Another surgery

[daddysbike]

Well at age 45 I finally decided to have my wisdom teeth removed. All 4 have been in for years and its a pain trying to brush/floss them. Dentist also said they can cause bad problems when you're older.

I've had a few surgeries the last few years and thank God for Versed (Anesthesia). A little needle stick for the IV and you're out is seconds. They make you sign a form saying that sombody will wait in the waiting room, drive you home and stay with you all day. This is a good idea as with the other surgeries I only remember the IV going in, then I'm home. I don't remember leaving the DR office, being driven home or the stops my wife made. Freaky stuff.

Pain has not been too bad though I am on my 4th Lortab for the day I only really needed the first 2 but thought the next two would help me sleep. Here I am at 12:25 a.m. after being up at 5am for surgery.

I guess if there's a point to this its don't be afraid of surgery if you need it, you don't feel anything or know what's going on.

Steve

 

[jwilly]

Glad all went well Steve. My wife had that done a few years ago and she was out of it for about 2 days. Heal fast.

JW

 

[daddysbike]

Glad all went well Steve. My wife had that done a few years ago and she was out of it for about 2 days. Heal fast.
JW

Thanks Jason,

Feel better today (day 2) mouth/jaw sore and a bit of a codine hangover but don't think I'll need any today. I finally made it to bed after being up almost 24hrs.

Steve

 

[MrTwisty]

Steve,

Glad you are doing well. Yeah, that hour or so after you wake up is pretty freaky, isn't it.

I have some funny stories about my experience (actually what I am told about my experience), and my wife's experience.

She was really funny, but I have never heard her curse like that, even when she is mad at me.

Get better soon,

Mike

 

[wfooshee]

Had mine pulled when I was early 30's. Dentist said it was a shame, they were straight and perfect, but I couldn't reach the backs of them for cleaning and all had cavities there. He couldn't reach them to repair, either.

Didn't go under, just novacaine and pliers. What an awful sound that is, the squeaking noise as he rocks the tooth back and forth to yank it! Too bad you didn't get that experience. :blink:

Got to suck on cotton balls and eat Percogesics for a few days.

 

[germany]

Had mine pulled when I was early 30's. Dentist said it was a shame, they were straight and perfect, but I couldn't reach the backs of them for cleaning and all had cavities there. He couldn't reach them to repair, either.Didn't go under, just novacaine and pliers. What an awful sound that is, the squeaking noise as he rocks the tooth back and forth to yank it! Too bad you didn't get that experience. :blink:

Got to suck on cotton balls and eat Percogesics for a few days.

I only had novacaine and a pry bar. The top teen slipped right out. My bottom teeth had grown into my jaw bone. They came out in pieces and the roots had little chips of my jaw bone attached. No pain during the procedure, but quite a bit when the novacaine wore off.

 

[Mooseonagoose]

Seems to be different for each person, my first two while not the most comfortable experience of my life, were certainly not the worst by a stretch either. My brother had all four out at once when he was a kid in H.S. and went to a football game & a dance that evening and felt perfectly normal by the next day. My second pair put me through four days of hell, at the point when the anesthetic wore off and the piankillers hadn't kicked-in yet it was THE WORST pain I have EVER experienced [to this day]. That said, I have a fairly high pain threshhold, & have managed to bash myself up pretty good a few times over the years.

 

[dcarver]

Better a tooth than a femur!

 

[Jazzzzz]

I had my wisdom teeth yanked when I was 23 or 24 - I remember walking out to the parking lot after it was done, and next thing after that was waking up with my face smashed into the arm of the big chair in my living room with bloody drool all over the place.

The orthodontist that did my extraction broke the socket one of the wisdom teeth was in, and left jagged bits of bone sticking out of my gums. I wound up breaking and tearing them out with a hemostat after a couple of stiff drinks.

 

[Toecutter]

It all depends on the doctor. Make sure you do your research. My wife used to work in oral surgery. They loved wisdom tooth extractions, for the speed and money it brought in. "Four on the floor and out the door".

My experience was like a field trip to Hell for two weeks. Wish I'd met her sooner....

 

[daddysbike]

I'm in the medical field so I know the best Dr's around.

I had a benign cyst removed by the same oral surgeon years ago.

