Getting a teen's wisdom teeth pulled UPDATE post 66

[whoami]

I had all 4 (growing sideways) out under IV sedation.  I remember nothing and the aftermath was pretty minimal.  Both my boys had them out IV sedation.

I'm surprised so many had general. 

[Deleted]

I had all 4 done under general at age 34.  It was a piece of cake.  I healed up quickly and no problems and I didn't do anything but ibuprofen for pain..which was minimal.   If/when my son needs them out, it's the route I'd suggest. 

[quince]

I had all 4 under local at 16ish. It was not a problem. The noise and tugging were no problem, I remember not loving the smell/taste.  We started with NOS, but I stopped that in about a minute- did not like how it made me feel. 4 at once is the way to go, one recovery.  I also prefer to avoid general anesthesia when possible, although in my old age I've gotten jumpier at the dentist and don't think I could do 4 deep extractions under local again.

[JustLurkin]

I also had all 4 under IV sedation, at an emergency clinic--my regular dentist wouldn't do the extraction. I don't remember why. Had them pulled on a Friday--they came in suddenly and "winged out", my cheeks wouldn't stop bleeding--gave a student council speech on Monday. Apparently, someone told the advisor as I was walking on stage, I still remember the shriek of "She just had surrrrgery?!" LOL, wasn't giving up my speech--and rocked it!

ETA: I don't remember anything of the procedure. Lady in Red was on the radio, they told me to count backward from 10, I got to 9 and then it was time to wake up.  Regular Tylenol afterward, no stitches.

[justme]

I had three under general with a cyst and then ten years later had to go back and get the fourth that grew where the cyst was. All under general.

I'd still choose general. I had three moles removed under local and would not have been able to handle the same sensations in my mouth. Not to mention however long you'd have to keep your mouth open for. And how you'd keep from hearing shit. Sometimes they have to break the tooth or drill, yea I'd prob throw up at the noise. Even with my mp3 player up high getting cavities filled is about as much as I can take.

[Jaguar]

I had all 4 of mine removed under regular freezing, my dentist was a master with needles, he used acupressure and I felt nada.

[stillmovingforward]

DD1 did the 2 and 2. Not bad but she had to suffer twice. The bottom ones hurt more than the top.

DD2 and DS2 both got theirs out at the same time.  Much more preferable.  Same amount of pain as DD1 had with just her bottom coming out.  It was also less expensive to do it that way. 

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

Jun 22, 2016 19:29:09 GMT -5 debthaven said:

Drama this is really my hope, that he can do all 4 under local. But it's unlikely, because the xray shows that one is not very accessible.

I not only had mine pulled one at a time, I drove myself home! But it was definitely unpleasant.

I totally agree about following the post-care instructions religiously. But I'll be off when he does it, so I'm not worried about that (or about feeding him).

When I talked to the oral surgeon about it he said since all four of mine had fully erupted there was no reason I couldn't do it with local only.  He said most people don't they prefer to be out when it happens.

He said he wasn't going to push me in either direction it was up to me.  He probably thought I was crazy too.

[hoops902]

I had mine out as a teenager. I'd do all 4 on the same day. They did all 4 of mine under local, cut the gums, broke the teeth, pulled the fragments...it wasn't that bad. Worst part was smelling the burning teeth when they were drilling them to break them up, smelled like burning tires. I would guess that if it DOES hurt, it doesn't hurt any more to have 4 sore spots than 2.  If I'm going to be inconvenienced, I'd rather be inconvenienced 1 time than 2. 

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

Sleep with your head elevated above your feet too.  I stacked a bunch of pillows on top of each other but you could sleep reclining in a chair too.   

It was mentioned in the post-op sheet that it helps with the swelling because it allows blood to continue to circulate rather than pool like it will when you lie flat.  I had zero swelling when I woke up from my nap.

[GRG a/k/a goldenrulegirl]

Wasn't there a thread a year or so ago about a bad experience with wisdom teeth extraction? Can't remember who the author was...

