Help Alleviate My Fear of Oral Surgery (1 Viewer)

[Chuck C]

Help Alleviate My Fear of Oral Surgery:

I'm getting my wisdom teeth pulled next Friday...two of which are impacted. I know there have been a bunch of threads about this subject (can't find them due to search feature turned off). Anyway, my biggest fear is waking up during the procedure which begs me to ask: what is general anesthesia like? How do they administer it? injection/gas? What do people dream about? Do they numb your mouth so you don't feel pain when you awaken? MOST important: what are the chances of waking up? does a doctor stand by to make sure you don't? What happens if I'm allergic! I'm pretty afraid, guys, seeing as I had a dream last night that I couldn't fall asleep no matter how much they gave me, and Tony Danza was about to yank my teeth out.

Any help is appreciated.

 

[Jeremy Allin]

I had all four wisdom teeth out five years ago - one was impacted. I was in the chair at 10:00AM and woke up at 10:40AM with the work all done. My mouth was packed with gauze and I couldn't feel a thing!

MOST important: what are the chances of waking up? does a doctor stand by to make sure you don't?

Very slim. If you did happen to wake up, the freezing in your mouth would prevent any pain from registering.

I was SUPER worried too going into it, but when all was said and done, it was no big deal. I had my gauze changed a couple of times that first day (yeah, there will be some excess blood, but nothing too serious) and slept fine my first night. There were traces of blood in my mouth the morning after but after that, everything was great. It was soft foods for about 5 - 7 days and some tylenol for the first couple of days. I don't even remember my stitches falling out. Your tongue will naturally feel like roaming around in your mouth, but try to keep it under control.

Good luck!

 

[Scott Van Dyke]

12 years ago, I had all four cut out at once. I was given the choice of general or local. Insurance didn't cover the Sodium Penethol "Truth Serum" for the general so I paid in cash. There was no way I wanted to be awake for that. I hear they don't use SP anymore, but something safer now-a-days. I remember them hooking me up to an EKG, giving me a shot, and asking me to count backwards from 100 to 1. I made it to 98. I don't even remember walking out of the place. That stuff kicked my ass. Get the general, and you won't have anything to worry about.

Extra bonus: For some reason the SP reacted with my body chemistry really weird because when I got home that night, me and my girlfriend at the time...

Spoilerized for mature sexual themes:
...had sex for like 4 straight hours. I went 7 times! (I was also like 17)


Good luck, man.

 

[Steve_Tk]

I had all 4 taken out at once, all 4 impacted.

They gave me an IV, I was talking to the Dentist, then woke up in my bed at home.

When I woke up I had minor pain from the the pain killer wearing off, swallowed some drugs. Slept most of that day, next day I was watching movies all day and drinking milkshakes with raw eggs mixed in for some real food.

a few days later your fine.

You will not wake up during it, unless they only give you gas and you will be awake the whole time.

 

[Scott Van Dyke]

I also had dry sockets afterwards. Tons of Percasets, and all was good.

 

[Paul McElligott]

I had to have wisdom teeth out twice, two one time and the other two about 10 years later.

The first two were impacted and they put me under a general anesthetic. I sat down in the chair and the next thing I know I'm waking up in the next room with a case of giggles. A day or two off my feet with a bottle of vicadin and all was right with the world.

The other two were pulled without general and that wasn't nearly as bad as I thought. Pop, pop and they were gone. No biggie.

 

[ThomasC]

I had all four taken out a couple years ago. I just had my mouth numbed, I was awake the whole time. The only time it hurt was when the dentist was applying pressure to whatever, so it wasn't too bad at all. I didn't go for the general anesthetic because there's usually at least one side effect...vomiting. No thanks.

 

[Randall Dorr]

What's all this stuff about being knocked out and IV's and EKGs?

When I had my wisdom teeth pulled, they gave me a few shots in the gums and the roof of my mouth, we waited twenty minutes or so, and then they yanked 'em out. I was awake the whole time, and felt most everything, even thought there was no pain.

Getting the shots in the roof of my mouth was easily the worst part, but after that, it was pretty smooth sailing. I thought it was kind of fascinating, being able to feel what was going on, but not having any pain. Mostly, I felt a lot of pressure, as thought they were pushing on the teeth.

I was woozy for a few hours afterwords, and various substances oozed for a day or two, but the whole experience really wasn't so unpleasant.

 

[Ron Etaylor]

OK, I'm officially old. When I had mine out during Christmas break of my senior year of high school, they actually put me in the hospital! It was standard operating procedure(intentional pun). I went in at the butt crack of dawn one morning, had the surgery, and had to spend the night there. They discharged me the next morning. I sat around the house oozing for the next few days. I don't recall getting any cool meds or great girlfriend benefits from it.

 

[Blu]

Request Vicodin!
After a infected root canal, this really made me feel no pain till it was corrected!

Miracle stuff!

 

[James T]

I was fine up until the very few seconds before the surgery. The dentist had already attached all the wires to monitor my heart, and all that was left was the IV. She missed the vein, my heart skipped a beat, a wire flew off, then I flatlined(well, only according to the monitor) and then the next thing I know, a need was in my vein and I was out.

That is not the last thing you would want to see/hear before going for surgery.

Afterwards, I was still drugged up a bit. I had trouble walking down the stairs and needed to use the railing, otherwise I'd surely fall down. Shortly after I got home, the anesthetic finally wore off and I had a nagging pain. Not really hurting, but more annoying. Advil took care of the pain no problem. For the first day or two, I was spitting about blood trying to talk.

Also more annoying than anything else was feeling the stitches around your mouth.

 

[Ben_D]

Well, I don't want to scare you, but....