I had my wisdom teeth taken out Friday morning and was o.k. that day. Saturday I was o.k. and even took the FJR to meet my wife and spend the night at inlaws feeling pretty good all day. Today, Sunday I woke and entire face pretty sore and swollen. Pain mostly seems like its just from having jaws pryed open during surgery. I've just been resting mostly today and icing and at 3pm am starting to feel better.

I have Monday off as well and with temps around 70 hope to take a nice little ride. I usually don't go on much about medical/health issues but its boring staying inside. I guess it was good to allow 4 days for this and it hasn't been bad.

Thanks for listening.

Steve

 

[germany]

Better a tooth than a femur!

That's for damn sure! Broke mine when I was 10. To this day (20+years later) I am still paranoid of gravel on the road.

 

[Randy]

Had mine done in my early 20s. All 4 were impacted. I have a pretty high pain threshold, but, this just flat out sucked. I was in so much pain in post op that I threatened a nurse and punched a hole in the wall (don't remember - that's what they told me). Got home and was in excruciating pain. Doc gave potent meds, but, it was either be awake and suffer or take the pills and sleep - nothing in between. Had it done on a Thursday and the pain didn't go away much over the weekend. On Monday, with still a significant amount of pain (and an empty perscription), I called for an appt. Went in to the docs office and he told me I had dry socket (blod clot over the wound dislodges exposing the bone/nerves) in the upper left. He did his thing and sent me home. Called me that night and I told him that I was still in some pretty significant pain. He said to let it go overnight and come see him the next day if it was still hurting. It was. Went in the next day and he looked at me and figured out that I not only had dry socket in the upper left, but, I had it in the bottom left, also. He did his thing and I was feeling better a few hours later.

 

[JimH]

My sister had hers out as a young teen and looked like a chipmunk. Mine came in when I was 12 with not problems. I had a good orthodontist that knew what he was doing so he pulled some forward teeth and moved everything up so they would come in properly. Here's the scary part. I was a 2LT in the Army years later and the Army dentist (read socialized medicine) said that I might have to have my wisdom teeth removed surgically since they had not yet come in and I would have problems with them when I got older. I told him that they came in when I was a young teen and he argued with me about it. It was not until the dental assistant told him that he was wrong that he shut up. So, what do they call a person that graduates last in his medical school class? Doctor.

Glad to hear it was a non-event for you.

 

[HotRodZilla]

I only had one removed about 6 years ago and it was the most painless thing ever. I was lucky. My wife had two removed about 12 years ago before we were married. I was waiting in the Dentist's office holding her checkbook so I could pay them her co-payment. After a while this assistant comes out and tells me Carrie is outta surgery and would like her checkbook. I was surprised because I knew she had been knocked out, so I asked the assistant, "She's feeling good enough to write a check?" She says, "Oh yeah...shes doing great...um can you pull around the back to pick her up?" WTF?? I was stupid though and believed her, so I gave her the checks and drove to a back door. They literally carried her to my truck and sloshed her into the passenger seat. They gave me her checkbook and a called-in prescription for pain meds at Wal-Mart and sent us on our way. Well, Carrie is feeling it now, so we stop at Wal-Mart so I can go into the pharmarcy for the pills. Thank God I had tinted windows, because when I got back, she was leaned up against the passenger window, moaning in pain and drooling blood down the glass. I could imagine trying to explaine that picture to the cops. So, I get her home, get her some pain meds, and when she comes out of it, she remembers nothing after getting in the dentist's chair. She especially does not remember writing or signing a check, or bleeding all over my truck. After she felt better, it was all kind of funny and I just thought I would share.

 

[jekirby]

Had all four of mine out when I was 20. 3 impacted so cut out and one pulled. Everything went fine, I went out with friends that night, but couldn't eat anything too solid for about 5 days. I never went completely under. I remember seeing everything coming out of my mouth. I had a feeling that the dr could have come at me with a chainsaw and that would have been okey-dokey with me. During the procedure, a nurse? assisant? came in and I waved at her as much as I could with my wrist strapped down. The young lady was kind of taken aback and asked the dr "He's waving at me, what do I do?" "wave back dummy." Anyway, the only problem I had was a dry socket a week later while on a camping trip. I pushed through it and everything was fine. A couple of chips/shards did work themselves out some time afterwards.