[Deleted]

I started one before son got his done. People put me in a bit of a panic about the general, but it went pretty much perfect. 

[Chocolate Lover]

I had mine out under local in my mid 20s, DS had his out last year in his late teens under general. We were both fine, but neither of us have any health issues to consider.

I'd do 4 at once, I can't imagine having to go back knowing how much it sucked the 1st time. 

[snapdragon]

I had all 4 taken out by a oral surgeon. All 4 were impacted and coming in at a sharp angle under my other molars. I had the knockout gas and it was quick and fast. I believe that I only took 2 prescribed pain pills and than I just used Advil if necessary.

My only issue was that I looked like a chipmunk for almost a month. But that was 20ish years ago.

[jeep108]

Both my daughter and I had impacted wisdom teeth we both went under general and had all 4 pulled.  We were fine.

My husband's were normal he had our dentist pull his out. I think he did 2 at a time.

[happyhoix]

Jun 22, 2016 19:05:10 GMT -5 debthaven said:

Wow, that's interesting Billson! I doubt it would happen here though, it's too controlled.

I saw part of that to, the dentist gave the teen a whole month of a heavy duty pain killer (can't remember which one) - which is crazy.

I think I had two tablets of the heavy duty stuff, and then switched to regular Tylenol when I had my two wisdom teeth out.

That poor teen got addicted to the pills - seriously why would a dentist give her a whole month of them? Crazy.

[Anne_in_VA]

I used to work for an oral surgeon many years ago, so take this for what it's worth (my 2cents only), but if your son can tolerate the anesthesia well and not have more health issues, then get them all done at once.  If you think he'd do better with going 2x, then do that.  Be sure to follow the aftercare instructions faithfully and he should be fine.

[tractor]

I had both my boys done all four under general anesthesia. They both had teeth that were growing in sideways, so it took a little longer. They were in pain for 1-2 days, and after that they were good to go. The oral surgeon did the work and never met the boys until the day they showed up for surgery, didn't seem that odd to me, more like standard practice around here.

[Deleted]

I had all 4 of mine done at once under general and that would be my preference for dd.   I wouldn't want to have to go through the pain and care for the sockets more than once.  

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

It's also cheaper to do all four at once since you only pay for one service.  

[Deleted]

I haven't had this done but twice I've had 2 teeth removed under IV sedation and implants placed. In both cases, at least one of the teeth had been root-canalled and they tell me this practically makes the tooth fuse to the bone.

Based on that, I'd say go for all 4 under general. The first time, I ran a teleconference that afternoon and didn't even bother with pain meds. The second time I had a prescription for 25 Hydrocodone tabs (refillable!) and used one Tylenol. I thought longingly of the street value of the Hydrocodone before I carefully ripped up the prescription and threw it in the trash.

I've also had molars pulled under local anaesthetic; even though the process was painless I just found it nerve-wracking with all the pulling and the sickening crack as it separates from the jawbone. If they'd run into problems and had to remove a tooth in pieces I might have freaked out and ordinarily I'm a pretty calm person. With 4 teeth to be pulled, I'd definitely want to be put under.

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

I could not believe how long my roots were when he pulled out my top teeth.  He said those were some of the longest roots he'd ever seen.  It looked like something you see in the natural history museum.

[8 Bit WWBG]

I had all of mine done at once, under laughing gas.  Like DQ, the idea of going under was much more nerve wracking to me than the actual pulling.  And the tab was much cheaper.  Bonus, I was able to make jokes.  I told them I'd counted the money in my wallet and it better be there when I woke up.

I was TERRIFIED of dry socket.  I was really careful and I managed to avoid it.  The first 24 hours was the worst, but I did alright.  I didn't end up needing the pain meds.  The gauze was pretty nasty, but I made it through.  I was much more annoyed by not being able to eat pizza and steak for a few days.

I am thankful I was so lucky and things went so easy.  I did get a few bone spurs after the fact and had to go back to get them removed.  I was able to pop one on its own.

