I finally had my wisdom teeth removed three years ago, when I was 44. All of them were at least partially exposed, but I still had it done by an oral surgeon. I had him put me under (he also offered to do it under local anesthesia, or sedation, but I just didn’t want to be awake for it), and it went just fine. I had the removal done on a Thursday morning, and I was a mess on Thursday, and I took off of work on Friday, as well (though, by then, I was at least capable of talking and being coherent). By Monday, I was still uncomfortable, but I was done with the prescription painkillers by then, and able to function more-or-less normally at work.
Worst pain I ever had was when I had a sinus infection that had traveled down into the teeth. Amoxicillin took care of it within about a half hour.
I wound up in an Urgent Care a few years back on New Years Eve because of that. I had been in god awful pain for a few days but I just thought it was a really bad cold. When I was talking to someone about it she recognized the symptoms as being the same as a sinus infection and told me the only way I’m going to kick it is with antibiotics and since it was a holiday (and a Thursday or Friday) I went to the Urgent Care and felt a ton better by the next day. I now have an ENT and have learned the signs of a sinus infection so I can get on meds before I feel like my head is about to explode.
Uncle Sam took mine by force when I was 18.
I was in Navy bootcamp, and about half way through training they sent everyone who was going into submarines to have their wisdom teeth removed.
I arrived at the designated location and took my place in a line of about ten guys standing in the hall. The line flew much faster than I wanted it to—every minute they were calling “Next!”
I had barely sat down when the chuckling oral surgeon started stabbing my gums with a needle. As soon as he set the needle down, he reached for the pliers. Not even five minutes for the anesthetic to take effect :eek:.
As he calmly pulled out each tooth, he explained that they used a different anesthetic, one that had an immediate effect, definitely not Novocaine.
Two were out within a couple of minutes. He motioned to the x-ray of the one that was still embedded sideways below the gum line and mercifully decided to let sleeping dogs lie. I never had the fourth. That was it.
He gave me a light duty chit and some tylenol/codeine pills and sent me on my way. The guys at the mess hall couldn’t have cared less—they still made me work the 18hour shift.
Some guys weren’t so lucky. There were plenty who needed new pillows after the pooling blood from deep oral surgery stained them.
And I never did serve on a submarine.