<p>BC, my advice is to NOT go with local for wisdom teeth. I had one pulled under local, and it was a disaster. Very bad experience. I’m sure people will post here who said theirs went okay, but really, it is best to just go to the oral surgeon and get them all done at once. Go under and get it over with. I waited over 20 years to go back and get the other 3 done (under, by an oral surgeon) because that first experience was so traumatic.</p>
<p>Also, just an FYI for anyone getting theirs pulled, to my great surprise and pleasure, my health insurance covered what my dental plan did not for the oral surgeon/pull all 4 experience. Check with yours. If they cover it and the need to pull them is not urgent, good reason to wait for a year when you use up your deductible for your regular health insurance, then go get this done. :)</p>
<p>I’m getting nervouss reading these posts. my D needs all 4 of her removed and we just can’t seem to come up with a time that is good. Since she is in college, I would like her to stick around home for a few days before going back to school just to make sure things are going in the right direction. We met withe the oral surgeon and he will be using 5 different things to cause conscious sedation, Versed, diprovan, ketamine fentanyl and one thing which I cant think of. I thought it was overkill but he seems to be competent.</p>
<p>For your first paragraph of the last post, that was almost exactly my experience. I had an erupted wisdom tooth that was a problem, and the dentist said he could pull it in the office with a local. What a mistake! </p>
<p>Halfway through the procedure, having had about 9 shots which still didn’t deaden the pain completely, which was excruciating, he decided that he wasn’t sure if he was going to be able to remove the rest of the tooth on his own, or if he would have to send me to an oral surgeon. After that horrible experience, I waited till my mid-30’s to deal with the rest. Went to an excellent oral surgeon, had the twilight/sedative sleep, all were removed, no problems, insurance paid much of it (but not all because of our yearly limits) and it was over!</p>
<p>All of my kids went to the same oral surgeon for their wisdom teeth removal. S1 had an unusual problem - they had to send a biopsy out for it. He had some pain, but no real issues. </p>
<p>S2 wanted to go back to work the next day and barely even took the pain relief meds.</p>
<p>My D had puffiness for almost two weeks, lots of pain, bone shards that came through - yet, now that it is all healed up, she is glad it was done. </p>
<p>Plus, with the general sedative you will hear all kinds of funny things to tell your kids, later on. Kind of like that little kid David, who just came out of oral surgery and dad videotaped him. :D</p>
<p>I can’t imagine having wisdom teeth removed and not being totally under. I had this done at 19, and I remember them giving me something in the arm and telling me to count backward from 100. The last number I remember was 98.</p>
<p>The good thing is this guy who had been crushing on me (much to my dismay; he creeped me out) for months and months called me when I got home from the surgery. I have no idea what I said to him on the phone, but he never called me again. That was the best part of my oral surgery.</p>
<p>milkandsugar, one of the oral surgeons we “interviewed” used six things to cause sedation. Another guy used three. We went with the three-cocktail guy. Don’t know if my son would have gotten an infection anyway. I also agree not to schedule it near an event – which I thought I had done, but now that my son has an infection, I’m worried it will affect his performance as the lead in the hs play. </p>
<p>The swelling is down from yesterday. I guess the antibiotics are working? He still has some pain and sensitivity. We’re seeing the dentist tomorrow.</p>
<p>Same thing happened to us … followed all the rules, no problems, then about six weeks later started to swell and hurt. X ray showed nothing in there … meds fixed it. Doc said it happens.</p>
<p>All my wisdom teeth fully erupted, but still the roots were bothering the nerves and I ended up with severe headaches. I had one pulled awake, no thanks, never again, I paid to be put under for the rest…no insurance…it was still worth it to be under.</p>
<p>My DD scheduled her wisdom teeth for the day after finals, but she also had a national sport event about 4 weeks later. She was technically healed, yet not really, she had jaw aches and headaches and was not at her best, so I would be cautious with tight scheduling.</p>
<p>I’ve had three rounds of oral surgery in the last few months - crown lengthening and connective tissue grafts. After the surgeries, I’ve been using Peroxyl - an OTC oral rinse and it’s really helped the tissue heal quickly. Some dentists recommend a saline rinse and I also used a prescription rinse, but I think that Peroxyl is superior. It also promotes healing for soft tissue injuries in the mouth - canker sores, cheek bites, irritated gums.</p>
