Wisdom teeth

[tolbs17]

I have wisdom teeth growing. I hate having them and getting them pulled. I think I have to go to a dentist

[CoreySamson]

My dentist has said I actually have space for mine, so I might never have to get mine pulled. I'm guessing I'm in the minority.

[JayhawkCO]

My dentist has said I actually have space for mine, so I might never have to get mine pulled. I'm guessing I'm in the minority.

I didn't get mine pulled until 3 years ago (age 36 or 37).  They never actually bothered me, but I have some gum issues and the periodontist thought it might help.

Chris

[Rothman]

Kept mine.  Have room for more.

[Scott5114]

Getting my wisdom teeth pulled was an ordeal, though it wasn't really the fault of my dentist, who is excellent, but rather the circumstances of my life at the time, and my stupid body. All four of my wisdom teeth were impacted (they came in at right angles to the rest of my teeth) so they all had to go.

The rules for getting my wisdom teeth pulled were the same as for any other sort of surgery: No food for x hours (I think 12?) before the procedure. He also prescribed me triazolam as a sedative. I was to take the pills an hour before the procedure and then have someone bring me there, so that when I laid down on the chair I would be out of it.

Problem was, at the time, I was working graveyard shift. So I had to work a seven-hour shift with no food in my system, walking around in a smoky casino, then go immediately from that to the appointment. By the time I got to the dentist, I was feeling pretty nauseous from the lack of food. So the dentist decided to postpone the appointment to a day I had off.

We go through the whole thing again, except I'm at home now. I take the pills and become somewhat delirious, declaring to my mom (who was driving me) that "I love Renee [my wife]...and I love America!!" My mom asked what Renee wanted for either Christmas or her birthday, which were coming up. She wanted some sort of TARDIS merch, and I kept trying to describe what a TARDIS was, which just kept coming out as variations on "it's a blue box" over and over again.

When I got to the actual dentist that time they went ahead and did the procedure, and I was mostly out of it, but suddenly, as soon as they got the first wisdom tooth half-out, it must have triggered my gag reflex or something because I threw up on the dentist. He was very professional about this and quickly pulled the tooth the rest of the way out, but realized this way of doing the procedure wasn't going to work, so he canceled the rest of the procedure.

For the other three, my dentist referred me to a full-on oral surgeon, who was able to put me under full anesthesia and get the three remaining teeth out, presumably without incident, though I have no way of knowing. The healing process wasn't bad; I was prescribed opioids for pain but ended up not using them, instead being able to make it through on high doses of ibuprofen. The worst thing was that the empty sockets collected food when I ate and I had to use a special syringe to flush them out with water to keep them clean.

[GaryV]

For years my dentist deferred to my orthodontist, and my orthodontist deferred to my dentist.  So I kept them.

As an adult, I was given the choice of a root canal or removing a wisdom tooth; I chose the extraction.  Later the bottom one on the same side had to be pulled too.

So I guess I'm only half-wise, on the left side.

[tolbs17]

Kept mine.  Have room for more.

That's great. I want mine pulled out cause it's annoying

[1995hoo]

I had mine pulled when I was 21. There wasn't room for them and they were painful. My dentist is not an orthodontic surgeon, so he referred me to a surgeon near his office. I got it done a week or two before returning to Charlottesville for my fourth year of college and my mom drove me to the appointment in case I was unable to drive home. I was very glad she did. The surgeon gave me what was supposed to be a regional block (i.e., anesthesia that doesn't completely knock you out), but it knocked me out cold and when it came time to leave I was so loopy I could barely walk. Mom had to help me to to the car. On the way home, at the surgeon's recommendation we stopped at Baskin-Robbins for a milkshake....and shortly after leaving there, Mom had to pull over so I could puke on the side of the road.

The recovery otherwise wasn't bad at all, though it felt weird for a month or so until the empty spaces where the teeth had been healed over.

[SectorZ]

I was 18 and just into college when mine got yanked. I had to have it done by an oral surgeon based on what the x-rays showed, and thank God because they were a horror show. I was incredibly sick for a week after. I had mild pain in the lower-right one about two months before they were yanked, and that persisted until they were pulled.

I have thus far never met someone with a worse experience than me, though Scott5114 has a much funnier story than me I'll admit.

[Max Rockatansky]

The laughing gas they used to give you for surgery was a lot of fun until you got the hangover after effects.

[oscar]

I have thus far never met someone with a worse experience than me, though Scott5114 has a much funnier story than me I'll admit.

A college classmate had to have his wisdom teeth removed. Alas, he was a hemophiliac. That meant he had to be admitted to Stanford Medical Center, for what was for me a routine outpatient dental surgery.

[OCGuy81]

I had mine out in college. Went to an oral surgeon and was put under.

The following weekend sucked, ice packed around my face, but was okay very soon after.

[formulanone]

Had two removed on one side in one go, was feeling a little sore at age 25 or so. No big deal; no eating for most of a day and then just soft stuff the next day or so. Just avoid eating around that side of the mouth (small bites help) and no straw usage for a while. Another cracked while chewing; that was extremely painful. I didn't want to eat or drink anything if I could help it, and it took two weeks to get an appointment. The cracked tooth took longer to remove but the dull pain after it was removed paled in comparison to the sharp stabs of pain from the semi-exposed tooth nerve endings...there was plenty of local anesthetic to make the job largely trouble-free. I felt better in 2-3 days. One last wisdom tooth remains but it's never given me problems, so it stays put.