[Deleted]

9 teeth pulled at 3 different times and had my ass knocked out for all of them. I have a ridiculously low pain tolerance when it comes to my mouth so no way in hell was I staying awake for any of them. 4 teeth for braces, 4 wisdom teeth (1 impacted) and 1 abscessed tooth where I couldn't afford the root canal so had it yanked.

[msventoux]

I was awake for mine, I think two were impacted.  The idea of being knocked out scared me more than the threat of any pain from the extraction.  Extraction and recovery was pretty easy overall.  What sucked was there was some pain and I stupidly took the painkillers I was prescribed.  And found out they make me lightheaded and vomit constantly.  That was a fun few hours of laying on the bathroom floor by the toilet, heaving every few minutes and trying not to disturb the wads of gauze or get stomach acid in the sockets. 

[debthaven]

Wow, so many stories, so many different options. Thanks so much for your input everyone!

I found out today that one of my best friends of 30 years used the same oral surgeon for her son, so that was very reassuring (but also not a huge surprise, since she recommended my dentist). She couldn't even remember if it was done in the practice or in the clinic lol! I also heard back from DS3's specialist, she says she has no preference on local or general, we can do either, so we should go with what the oral surgeon suggests and just tell her so she can prescribe accordingly.

Our appt is Wed, so we'll see what he says. From what I understand, 3 are easy, but one is impacted.

In any case I feel much better now, so thank you for that.

ETA: After reading all the comments and hearing back from the specialist, I am leaning towards getting all 4 out at the same time. If he can do it under local and DS3 is OK with that, that would be ideal IMO. But it was VERY hard to take DD back for the second 2, so I'd really rather not have to do that again.

[Deleted]

Jun 23, 2016 20:44:20 GMT -5 msventoux said:

I was awake for mine, I think two were impacted.  The idea of being knocked out scared me more than the threat of any pain from the extraction.  Extraction and recovery was pretty easy overall.  What sucked was there was some pain and I stupidly took the painkillers I was prescribed.  And found out they make me lightheaded and vomit constantly.  That was a fun few hours of laying on the bathroom floor by the toilet, heaving every few minutes and trying not to disturb the wads of gauze or get stomach acid in the sockets. 

Yeah, no. I know better. Like I said before, I have a stupidly low pain tolerance for my mouth so no way in this universe was I staying awake. I require at least 2 novocain shots just for a filling. The last hack dentist I went to didn't believe me and tried to do some thing where the novocain was placed directly in the gum or some other such bullshit. 3 shots later, she finally gave up and gave me the novocain in the cheek. Dumbass. Can't imagine why I won't go back there ever again. Besides the fact that it's in Beverly and a colossal pain in the ass to get to. I am still pissed my original dentist retired as he was the only one that understood!!!

[Deleted]

Jun 23, 2016 14:46:46 GMT -5 NomoreDramaQ1015 said:

I could not believe how long my roots were when he pulled out my top teeth.  He said those were some of the longest roots he'd ever seen.  It looked like something you see in the natural history museum.

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

I've found Novocaine seems to be an art form. The dentist who replaced my cap in 2006 had me crawling the walls.

Didn't feel any of the injections the oral surgeon did.

Current dentist is good too. Gwen smashed my cap so I had to have it done again. One injection that took like half a second.

Satan dentist took FOREVER and kept moving the needle. Never went back to that guy.

[debthaven]

Drama I think that goes for any injections or blood draws, some people are better at it than others.

There's a man at our local lab who has been there for 30+ years, as long as I've been going there. He's very kind, great with kids, lovely, but man, it really hurts when he pulls blood. I had to get blood drawn every month during all 4 of my pregnancies, and I would say a prayer hoping I wouldn't get him. Of course I got him plenty out of at least 4 pregnancies X 9 months = 36 blood draws.

Last year I needed a blood test. Lucky me, I got him AGAIN! 30 years later, he's still as kind and charming as ever, but he also still really hurts.