Last time I was at the dentist, about a year ago, the dentist proposed I have my wisdom teeth removed before I leave for college (which I’m doing this August.) Why? Just so that nothing happens while I’m away at college. My jaw is small - I had braces from age 9-11, because two teeth were angled so they hit each other when my jaw closed and were going to be damaged. The problem was corrected (still have slightly crooked teeth, but no major problems), and yes, I am dragged to the dentist once a year, though I’m worming my way out of it this summer, most likely. Other than that one thing, I’ve never had any sort of problems, nothing.
My question: Is there any logic to the dentist’s proposal, or is he just out to make more of a profit? In my opinion, there is absolutely no reason to let someone put me under general anesthesia and slice my jaw open unless there’s a serious (as in, life or death or intolerable pain) situation. What are the chances that I’ll have such a problem - statistically speaking, perhaps? How’s it compare to the chance of complications from surgery?
My dentist said that it was because (among other reasons) it’s better to have them out when you’re younger because your body heals quicker then and that they can act up at any age. Sooner out, the better.
I had to have my lower 2 wisdom teeth removed years ago, but the upper ones are still there.
Recently I had a small cavity in one of my remaining wisdom teeth. I asked the dentist if, instead of filling the cavity, would it be advisable to just pull the wisdom tooth (since it would eventually have to be removed anyway).
He told me that first, I was wrong about it’s eventual removal; for many people, wisdom teeth never cause any trouble and don’t have to be removed, and mine looked like they were doing fine and he didn’t anticipate having to pull them.
Secondly, he said that in general wisdom teeth shouldn’t be removed unless there was a need for it; since after removal, the other teeth can tend to move in the mouth and possibly cause other problems. So his general approach was “if it’s not broke, don’t fix it”.
So I guess this varies by dentist, and on what the situation is with your teeth.
I’m not qualified, but I’d be willing to bet that without an examination of you and your mouth, that these questions aren’t meaningfully answerable.
The likelihood of these things doesn’t seem to be equal for all people.
I think that your only realilstic hope for an usable answer is to get an exam from another dentist.
Maybe you could post your dental Xrays online.
I’ve had all four out (at once - whoopie!), and my dentist had been recommending it for years previous. Even on early x-rays the top two were growing outward, not down.
Through my teens and twenties, one or another would flare up beneath my gums and cause all sorts of discomfort - I’d eventually come down with a cold, swollen glands, the works, for two weeks. Finally a top one started coming in, and almost immediately started breaking off. (Of course now that its removed, the next one in line is doing the same thing. Genetically weak teeth, my mother claims.)
If your dentist is recommending removal, he can probably back it up with x-rays. Just ask him to point out the problem to you. In my experience, they can really be annoying. I also recommend getting the problem teeth removed in one visit, if only because you only have to go through the recovery period once.
If you already had problems of this type without your wisdom teeth, your mouth is far too small to accommodate them. The usual problem with wisdom teeth is that they come in partially beneath the rear molars, throwing them out of alignment and causing considerable pain.
Wisdom teeth can cause a lot of problems in people who have a jaw too small to accomodate them - for one, they can really mess up the alignment of your other teeth and make them crooked. And then you’d have to go through braces again, which would suck. If they’re removed now, there would be no chance of that happening. But do get a second opinion if you’re nervous - can’t hurt.
If you’re worried about pain from the dental surgery, don’t be. I had two of my wisdom teeth taken out, and the actual operation was painless; I felt nothing in that area while I was under local anesthetic. When the anesthetic wore off, I felt just a general soreness, like I had spent the afternoon cracking nuts open with my teeth. And even most of that soreness was gone by the next day.
I had one of mine extracted a couple of months ago, because I’d managed to break the thing pretty badly (it was in crummy shape, apparently). Given the choice between doing extensive salvage work and then probably taking it out in five years or so, or just taking it out now, I opted to have that sucker yanked out of there. Mine was just a simple extraction. It took longer for the novacaine to kick in than it did for him to remove the tooth. They sent me home with a script for vicodin (with a refill, no less). I took one before the novacaine wore off, to get a jump on the anticipated pain, and then one more later that day, and that was it. No fuss, no muss, no bother.
Huh, now I’m perplexed. I thought it was generally the type of surgery done under general anesthetic, not just a shot of novacaine. For what it’s worth, there’s no way in hell I’d let anyone do anything like that without seriously knocking me out, but I believe that using general anesthesia does increase the risk of Bad Things Happening. Am I wrong about this?
Some dentists/oral surgeons use a local anesthetic; others (like mine) use concious sedation, which is given through an IV. I was awake during the procedure but have no memory of it, except for one brief moment where I ‘woke up’ (my extraction took longer than originally thought, and the drugs started to wear off. The nurse gave me another shot and I was out again in about 15 seconds. I didn’t feel any pain, but I was scared because it felt like about four people had their hands in my mouth.). I’ve never heard of wisdom teeth extraction being done under a general anesthetic where the patient had to be intubated, etc.
