I’m going to be getting my wisdom teeth out on Friday, and I’ve got a choice of getting a general antithetic or just local with nitrous oxide. Can anyone recommend (or for that matter - not recommend) one or the other?
Scotcho
I had local and I had no pain.
How many teeth?
I had two (non-wisdom) teeth removed in the chair for cosmetic reasons prior to having braces put on, and it was a very simple and remarkably painless operation.
A full set of 4 wisdom teeth? Heck, no way in hell I’d do that in the chair. Mind you, I didn’t have to choose, because my bottom 2 came in sideways and had to be shattered to get them out, so a hospital/general anaesthetic was the only option anyway. But even if that hadn’t been the case, I’d have gone the general anaesthetic route.
Truly, considering how big wisdom teeth are, I’d be tempted to go with a general anaesthetic even for just two of them. My friend had 2 done in the chair and said afterwards she wished she’d gone to hospital instead, but as with all ‘personal opinion’ scenarios, YMMV.
I had four out and I had general anesthetia. I am very glad that I did judging by the amount of pain I still still in after I woke up. I would take the sleep option just to be cautious. I imagine that it is a royal pain to have your mouth forced open while they crack teeth out of the rear of your jaw even if it doesn’t actually hurt that much.
I had mine removed in two lots - the upper and lower on one side, then two weeks later, the upper and lower on the other side. Each time I had a local anaesthetic (injected). I felt a bit of pain after the effects of the anaesthetic had worn off, but nothing major. I was fine again by the next day.
I’ve had three of mine pulled. Fourth comes out in January. I only had novocaine. The first two I had done at the same time. The dentist gave me some sort of painkiller that I had a bad reaction to so I stayed sick for two days. The third one I got taken out just a few weeks ago. This time the only painkiller I could take was tylenol. I felt fine later on that day.
My wisdom teeth all had straight roots though that allowed me to get it done at the dentist’s office.
Are you having all four out? I’d opt for a GA, if possible. I had mine out under local - the upper/lower right first, followed three weeks later by the upper/lower left.
The pain and swelling were bad afterwards but that will be the case no matter what. I didn’t mind being awake during the procedure, although the sound effects were a bit grim. The worst part was having most of my face covered with the sterile drape.
General. Mine were all impacted, and being away while they were shattered and dug out of my gums and jaw would have creeped the shit out of me.
Oh–and rent a bunch of movies before you go to your appointment, so you have some kind of passive entertainment to take your mind off it.
I had general anesthesia when I had all four of mine out, and based on some threads I’ve seen here about it, I’m very glad I did (I really don’t do well with loud crunching noises inside my head, for example.) It took them way too long to get the IV in and had to poke me at least five times before actually hitting a vein (I’m very pale; it isn’t hard to see my veins), so I had heroin-addict bruises all over my arms for weeks, but whatever.
Top two and lower left pulled with the use of novocaine.
The lower right had come in sideways and I had to get knocked out while the tooth was split and removed in sections.
Virtually no pain afterwards and I was eating regular food (non mushy) in 3-4 days.
I had a molar pulled a few months ago with just novacaine. It didn’t hurt a bit, but let me tell you- I’ll go to my grave remembering how horrible it sounded and felt. I would ALWAYS opt for the anesthesia if it’s possbile. I have a pretty strong stomach for gross, but that was about the grossest thing ever.
I had all four out at once, and I was out like a light. I had what was called ‘dry socket’ in my two lower teeth - something to do with nerves being exposed, and big pain…I was in bed for a week. We had just painted my bedroom purple (hey, I was like 15, and it was cool!) and now the smell of paint always makes me think of spending that boring week in bed, doped up.
Come to think of it, a week in bed doped up sounds like a pretty good deal!
At any rate, I would recommend getting them all done at once, with as many drugs as they’ll give you.
And none of your over-the-counter rubbish for afterwards. Get a script for some decent analgesia.
I give him a month before he is hooked on oxycontin and a rash of pharmacy robberies begins.
I had four yanked under general anesthesia and it was great. They came in the room and the next thing I remember was leaving the recovery room to head home. My procedure went really well. I hope yours does too.
Well, maybe not that good. Just something with a fair amount of codeine. More than OTC analgesics.
Wow!
I didn’t expect so many posts so quickly. As to some of the questions raised - I’m getting all 4 of them out, and two are impacted. I’ve never had nitrous oxide before, and i was wondering if anyone has had it? A friend of mine had his out recently and he said that with the nitrous the doc told him to try to count to 3. He said he got to 2.
The doc also told me of a third option - just local. I don’t think i’m quite man enough to handle it, though. Oh, and apparently i’m getting a lot of codine for the days after. should be fun, i guess.
Metacom - good idea on renting the movies before i go in for the extraction - I don’t think i’m gonna be in any condition to go to the movie store after the surgery.
Scotcho
Expert checking in–I had eight (yes, EIGHT) wisdom teeth out. It was done two, two, and then I insisted on having the other 4 done at once. All under general anesthia.
I lost a month of my life to them.
When I had mine done, it really depended on the condition of my teeth. My brother’s and sister’s were impacted, so off to the oral surgeon they went for some pretty fantastic drugs. Mine weren’t in such a state - they were just crowded - and my dentist was able to do them in his chair. Novocaine and gas for me.
I like to think that my extraction was the easiest. My bro and sis were really out of it for a day, then the rest of the week they didn’t do too well either. Seemed like their recovery time was longer. For me, it was tender, but not too bad. I did have chipmunk cheek for a while. The procedure was shorter, tho’ the noise was a bit distracting and not so much fun - if these type of things make you queasy, that’s something to think about.
For me, I thought the dentist-in-the-chair procedure was a better choice.
I had four removed (2 were impacted, the other 2 extracted on recommendation of my dentist). I opted for general anesthetic. I blacked out about 15 seconds after it was administered, and did not awake once during the entire procedure. Objectively, it seemed no time passed at all between going under and being shaken awake several hours later. When I did awake I was so profoundly stoned that I felt wonderful. When the nurse came by to ask how I felt, I told her “I’m so wasted! I feel great!” My now-wife-but-only-girlfriend-at-the-time came to pick me up and had to support me as we walked out to the parking lot. There was her car. “How did you get the car here?” I asked, truly dumbfounded. I have never felt that high, either before or since. It was good fun. When the pain came several hours later, the Vicodin I was perscribed worked very well. I had the procedure on Friday and by Monday I was already almost fully recovered.