear the meat being scraped off the bone… sssscrape scrape!

Next, he drilled four or five holes into my jawbone, and then used a tiny chisel to expose the buried tooth. He had to drill the tooth into three pieces for extraction. Finally, he sutured the incision in my gums.

The entire process took 15 minutes.

He showed me the bits of wisdom tooth he had removed. They were brown. I’m talking paper bag brown. He told me the tooth had died a while ago, and if it had remained much longer, the necrosis would have spread to my jawbone. Neither of my dentists in the US had ever mentioned anything about this tooth.

Though conscious, I felt no pain at all during the entire operation. My dentist had warned me, however, that I would be hurting for the next day or two when the anaethesia wore off, so I had taken two personal days from work to recover. His prediction was correct. For the next two days, I felt like a truck had hit the left side of my face.

My dentist is GREAT!

I think every case is unique.

In 1979 I had to have 3 of my wisdom teeth removed. The fourth hadn’t quite emerged from the gums yet and appeared to be coming out straight, so it was deemed okay.

The oral surgeon gave me a choice of gas or novocaine. I dislike the thought of being chemically unconscious so I opted for the novocaine.

The two top teeth came right out by pulling. Just a little pressure while being yanked.

The lower left came out about half way when it broke. The oral surgeon told me he’d have to cut the gums to get the root. I was in no position to argue.

I felt no pain as he cut into the gum, and in 30 seconds he had it out. Two quick stitches and I was done.

Due to the asymmetry of my extractions, my face swelled up unevenly and I looked like I was on the losing end of a prizefight.

Aftereffects were negligable. I was given a drug called Synalgos-DC for pain. After a couple of days I was fine.

Oddly enough, the fourth wisdom tooth had to come out 4 years later. My regular dentist took on this job because it was “simple”
Again, using novocaine, he pulled it out quickly, no fuss.

Later that day I felt so ill I thought I must be in shock. I crawled under the covers and slept for 12 hours. I felt like crap for days.

No idea why this simple extraction was so disasterous compared to the bigger job.

Good luck to you.

I had all 4 wisdom teeth removed last year. They had all come in normally about 7 years ago, and hadn’t really been much of a problem yet.

The dentist took out all four in about 3 minutes. He just went in with a pair of pliers or something similar (I was trying not to look). He grabbed ahold of each tooth wiggled a few times and then pulled it right out. The first three took about 30 seconds each, the last one a little bit longer. They all came out in 1 piece.

Not a bad experience overall, but the crunching and tearing sounds were bone jarring. The absolute worst part was that the novacaine didn’t wear off for another 8-12 hours- pure agony. I started a new job the next day, and barely had any pain and no swelling.

You are a FREAK of nature! Run to the nearest Circus and get in the side show!