[Quagmire]

So I went to my dentist today to take a look at my wisdom teeth. Not surprised they had to come out, but 2 of them are still way back in my jaw so getting them out will be hell. One is doing a kamikaze into another molar( still below the gum line). One is coming in normally, but of course has the risk of getting infected.

[Banana]

Sooner the better.

I never thought I could *actually* fell deeper in love eating apples and corn on the cob after I had mine pulled.

[billybobsky]

It's a racket. My dentist was like get your teeth pulled or ELSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Eight years later and all but one has come in perfectly normally (the other one is sitting below the gum deciding if it should or shouldn't emerge). I can easily reach them with any commercially available tooth brush...

[hiltond]

I am apparently one of the lucky people that has two sets. Go me. Since I don't have insurance right now I think I am just going to see what happens as well. I remember seeing the bill that Blue Cross paid for the first time. Wow.

If it makes you feel any better I was in class the next day.

[FFL]

I was told for over 10 years that my wisdom teeth needed to come out.

I put it off until a couple years ago, when one of them started to break through the gum and HURT LIKE HELL.

[Brad]

Yeah, I've known some people who put it off way longer than they should have. None of them had good stories to share.

Do yourself a favor and get them removed at the earliest opportunity. Be glad that you're removing them while you're young.

[macleod]

I am having mine pulled two days after I get home for Christmas break from college! I am not looking forward to it; however, from what I have heard it will be better to do it earlier rather than waiting. I have heard the recovery isn't that bad if you listen to the directions rather than just doing whatever you feel like. I say this because my friend ate pizza the next day and had some weird healing issues. He is kind of an idiot though!

[miniuser]

I had all 4 pulled at the same time. I went to a dentist that specializes in oral maxilofacial surgery. I don't think it took more than like 45 mins. This was back in 1990 or so. It takes you about 2 weeks to recover fully. Not a big deal. I was sooooo glad I had all 4 done at once. It's the same recovery, and you don't have to come back, and have the whole thing done again for the second set of teeth. Good luck with whatever you decide.

[Quagmire]

Yeah. We talked about it. It was going to be an all 4 thing. It was a matter of when though. Planning on doing it around thanksgiving so I have 4 days recovery without worrying about missing school( will have to miss one day for the surgery itself).

[Ryan]

For some reason, I only have two wisdom teeth anyways, according to the x-rays they've taken. Right now, they don't think either will have to come out. I did some quick checking into my family history and going back to my grandparents, no one has needed to have them removed.

I like my genes.

[macleod]

My sister didn't have a single wisdom tooth. She was pretty lucky though that way. Her teeth are perfect. She never had to have braces...I am another story though. I had braces and have all 4 wisdom teeth. Well kind of. I have 3 normal size ones and then one is tiny. Like baby tooth sized. I know...weird.

[thegelding]

yeah...my history:

at 18 i had the xrays done and you could see the bottom ones coming in sideways...but you couldn't even see the top ones they were still so high...the dentist wanted to take out all 4, he said he could see a hint of the top ones and that they were crooked too...but i said no, just take the 2 you can see and we will look at the others later...

so then i go off to college, then work etc etc...top ones come in crooked in college, but i ignore them as i am a poor student with no money...plus they only hurt sometimes as i am usually drunk or stoned or both...

long story short, i had jaw and teeth pain every once in a while at these teeth moved or whatever, but i would take advil and ignore it...till i was 38 and just thought, what the fuck am i doing...i get horrid pain for a couple of days a month for the last 15 years or so, why i'm i doing this to myself...so i go to the dentist and he pulls them no problem and i have had no pain for the last 6 years...should have done it at 18...or at least when i was 22 and they started hurting

g

[Anonymous Coward]

Good luck with the surgery.
As with everything else, people have different reactions to this, and I hope your body tolerates this well.

I had all four out at one time at age 23. At the time it was a required procedure during boot camp for recruits who had volunteered for submarine service. Military dentists use the standard novocaine and give the equivalent of tylenol for pain once the anesthetic wears off. Our final run was scheduled for the next day or day after and even though I had a "light duty chit", I didn't want to be transferred into a later class, so I ran anyway and only experienced some minor throbbing.