If you’ve had problems stemming from a small jaw already, then you may very well need to have your wisdom teeth out. When mine began to come in they pushed my bottom teeth together pretty badly. My dentist told me that wisdom teeth can be more prone to cavities, too, because they are so far back in the mouth that they’re difficult to brush. They also hurt like a SOB when they were pushing through. I completely understand why babies cry when they teeth!
My jaw was pretty sore for a couple of days and I threw up a lot the first night because of the blood that drained down my throat during surgery, but recovery time was minimal. I had all four of mine done at the same time, for what it’s worth.
As always, IANAD and your situation may be different from mine.
Oh for Christ’s sake, don’t be such a wuss. You do not need total sedation to have a tooth removed, the pain is not that great. :rolleyes:
…-IV sedatives are a larger health risk than locals anyway.
I’d assume they’d only recomment preventative removal if the situation looked likely to become a problem. I only had one removed, because the other three grew in fine. The fourth grew in “caught under” the tooth in front ot it, and had turned 45-degrees before I even knew it. Dentist said it would get cavities and/or gum infections if left there, so it should really go.
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You are correct about increased risks with general anesthesia versus local. I think local is the preference for most dental surgery these days, but it varies by doctor, patient, and procedure.
I’ve had all three of my remaining wisdom teeth filled (one got pulled). Since then, all three have either had the fillings fall out or have broken and are in sorry condition. Frankly, it’s just easier to yank them than to fill them, have this happen (because it’s hard to do great work that far back in the mouth), and then have to have them pulled anyway. At least that’s what’s happening to me.
The three are still there right now and are not doing well. Since they don’t hurt, I’m saving my money until I can get them pulled.
Well said. Anthropologically, what appears to be the case is that the wisdom teeth are holdovers from a time when the human jaw was slightly larger than the typical modern human. This means that in most people’s jaws, there is not adequate room for three molars to a side, and so the wisdom teeth will attempt to come in at odd angles – an “impacted wisdom tooth” is one growing forward towards the side of the second adult molar. But some healthy normal jaw structures can accommodate them, so don’t automatically have them removed – as elfbabe says, get a second opinion.
Personal anecdote: one of my second molars was badly damaged by injury and resulting caries, and it was removed by my dentist when I was in my late teens, and the wisdom tooth for that half-jaw guided to come in to replace it.
What type of anesthetic is appropriate depends on the situation. My wisdom teeth are all fully erupted, so I had an uncomplicated extraction. A shot of novacaine, a little prying and hammering with the elevator and mallet, and we were all done. Other people, whose wisdom teeth have never erupted, have to have an excision, which is much more complicated, requires heavier anesthesia, and has a longer recovery time.
I had all four out when I was in high school (because I was leaving for college and would soon be un insured under my parents’ policy.
Get them taken out if you have small jaw problems. I can’t brush my back teeth, my jaw is so small. Plus, they were all pointed outward… no fun.
I was given some nitrous to calm me down, then a shot of local. I fell asleep, but I wasn’t completely out.
I had one socket go dry and they didn’t heal for months (the pain was gone, but I had to fish out little bits of food before bed every night). Other than that, I took a lot of Tylenol 3 and watched a lot of movies.
Hello, my name is Antigen and I’ve had all four wisdom teeth extracted under general anaesthesia.
They were impacted and growing in sideways towards my back molars. They were starting to eat away at those back molars, grinding at them under the gums. In the interest of keeping my teeth (which had just been nicely straightened through 5 years of expensive orthodontic work) from being ground to powder, my dentist decided to remove them. Because they weren’t anywhere close to the surface, though, some slicing was required to get at them. :eek:
I don’t know about being intubated, because I never asked if it was done to me. Wouldn’t the tube be in the way, with all those hands and pointy things in my mouth? I know that they dislocated my jaw to make it easier to work in my mouth, though. Thank GOD they knocked me out for that!
That isn’t the norm, though, AFAIK. All of my friends who had wisdom teeth removed had it done in the dentist’s chair with happy gas and novocaine.
Mr. Spry just had one out at the age of 46. It was impacted and basically sideways, so he was sedated. He could have opted for local, but based on what they did I can see why he didn’t go that route.
Apparently something related to how the enamel is formed on the wisdom tooth had accumumlated into a cyst, which also needed to be removed.
While he is recovering fine, it is more of a hassle to deal with when you’re working a full-time job, and he probably would have healed faster as a teenager. Plus he would have avoided the months of pain that led to finally figuring out this needed to be done.