All my wisdom teeth were impacted, and I had them all out at once. And I thoroughly enjoyed the procedure, as I was given Valium the morning of, then put out during the procedure, then given painkillers. But apparently the surgeon bruised a nerve or something during the surgery. As a result the left half of my lower lip and jaw are always partially numb...it's like the feeling you get when your leg is "asleep." All the time. It's extremely annoying.

 

[nolesrule]

I guess you didn't have impacted wisdom teeth.

Impacted teeth have rotated in the jaw bone prior to taking root and begin to grow in sideways. You can't just yank them out. They need to be surgically cut out of the jaw bone.

No way I'd want to be awake for those sounds. Not nearly the same as just having teeth yanked. I had my last 3 "baby teeth" pulled when I was 9 when I got braces and had all 4 impacted wisdom teeth surgically removed when I was 15. I got laughing gas and a general anasthetic for that.

As for the original poster's concern about being allergic to the anasthetic, I had to go into the doctor's office a day ahead for a blood test.

 

[Mark Fitzsimmons]

For wisdom tooth extractions, most oral surgeons are going to first give you nitrous oxide, then give you an IV and sedate you. You will feel absolutely nothing, it will feel like you are asleep in this state.

After the procedure, you'll wake up and you'll be given a prescription for some narcotics. Probably vicodin or codene.

 

[Steve_Tk]

I was totally knocked out because mine were impacted. They can't just break open your gum and pull them out. They have to apply a lot of preasure and break the tooth into a lot of peices and pull those peices out, because when impacted it's still in the jaw bone. Sometimes a peice stays in and works it's way out of your gum a few weeks later.

They just didn't want me to be awake to hear all the cracking, crunching sounds and all the preasure they would be applying.

I know someone that didn't have them impacted and they didn't put them asleep.

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

I had all four (impacted) out in one day. Didn't get a full-blown general, just nitrous, novacaine or whatever they're using, then an injection that left me semi concious. Experienced no pain, not even pressure, and my sense of time was distorted, but I never went out completely and was vaguely aware people moving about the room the whole time. But I just kept my eyes closed and listened to the music being piped in through a pair of headphones. My dad drove me back to my place, put me in bed and then left. I was a little uncomfortable for a couple of days, but don't remember any major problems.

I remembered the procedure as taking less time than it did, because I was really surprised to see the time when I got home. The position of two of my teeth, which had grown-in lying on their sides, right along the jawbone, put them very close to that mandibular nerves (I think that's what they called it.) My doctor warned me that it was possible that either or both of the nerves might be damaged during the extraction, and that if they were I would experience exactly the kind of tingling "foot fallen alseep" feeling that Ben described. But I got lucky and neither nerve was touched.

Regards,

Joe

 

[Chuck C]

thanks for the stories...geez, i hope im not semi conscious... i wanna be OUTTTT

 

[Michelle Schmid]

quote:

What's all this stuff about being knocked out and IV's and EKGs?

When I had my wisdom teeth pulled, they gave me a few shots in the gums and the roof of my mouth, we waited twenty minutes or so, and then they yanked 'em out. I was awake the whole time, and felt most everything, even thought there was no pain.

I guess you didn't have impacted wisdom teeth.

What? I had both of my impacted wisdom teeth (top left & bottom right) pulled in February, with no general, IV, or EKG. They gave me a script for a generic general relaxer (Valium doesn't work on me AT ALL--as I found out during my laser eye surgery!) that I had to take an hour before the procedure, which worked great, although I wasn't allowed to drive myself to or from the app't., then nitrous oxide & the regular numbing of the mouth. They told me the whole procedure would take about 45 mins. from beginning to end, and it did, exactly 45 mins. I was impressed! Yes, I heard lots of crunching sounds, but they told me I would, so I didn't worry about it. Also felt a lot of pressure like they were pressing on the teeth, but no pain at all. I left their office and went out and ate pancakes (the procedure was early and I was hungry!), then went shopping. They also gave me a script for Vicodin, which they insisted I fill, so I did. I took one that night "just in case" but never felt the need for another. All in all it wasn't a big deal.

 

[Ryan Wright]

Help Alleviate My Fear of Oral Surgery:

Done. GET THE GAS. I promise you'll love it.

I've never been into drugs, but I tell you what, laughing gas would be my drug of choice if I was. It was beautiful. I had it when my wisdom teeth (all 4) were removed. Yeah, I was "awake" for the whole thing - like you're awake when you're stoned out of your mind. I felt nothing. I just floated above my chair for some very short amount of time (or so it seemed) before they were nudging me, "Ryan... we're all done now...". I didn't want to get up. I just wanted to lay there forever in my blissful sea of drug induced happiness.

It was great. I'd be more than happy to have some more oral surgery purely for another (legal, controlled) hit of that gas...

 

[Mark Fontana]

I had three wisdom teeth, one impacted, and put off doing anything about it until my late 20s. When I was younger, someone told me some stories about a technique where they shatter the teeth with a little "pile driver" or "blasting cap" that "could fracture your jaw if they aren't careful" and my imagination blew it out of proportion into a major hang-up. I finally went for the surgery when the wisdom teeth started putting pressure on my molars.

I think the idea of being put under and not in control of the situation bothered me more than the actual surgery. (I'd never had any kind of surgery before.) They gave me nitrous oxide and an IV. When they started the IV, I started to say something like "Hey that feels a little cold in my arm..." and then I was OUT.

I woke up 45 minutes later lying sideways on a recovery bench, staring at my wife's knee, with a mouthful of slightly bloody gauze. The oral surgeon prescribed Haagen-Daz and provided a sampler pint on the way out.

I was groggy for the rest of the day but returned to work the next day. Vicodin helped a lot.

It wasn't fun, but it wasn't nearly as bad as I had imagined it would be, and I'm glad I got it over with.

Good luck.