From what I hear, some civilian dentists put their patients to sleep and prescribe more powerful drugs.

Regardless of the pain killers prescribed, since you are young and presumably in relatively good health, I would guess that four days will be more than enough to recover. (Unless your dentist prescribes some narcotic. I got some of those once and after taking one, I threw them out and elected to tolerate the pain. I can't imagine how I'd feel after taking those for days.)

[Jerman]

Yeah, it's fun. Had three removed, all impacted, in May. (Less than 2 months before my wedding). Two of them had four roots, one had six. Turned out my surger took more than twice as long, like an hour and a half. So maybe that is why I can't remember a thing, as they gave me an extra dose of whatever that awesome stuff is. But they had to look around a lot for the roots. I was expecting to go back to work the next day. Yeah right, I was out for the next week. The vicodin was nothing to write home about, but the I.V. for the surgery was a lot of fun.

[Freewell]

I did the whole put it off as long as possible routine. Thought I would make it through college before I even thought about getting them out. Wrong. Went in for regular dental appt. and got yelled at! Come to find out that not only were mine almost twice as big as my other teeth and impacted, but severely infected as well. Of course, the horrid jaw pain and the fever running up and down my arm might have been a clue!

Anyway, I found out why the dentists are usually so adamant about getting them out. Once established, that infection could at any point in time travel from the jaw to a major blood vessel that runs below the gums, taking its bacteria straight to the brain, where it goes from an annoyance to a potentially life threatening condition quite rapidly in some cases. Needless to say, I got my butt chewed out for my procrastination, and booked the first available appointment with the oral surgeon! I am sure most folks could go their whole life and never mess with it, but I didn't have that luxury. No big deal...I'm just glad to be rid of them!

As a foot note, try to go with a known painkiller that works for you. Take it from me, this is no time to find out the hard way that a particular perscription provides you with the insatiable urge to worship the porcelain god!!

[Sauvblanc]

I had all 4 taken out fairly recently. All had come out and had been around for several years. The problem is that they were set so far back in my mouth that it made it hard to clean and floss. The dentist recommended it otherwise I'd be looking at lots'n'lots of cavities.

Done under general anaesthetic by a surgeon, no major swelling or problems-but I had a hand-shaped bruise on my face from the pressure the surgeon used to try to extract my teeth. Essentially was on a liquid diet for about a week, about the time it took for the stitches to dissolve. Thank goodness for painkillers, though!!

Good luck, man. It'll be good to have it over with.

[InactionMan]

I didn't much enjoy having my wisdom teeth pulled. Hurt like hell and was it almost impossible to smoke after. I'd have it to have three cigarettes just to get the nicotine of one.

[RowdyScot]

I was told to wait and see in regards to my wisdom teeth when they first started to come in. Thankfully, I've since been told that so long as I don't have trouble cleaning them they don't need to come out. They came in straight and left enough room on every side, thanks to some recessive trait that I have causing me to only have 3 front teeth on the bottom.

[BlueRabbit]

I have experience with the wisdom tooth-kamikaze thing. Both of my lower ones were growing sideways into my molars, but fortunately I got them out before they hit. To get it out they'll have to cut a hole in your gum, which hurts like hell for a few days - it took me about a week to recover fully. And then after that's all done there's still a giant hole in your gum, which you have to squirt with mouthwash everyday. Now that's annoying. However, it's still probably better to get them out now than have pain later. Just give yourself plenty of time to recover.

[DMBand0026]

My dentist told me I didn't have to have them out if they weren't hurting me when they were coming in, so I never had them out. I've never had a problem with them and they've been in for at least 4 or 5 years now. Good luck Quaggie. Hopefully they dope you up so you can't feel much.

[Eugene]

If your wisdom teeth are impacted, then you really want to get them out...they'll start pushing on those other teeth. None of my teeth were impacted, so they really didn't need to come out, though they can still make your jaw pop from time to time...not a huge issue. What it boils down to is the orthodontic surgeon makes more money pulling your teeth out, so he'll ALWAYS suggest that you have them out.

