Another thread that I can’t find right now, reminded me of my own wisdom teeth extraction, and I’ve always wondered if my experience was typical. Back in the 80’s, I would get frequent sore throats, at least once a month if not more. The gum area around my wisdom teeth would also get irritated, but when I asked my dentist if the wisdom teeth were causing the sore throats, he said no. My then-husband (from here on referred to as A-Hole) was very opposed to me having my wisdom teeth out, even though the dentist said it was necessary. So opposed, in fact (even though it cost us absolutely nothing out-of-pocket) that after the extraction he made me wait several hours before he picked up my painkiller prescription, and I distinctly remember standing outside the clinic waiting for him to pick me up because he didn’t accompany me there.
But here’s the thing. Since then, I’ve never had one of those sore throats again. What was a monthly or more occurrence completely disappeared after the wisdom teeth were gone, but my dentist said the wisdom teeth weren’t the cause. Whenever A-Hole would gripe about me having “unneccesary surgery”, I would tell him that it eliminated my sore throats, and he would counter with “the dentist said it wasn’t related.”
So has anyone else had a problem with sore throats and wisdom teeth? Was my dentist wrong?
I experienced the same thing! I’ve always wondered if I was the only one too. Before I had my wisdom teeth out I would get sick fairly often, before they started bothering me I very rarely got sick. It would always start with a sore throat and then progress to my sinuses. I never went to the doctor for it, it usually went away in a few days to a week. Once I got my wisdom teeth out my sore throat didn’t come back. I have rarely even been sick since. Coincidence, are we both just crazy, or is there something more to this sore throat/wisdom teeth correlation?
Well, one of the reasons many people get their wisdom teeth out is because they are hard to clean and sometimes harbor pockets of infection…
Maybe, just maybe (IANADentist) you had some infections in towards the back of your mouth (gumline or whatever), that were periodically wandering down to bother your throat. Just a theory.
I had my wisdom teeth removed in the mid to late 80’s. My dentist said they were definately related to my sore throats.
One of the three best (most life improving) medical events in my life.
The other two are:
- Being diagnosed and treated for Sleep Apnea
- Having my deviated nasal septum fixed, and several sinus polyps removed.
By the way, someone once posted on one of the sleep apnea threads that they found a discount online seller of CPAP supplies. If anyone wants to repost that, I’d be most appreciative.
E3