grrr damn wisdom teeth...

[LastKnight]

are coming in... and i was just in the dentist last week and they hadnt broken the skin yet. how many of you out there still have yours, had them removed, and lets hear the horror stories.

-LK

[BP2]

1. Good genes for wisdom teeth

Many people have them taken out. But my mom, brother and myself are all lucky to have straight teeth and a big mouth. So we still have our wisdom teeth. The trick is, that if you decide to keep them, have sealants put on them. It costs about $20 per tooth, but keeps the caviities out for 10 years or so. Never seems to stop dentists from trying to rip them out every time I visit a new one.

[LastKnight]

2. welcome to DU

always cool to see new names round here

-LK

[DemBones DemBones]

3. I was 30 when I had mine out and everybody said I'd die since

I was so old. Two of them were impacted. It was no big deal, except I got bored with jello and ice cream after a couple of days. The solution is to puree whatever food you want in a blender.

Your Mileage May Vary, but I wouldn't assume the worst. I heard more horror stories than you'd believe!

Good luck!

[Bundbuster]

4. A bad gas experience

2 of mine were impacted, so they gave me gas and cut away with a mini-saw. Right in the middle of it I woke up (not enough gas) and started screaming, so they whipped the mask back on me.

If you get gassed, make sure the dentist doesn't short you. And get plenty of post-op pain meds. They gave me percodans, which I of course hoarded for later recreational use.

[jpgray]

5. If you get them taken out, DO WHAT THEY TELL YOU!

I looked like the elephant man after the novocaine wore off, my jaw got so swollen. :)

[DemBones DemBones]

6. Nobody told me it was a bad idea to

eat Doritos while drinking beer the day after I had my stitches out. Ouch, those pointy tips can really hurt healing gums. I thought I could be careful but then forgot to do so!

[eileen from OH]

7. Two words only in my horror story : DRY SOCKETS

And, yes, it's as frightening as it sounds.

Get drugs.
Get many, many drugs.

And, do not, repeat, DO NOT have this done before a holiday weekend.

eileen from OH

ps. okay, okay, my daughter had hers out and had absolutely no problem. But the not-before-a-holiday-weekend rule still applies.

[FDRrocks]

14. Yea I got the dry socket...

Damn gause pad fell out... or rather I drank it :)

It felt like a migraine...in my jawbone.

[proud patriot]

8. I Don't have wisdom teeth

They don't show up on x-rays either .

I'm the next stage of evolution :evilgrin:

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

17. proudpatriot = Homo Superior

[Punkingal]

9. I remember when mine came in....

it hurt like hell! I knew then why kids are so cranky when they are cutting teeth! My husband had to have his sawed from his jawbone. How's that for a horror story?

[militarymanusaf]

10. Hearing the pliers clenching the tooth

and swaying back and forth trying to get the tooth loose still bother me (and this was done in October 2001). The dam or whatever it was that kept my cheek in place wasn't applied properly and pinched it very badly. That alone took over 2 weeks to heal.

[Kamika]

12. ouch

hope you got some money back or something

[Kamika]

11. I still have mine

they hurt when they came but they didn't grow wrong or anything, my dentist just cleaned the wounds from some infection and said they didn't need to be removed.. so I kept them

[FDRrocks]

13. Getting them out was fun...

btw if yours are impacted I would advice you get them out before they erupt, it hurts like hell. Don't worry about the removal process, they give you plenty of drugs to reconcile your pain.

[Buns_of_Fire]

15. I had all four of mine removed at the same time

My dentist sent me to an oral surgeon for that one, after a Raisinet managed to find its way into a most inappropriate (and painful) place. My ex told me that I was singing as I came out of the anesthesia. And I sang all the way home. And I was singing as she poured me into bed. And I woke up in a few hours and I was STILL f**king singing! (God only knows why I was singing. I hate losing pieces of myself as I get older.)

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

16. My lower left one grew sideways into the next molar

Was f***ing hard to remove (1997 - I was 32), and the victimized molar became soft and hurt for years. Now it kind of cemented itself back in place. My other 3 are perfect.

[Logansquare]

18. Good god, do not wait until you're 44 to have them out

like I did. My jaw swelled up like dirigible at first, and then deflated and turned an ugly green from bruising.

[Nikia]

19. Having them out was worse than I thought

My mother had always told us her horror story but my sister had hers taken out at the dental school where she went to college and went to class less than an hour later. When I went to have mine out after starting to have real jaw pain and headaches, I was nervous but thought based on my sister's experience that it would not be a big deal.
I had seen the dentist on a Monday and he agreed that I needed them out very soon and scheduled my appointment for Thursday afternoon. I told my boss about it and said that I thought that I'd be able to come in Friday anyway (I was wrong). I ate a big meal before my appointment because I thought that eating might be difficult for the rest of the day (At least I was smart about that.).
They gave me some gas to take the edge off after I initially thought that I wouldn't need it. I had never had novecaine injections and found those rather painful. All four needed to come out. The bottom two had partially errupted. Two were listed as soft issue impactions and the other two were hard tissue impactions. They used a variety of instruments a saw and and a crow bar (something like that). I felt pain when they worked on the second, third, and fourth tooth. They had to renumb the area each time. After they were all out, I thought that the worst part was over. I was very much mistaken.
I was perscribed Vicadin but had to wait a few hours to take it. The
Novacane was suppose to keep me out of pain during that time. I felt the pain about a half hour after leaving the dentist. The pain was the worst substained, lasting more than a couple minutes, pain that I have ever felt. I finally took Vicadin which helped a little. After the third does though, I was vommitting.
I didn't go to work on Friday. I stopped taking the Vicadin because it didn't seem worth vommitting from. I was in pain all weekend and didn't really want to go to work on Monday either. I only ate yogurt during the weekend.
While recovering, I continued to have headaches and started being congested all the time. The specialist that I visited a year later said that I may have developed my chronic sinus infection during that time.
It was a bad experience, but I'm glad that my wisdom teeth are gone.

[SmileyBoy]

20. My bottom two are breaking the gums.

My top two already are in. It hurts like hell when I open my mouth to eat something.

[Stuckinthebush]

21. 37 and still have 'em!

The dentist can have them when he pries them from my cold, dead...um...head.

When I was 18, my dentist said, "well, it looks like it's time to get those wisdom teeth out."

To which I replied, "Can I keep them?"

He looked at me, looked at my mouth, looked at me again and said, "I guess....if you really want to."

I kept them.

They can be a pain in the ass at times because food can get packed between them and my back gum - but this is usually only a problem if I eat a lot of peanuts.

[Deja Q]

22. Why are they called "wisdom teeth"?

From everything I've heard, they're not the brightest in design...

Had mine removed when I was 14... should have gone to the bathroom before being put under too... oops. But at least I wore black pants. :D

The stitches were okay, but the removal of them was hell.