<p>“I can’t imagine having wisdom teeth removed and not being totally under.”</p>
<p>Did I mention that I have a *very high *pain threshold? 2 wisdom teeth pulled with a local (recently; since I refuse to go under), and one molar removed with NO anesthetic at all ecause the dentist’s office ran out of it :eek: (I was teenager back then, and I will never, ever go traying down an icy hill head first again :)) But when it comes to kids and H - I insist that they be put out.</p>
<p>I had all mine done with local. The only problem was that I had two pulled at the dental clinic at my college and one turned out to be impacted and they didn’t have the tool so I had to wait a day to go elsewhere and it was uncomfortable having the tooth half in and half out. But the next day it came out easily. I also had the other two done later with a local. For me it was probably a good thing as I tend to have lots of unpleasant drug reactions.</p>
<p>Sorry about that experience, but I figured I should go ahead and post and say “it went ok”</p>
<p>Mine were impacted and infected, and my oral surgeon didn’t want to do it without IV anesthesia. I was dead set against that and refused to consider it at all. Eventually he understood that it was either local or I wouldn’t do it at all, and said ok.</p>
<p>During I had to stop him and ask for extra local, but otherwise there was absolutely no pain at all. The whole procedure for 4 teeth took only 30 minutes.</p>
<p>I don’t blame anyone for not wanting to do it with local, but I know that for me, I wouldn’t have gone through with it if it wasn’t the way I wanted to do it. So I wouldn’t just take the only local option off the table if that’s what you want.</p>
<p>I do recommend an oral surgeon. My dentist wouldn’t even think of trying to do it. An oral surgeon has extra training and tools and can do it faster.</p>
<p>Okay, you’re all scaring the crap out of me. It bothers me more for my daughter than for my own stuff. She already told me that she wouldn’t do it. I’ll have to work on a plan…</p>
<p>BCEagle, same situation here. DD needs all four pulled. Right now she has an appointment for the Tuesday morning of her spring break. Anyone else whose kid has done this recently: is that enough time? Is it realistic to think she would be able to go back to school on Sunday (5 days later)…
Wisdom teeth are pushing against her other teeth…they have to come out.</p>
<p>My college-age daughter had her wisdom teeth pulled early Monday morning (last week) and returned to school the following evening! Not my choice, but it was the only time that it could be done over Christmas break and she didn’t want to wait and “stew” over it until spring break. She was fine - a bit puffy on one side, but no bleeding and didn’t take the prescription pain meds as she had heard that they can cause vomiting. She ate ice cream, pudding, jello, etc… the first two or three days in the school cafeteria and took a few Advil when needed and seems totally fine. By the way, one of the wisdom teeth has erupted and the other three had to be cut out. Dissolvable stitches, IV for sedation - she was in and out in under an hour.</p>
<p>I think that time depends on the pain/uncomfortable threshold of the individual, and how much damage they have to do to the gums/jaw to get the teeth out. And of course if there are complications. I had mine out on a friday, and was feeling better by mon/tues, but didn’t really start eating solid foods until the end of the next week/next weekend. My mouth didn’t feel all back to normal for another week or so. But I’m a pretty big baby, and there wasn’t anything forcing me to eat. I was also a bit freaked and really didn’t want any complications so refused to chew on my molars for awhile. I could have gone back to school on the tuesday after and been fine I think, but I appreciated having more time. Also as I mentioned above, my oral surgeon wanted me to come back for check-ups I think 4 more times that summer.</p>
<p>I don’t want to play “topper,” but my son needs to have eight teeth removed–all four wisdom teeth, and the molars next to them that never emerged (despite orthodontia).</p>
<p>I had three wisdom teeth removed under local myself, and while it didn’t really hurt at all, it was a pretty grueling experience.</p>
<p>Our daughter isn’t in any pain so the need isn’t immediate and she doesn’t like pain.</p>
<p>Pain and recovery time vary widely. Son had his out at the dentist with a local - very quick and no problems. He was fine the next day. I had two taken out at an oral surgeon. I was there for a very long time and they could only get two of them. The other two were done in a hospital. The dentist’s secretary said that two were easy and two would be difficult for our daughter. I’m not sure how difficult they would be; they’re supposed to get back to me today.</p>