I had mine taken out anyway... As they weren't butting up against my other teeth, the procedure was simple. They gave me local anesthetic in the form of a shot, scraped away the soft tissue, shoved a mini posthole digger into the gums and popped the teeth out whole. For those with impacted wisdom teeth, too bad...you get to be knocked out completely and worked on with saws/drills. Your wisdom teeth get pulverized in the process.

[AWR]

I had 4 impacted WT extracted at age 20 under general anathesia. The doctor showed me the x-ray and I wasn't about to stay awake for that 4 TIMES!!

The recovery wasn't fun.

But it wasn't THAT bad either. Put it behind you. It'll save you some stress and potential damage to other teeth and more difficult work down the line.

[Wrao]

I was always told I most likely wouldn't need mine removed, as they started to come out, this was further confirmed, they were coming in perfectly, then 2 of them started to veer into the other teeth and suddenly I 'needed' to have all 4 removed. It wasn't too bad, it's fun getting put to sleep(I opted for that over local anesthetics because getting put to sleep is a lot more fun for me), and you get to just chill out for a few days while you recuperate. It did not take very long for me to be back on my feet and eating regularly again. The pain subsided pretty quickly too(I was left with tons of left over extra strength vicodin)

And that's my wisdom teeth story.

[Windswept]

Originally Posted by Eugene If your wisdom teeth are impacted, then you really want to get them out...they'll start pushing on those other teeth. None of my teeth were impacted, so they really didn't need to come out, though they can still make your jaw pop from time to time...not a huge issue. What it boils down to is the orthodontic surgeon makes more money pulling your teeth out, so he'll ALWAYS suggest that you have them out.

And here endeth the first lesson.

Yes, surgeons of all kinds are ready, willing and able to slice people open to tinker with or remove all kinds of body parts. Their theory seems to be, hey, if it could *ever* cause a problem in the future, you might as well have it out now... plus they need to pay for their most recent trip to Tuscany.

Pardon me, my cynicism wrt the American medical establishment is showing.

[ronmexico]

Windswept, your post did not show much thought!

If an impacted wisdom tooth is not removed there is an small chance for a dentigerous cyst to form at that site. If a cyst forms, surgical removal is indicated, and is fairly straight forward. Dentigerous cysts, however, can potentially lead to ameloblastomas, or OKCs of the jaw, which are tumors that can cause destruction of bone, with serious surgical implications. The incidence of occurance after age 35, however, is rare.

I see wisdom teeth all the time that damage the adjacent teeth, fester periodontal disease, cause serious infection, ect...the notion that american medical establishment is exploiting their position for monitary gain is foolish. After graduating dental school I am in $150,000 debt (in state). We don't necessarily go into the profession for the big bucks, especially in today's litigious society!

[Brad]

Originally Posted by ronmexico I see wisdom teeth all the time that damage the adjacent teeth

As in my case.

My wisdom teeth were not impacted, but they caused other teeth to shift so much that one one (a lateral incisor) is now crooked. If I'd taken them out earlier, I doubt I would have that problem.

[murbot]

Wow man, my dentist pretty much just stuck a thing under my wisdom teeth and plopped the suckers right out. About as hard as popping a Toffifee out of the plastic.



(hmm, my analogy might have something to do with how easy my teeth pop out...)

[macleod]

I am having mine pulled on December 19th and I was wondering if anyone knows how long after that I should wait before playing hockey? I am having all 4 removed but none are impacted. There is a stick and puck on the 23rd I wanted to go to and then another one the week after that. Not to mention that I have a game scheduled for the 7th of January and the 14th of January. Any estimates on how long before I can play would be helpful! Thanks!

[octavist13]

I had all 6 (that's right, 6) wisdom teeth pulled out when I was 16. It really wasn't all that bad. I didn't get bad swelling or anything, but I couldn't open my jaw all the way for about a month.

It' kinda weird 'cause my mom only had 2 wisdom teeth. I guess she pawned 'em off on me...

[World Leader Pretend]

Alright, please don't hate me.

I don't have any wisdom teeth. Never had, never will. The x-rays have never shown anything anywhere.

I guess I'm just higher up the evolutionary ladder compared to you apes!