My wife had all four impacted, and had to be surgically removed. She didn't want to eat much for the next 3-4 days. Basically, clear your calendar for one-or-two days and watch some TV.

I've had a root canal performed and that was much less fun in the pain department, more time-consuming, and you had a lot more eating / medical restrictions. 

[Scott5114]

The laughing gas they used to give you for surgery was a lot of fun until you got the hangover after effects.

My dentist still uses laughing gas for anything more invasive than a cleaning. Never had any hangover effects from it. He switches the mask over to 100% oxygen when he's done and has you breathe that for a while before you're released, so maybe that's why.

[Max Rockatansky]

The laughing gas they used to give you for surgery was a lot of fun until you got the hangover after effects.

My dentist still uses laughing gas for anything more invasive than a cleaning. Never had any hangover effects from it. He switches the mask over to 100% oxygen when he's done and has you breathe that for a while before you're released, so maybe that's why.

Knocked me the hell out when they were yanking my wisdom teeth.  I was hungover for about two days after that surgery.  Somehow my brother talked me into playing Horse the day after surgery and I beat him by just standing around lobbing three pointers.

[dlsterner]

I have wisdom teeth growing. I hate having them and getting them pulled. I think I have to go to a dentist

Are they giving you trouble; or has your dentist told you they need to be pulled?

I had mine pulled back in 1989 or so - I was about 30 at the time.  All four were impacted (coming in sideways) so they had to go.  Went to an oral surgeon. Had a buddy drive me there and back, had general anesthesia (IV in arm) and didn't remember a thing.  Went very well.  Didn't take long to get back to normal.  So my "story" is kind of boring.

If you get it done, hopefully your dentist refers you to a good oral surgeon (since they specialize in that kind of thing).  Have some of your favorite ice cream waiting at home.  Maybe some milk as well to make milkshakes in a blender.  Chill out for a day or two afterwards.

[kkt]

I have wisdom teeth growing. I hate having them and getting them pulled. I think I have to go to a dentist

If they're bothering for, go ahead and get them pulled.  It's not going to get cheaper if you wait.

[Dirt Roads]

I had the misfortune of keeping all of them.  At least for a long while.  They came in fully about by tolbs17 age.  By the time they came in, each one needed fillings.  Thirty years later, those fillings needed to be replaced.  [Thick mountain accent] That weren't smahrt [/accent]  The new glue broke that tooth in half, but it took 6 months to figure it all out.  I told the dentist to pull the top one at the same time.  Got a bad case of "dry socket".  A year later, he wanted to replace the fillings on the other side and he couldn't believe it when I asked him to pull those as well.  Got another bad case of "dry socket".  It was worth every painful moment to get rid of them.

[Rothman]

I have had one filling in one of my wisdom teeth.  Got it in my early 40s.

[kkt]

I only had two wisdom teeth, and I had them taken out in my early 20s when they started to ache.  I had no dental insurance, but the dental school did them for cheap.  They had dental students doing the work, but every step along the way was checked by their professor.  Everything went well but it took about three hours because of all the checking.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

I got my wisdoms out at 17, so it surprises me that that's 10-15 years before the vast majority of people.

[jeffandnicole]

My mouth was so crowded, I had 8 teeth taken out! 4 were my wisdom teeth, 4 were teeth closer to the front of my mouth. Those 4 were taken out before I got braces in 5th or 6th grade. The wisdom teeth were taken out when I was a teen, before they really had a chance to come in. I don't remember any of the surgeries, although I know I was completely knocked out for my wisdom teeth removal.

[I-55]

I remember during my wisdom teeth removal I was dreaming that I was playing a 3D tetris match, or something like that.

This is also how I developed an allergy to Ibuprofen. Yes, developed, not found out. The next time I took ibuprofen after recovering from surgery my hands blew up like the Michelin man and I had to leave school. Since I had only had a bowl of Reese's Puffs for breakfast and hadn't touched anything it was easy to single out as the cause. Not to mention I don't have a reaction to poison ivy so the odds that it were something that I touched were slim to none. Only allergy I have, and I have to take Tylenol now.

[US 89]

Around the time I was going into high school, my dentist told me I would likely have room for all my wisdom teeth. Fast forward a few years... that was no longer the case.

I had to go to an oral surgeon to have all four removed when I was 18 and they knocked me out for it. As far as I know, I didn't say or do anything too weird afterwards... but I think that's probably because they gave me a higher anesthesia dose than I needed. After the procedure I remember being told to walk from whatever chair I was in to another nearby chair (maybe 15ft away) but I was in no position to move anywhere on my own. I didn't get more than a few feet before they stopped me. At some point maybe 15 minutes later we tried again, and this time I was able to stumble across the room and somehow land in the other chair. I then got a wheelchair ride out to my mom's car and slept the whole way home and then for most of that afternoon.

(This compared to my brother, who had the same procedure I did a few years later but walked out of the office on his own and was pretty much awake the whole rest of the day.)

[webny99]

I had all four of mine out at age 17. I was put out completely, and despite me being nervous, it went much smoother than I expected. I hardly even had any swelling.

I'm kind of surprised people have mentioned getting it done at their regular dentist. I can't even imagine that, although I suppose it would be possible if your wisdom teeth weren't impacted.