Bye bye Wisdom Teeth!

[Bostonian]

So being 38 years old, deathly afraid of dentists .... I finally got them pulled. who still has theirs left? Who has had them pulled?

 

[ctenidae]

I had four of the six I had pulled 7-8 years ago. Oral surgeon was great- no swelling or pain to speak of afterwards. He decided to leave the last two in because they are way up in my upper jaw, and he thought it would be easiest to get to them going through my eye sockets. Since they don't seem to be bothering me, I figured we'd pass on that.

 

[Geoff]

I have all 88 of my ivory keys, just like a piano.

 

[ctenidae]

I have all 88 of my ivory keys, just like a piano.

That's a big piano (and a big mouth!)

 

[Cornhead]

Mine lasted till last Summer, got them pulled with the rest of my molars. I was in the process of getting dentures. I want all of my teeth gone and two pins installed to secure the lowers. My dentist and oral surgeon want me to keep three teeth on the bottom. I see this as a temporary solution. My teeth are crap, why would I want to keep three of them and count on them to hold onto a prostheses? That and cleaning, flossing, biannual dental visits...for three friggin teeth! I think I'm going to have NYU Dental School finish the job. My oral surgeon quoted me an astronomical price. My Sis and Brother in law live in NYC, he had NYU Dental School do his dentures. I can stay with them if I need to to get the job done.

 

[drjeff]

So being 38 years old, deathly afraid of dentists .... I finally got them pulled. who still has theirs left? Who has had them pulled?

To be 100% honest with you, having literally talked to 1000's of folks after they've had there's extracted and also having extracted hundreds of sets of wisdom teeth myself over the last 15+ years, about 98% of people after the fact will say that it was both much easier than they THOUGHT it would be and also far less painful/uncomfortable in the few days after the extractions were done than they THOUGHT it would be! There are really only a few folks that have some significant pain or swelling afterwards.

The key for you now, and i'm guessing that the oral surgeon relayed this to you, is make sure that you religously stay on the anti-inflammatory medications (usually ibuprofen{advil/motrin} or Naprosin {Aleve} ) for the 1st 72 hours minimum. Since swelling, if there's going to be any will peak by the 72hr mark, and staying ahead of any potential swelling tends to be the major hurdle from the post surgery pain perspective!

 

[Edd]

I had four of the six...

6 wisdom teeth? Never heard of that. Calling Dr Jeff....

 

[Nick]

Ironically I am going to the dentist today. I still have my wisdom teeth in (I'm 32)

 

[Bostonian]

I have been lucky so far. So far no major swelling, although my oral surgeon was commenting on how one of my roots was curved at a 90 degree angle. I have been doing the gauze and took one ibuprofen 200Mg when I got home since my script wasn't ready. Other then the bleeding on one side of the mouth (the other has stopped already, it wasn't so bad. Now if I could control the drooling I will be golden! I hope to be back on the snow more importantly this Saturday! I did have two other molars extracted because they were "severely impacted" so I will be getting implants (in due time) for them. Right now I just want to be able to eat the Ice Cream the oral surgeon's office gave me!

 

[drjeff]

6 wisdom teeth? Never heard of that. Calling Dr Jeff....

Yup, it can happen. Think fraternal twins basically. Original cell that was going to form the wisdom tooth basically splits into 2 seperate cells and you get an extra tooth to form. There's also a handfull or rare types of tumors that can cause the formation of multiple teeth in the area of the tumor, and there's even one funky type of tumor called a Teratoma that can actually cause teeth (as well as hair, bone and even other body parts such as an eye or a limb ) to form almost anywhere in the body

 

[Cheese]

Only had 3 and they were all yanked during my early 20s.

 

[ctenidae]

My teratoma is usually pretty quiet. I call him Sparky. He's not a tumor!