Get them pulled, all at once! It’ll really suck for a couple of days, but then you’ll never have to deal with them again.
I speak from experience: my first one got impacted in the Soviet Union in 1989, which is NOT somewhere one wants to experience dentistry, particularly without reliable access to painkillers and antibiotics. I got those two pulled (the right side) when I got home, several months later, but left the other side alone, because the oral surgeon gave them abou a 10% chance of ever causing problems.
My 10% came up once again while I was out of the country, this time in France; availability of decent dental care wasn’t a problem, but let’s just say I don’t think my HMO would have covered it, so the second half of my trip was pretty painful.
If you get them pulled, you’ll never have to deal with them again, and trust me, nobody will notice they’re gone, not even you as soon as the gums heal up. Otherwise, you’re risking a lifetime of hassle and expense.
I agree. Get 'em removed. Mine came out when I was in my 20s (I’m 42 now). Don’t miss 'em.
Best of all was the drugs. It was a cocktail of valium and codene and something else (Nembutal maybe?). Two of the three came out like butter, but the third was impacted, and when the dentist said, “I’m going to have to break the tooth and pull out the pieces,” I was flying so high I gargled, “Wonderful!”
There you have my special (and only) experience with popping pills.
Okay Okay. You really don’t want to lose any teeth. That’s understandable. By law the dentist has to tell you if there is an alternate procedure to correct any problems and your dentist has offered capping. Most of your wisdom teeth will be shaved down to make way for the crowns, all that’s left will be little nubs. But if that’s good enough for you then okay. Another thing that may happen is when the dentist is preparing those teeth to be capped he/she may find that there is not enough salvageable tooth structure left. Good luck.
You won’t miss a thing. If anything, you may come out of it with new and exciting anecdotes involving pain medication and various surgical side effects. If your wisdom teeth are truly rotting out, as you say, they won’t be much good for tackling the “hard and chewy stuff” soon anyway. Join the toothless masses!
I say pull em. They’re just another body part that will break down eventually. Since you don’t need em, why not get rid of them? Actually, make sure they cut them out surgically (after putting you under of course). Much less hassle.
Country Club? I guess other services may call the Air Force that. Sorry babe, choose your rate, choose your fate. I was stationed at Nellis AFB, Nevada at the time - a mere 10 miles from Las Vegas. It was a rough life, that Air Force.
Pull them. You will probably have problems with them in the future, so get 'em out! I personally think that pulling is less painful in the long run…of course, I have all of my teeth…but only 2 of them are NOT crowned. (Unfortunately, I have a killer bite and have broken all but two of my teeth.)
The reasons why I had to get my wisdom teeth extracted at 19 was that they were coming in almost completely sideways and there wasn’t enough space in my mouth. As they were still just below the gumline, I had to go to an oral surgeon to get them removed. Pratically lived off milk shakes for the next 3 days until the swelling in my cheeks went down (definitely enjoyed that part).
I also wasn’t too thrilled with the idea of losing teeth, even though they hadn’t yet appeared. However, when I look into my mouth now, I can’t really say I can tell where my wisdom teeth should have been.
My fiance, at 42, still has at least two of his, I think the lower ones. They are not giving him problems, so he’s left them alone, though his dentist really wants them out just because they’re wisdom teeth.
But yours are obviously in bad shape. Here’s another vote for pulling them; it may not be fun, but in the long run it’ll be a whole lot more fun than the other things that could happen.
As for missing teeth, prior to my getting braces, they removed FOUR of mine! So I’m now down EIGHT teeth total, at 26. Nobody would know if I didn’t tell them, though. The rest of them are in good shape.
This is something i don’t understand. If the teeth are healthy, why screw with them? I still have all 4 of mine (I’m 31) and would only consider getting them out when they cause trouble.
As for wisdom, i had that removed at about 20.
As for molars, do not ever remove them. I have only 1, on my left side of my mouth and cannot even use it because 4 years ago I started a root canal, never finished it; 6 months ago the putty fell out, now its a Huge hole.
But I have no teeth on the left lower side so its hard to eat anything hard.
Be glad you are not me.
Because the dentist can usually tell on an X-ray when they are about to cause trouble by getting impacted, and it’s much less horrific to get them pulled before they are impacted and infected, and you look like the gophers in Caddyshack. Take it from me; I found out the hard way by not listening to the surgeon who wanted to pull them all when the first one got impacted. I had dental insurance then; it would have saved me a lot of money and aggravation, because the second round came out of my own pocket.
A slight hijack inspired by whiterabbit:
When my grandmother was in her late twenties/early thirties her dentist diagnosed her with serious gum disease and as a result, pulled out all her teeth, even the healthy ones. Since the dentist didn’t want to pull them all at once, he did–I think–one quadrant at a time. For days my grandmother woke up nights with her pillow soaked in blood. I’m inclined to believe the guy was a complete and total quack, but at least Granny got a great shiny set of false teeth.
I still have all four of my wisdom teeth. Many moons ago, I had to have two teeth pulled prior to getting braces to fix my overbite. So, I have two less teeth and there is no way of knowing (unless you were to count my teeth yourself!). The minute my wisdom teeth start acting up, they’re getting the hell out of there. No ifs, ands or buts… and I’ve seen the x-rays of the teeth and the roots from hell! :eek: My dentist doesn’t think there will be any problems, though.
A friend of mine had a few problems with one of her wisdom teeth. It got infected a few times, so she got antibiotics because she didn’t want to get it pulled. Well, after a few nights spent in fetal position, she had it pulled. She says if it ever happens again, the tooth is coming out immediately.
I am in general sympathy with your position, but it depends on what you mean by “rotted out”. I am in a somewhat analogous position, in that two of my wisdom teeth had cavities, one of them extremely extensive, to the point that the dentist claimed it was merely a “shell”. He would have yanked both of them, but filled the better one with a minimum of fuss. The other one he gave me a hard time about, but eventually agreed to try to fill. It hurt for a while afterwards, but eventually subsided. I’ve since been to an oral surgeon for some unrelated matter and he also recommended yanking it. But meanwhile I’ve not been having problems, so it stays.
My feeling is that once your teeth come out they are not going back in, so they should only be pulled out if you absolutely have too.
So if you can get the guy to drill-'n-fill 'em, I say keep them in. But I don’t think I would cap them.
One thing that cannot be emphasized enough is that you should not make a major dental decision without a second opinion. It is not common knowledge, but dental science has not advanced a whole lot over the years (other than in the development of new materials) and remains in many ways more of an art than a science. There is enormous variation in the diagnosis that you will get from different respectable dentists on such simple matters as what constitutes a cavity. If you are apprehensive about yanking the teeth, I would certainly go to another dentist and see if the guy just might be able to patch you up without caps.
Pull them. Pull them as soon as you know there is a problem with them. I had the wisdom teeth pulling from heck because I ignored them for so long. (And I still thank my surgeon every time I see him because it could have been much, much worse. I am still in awe of his skill. My teeth root were wrapped around the nerve that runs along your jaw. Bumping this nerve can and does cause permanent damage to your feeling in your cheeks. My cheeks didn’t even tingle when I woke up.)
I understand the idea, but these are wisdom teeth. They aren’t “real” teeth that count in the general scheme of things.
I guess other services may call the Air Force that. Sorry babe, choose your rate, choose your fate. I was stationed at Nellis AFB, Nevada at the time - a mere 10 miles from Las Vegas. It was a rough life, that Air Force. 