Im going to my local dentist. I have had cavities drilled and they have had to use more novicane(because I could feel the drilling) than usual so I dont want to take any chances on not getting enough.

What do they do to numb it? Should I ask for laughing gas?



Which drugs should I ask for/ try to get for afterwards?

7/26/2007 1:53:20 AM

don't go to your local dentist for this

normally they knock you out and give you a prescription for oxycodine

7/26/2007 2:07:41 AM

they put you to sleep dude

i think you'll be okay

7/26/2007 2:08:08 AM

whatever you do, in the 2 days post-op DO NOT use a straw or smoke. Suction creates dry sockets which are a gross mother fucker, not to mention horribly painful.

7/26/2007 2:20:32 AM

it all depends on if your wisdom teeth are out straight or not.
if they are out straight, there wouldn't be much pain only with local Anesthesia.
if they are under the gum etc, i'm sorry...

when i had my wisdom teeth removed, i didn't have any pain. (mines were all out straight though.)
after the anesthesia was gone, i started eating normal food.

good luck!

7/26/2007 2:43:30 AM

Not with my wisdom teeth but I had to get 4 others removed for braces....they reached the max on the novicane, had to come back the next day to get the final one removed.

for my wisdom teeth, they put me under...they did x-rays for something else and saw that I was going to get all 4 of them, and since i already had 4 removed for braces(not enough room) it was a no brainer that those 4 would have to come out. They hadnt even developed roots yet, the x-rays were for something else when they saw the wisdom teeth developing.


[Edited on July 26, 2007 at 3:06 AM. Reason : w]

7/26/2007 3:02:19 AM

my roots were all tangled together

my dentist sent me to an orthopedic surgeon

he put me under general anesthesia, i didnt feel nor remember a thing after the nurse told me to relax.

it hurt for a couple of days afterwards, he gave me a script for oxycodone, that didn't work, so he gave me some demerol, that was awesome

sockets had healed over in like 2 weeks, havent given me problems since

as long as you do the mouth rinsing thing and take care of the sockets like your surgeon tells you to, you'll be fine - it wasn't anywhere near as bad as i expected it to be

7/26/2007 3:37:38 AM

Mine were erupted so it wasn't too bad - I skipped out on the pain killers so I could drink free beer at a company social later that night

7/26/2007 6:53:00 AM

stay awake so you can talk to the dentist and ask to see the teeth as they come out

it's cool

7/26/2007 8:25:22 AM

its not such a good idea to go under local for wisdom teeth.... and i dont think any oral surgeon will do it.

oh and yeah, unless your dentist has done a ton of wisdom teeth, dont goto him

7/26/2007 8:41:27 AM

luckily I have a big mouth and mine have come in just fine.

7/26/2007 8:59:47 AM

Quote :

" so he gave me some demerol"

Did you have any grape soda with it?

7/26/2007 9:08:22 AM

Follow all instructions almost exactly and you'll be fine - One thing that really worked for me was alternating the ice packs (or in my case, a bag of frozen peas since they mold to your face) with a really hot damp washcloth microwaved in a gallon ziploc bag for 90 seconds. Alternating heat with cold helps the swelling go down

7/26/2007 9:39:39 AM

im guessing my dentist has done a good amount just because of the fact that hes been a dentist for like 20 years


I am getting 2 pulled out,
they have both been out of the gum for a long time

one is kinda crooked, so they have to pull it plus the one above it so my teeth will be even

7/26/2007 12:21:20 PM

rofl i just noticed i said orthopedic instead of oral

my bad

7/26/2007 12:35:32 PM

23 and not the slightest sign that I even HAVE wisdom teeth to ever grow in. Last time I was in for x-rays they were like "When did you have them taken out?" and i'm like "whatcha mean?"

*crosses fingers and wishes you luck cuz that's a bitch*

[Edited on July 26, 2007 at 12:59 PM. Reason : .]

7/26/2007 12:58:50 PM

Mine are errupted, but they're so well attached to my jaw they wont come out without some nasty surgery. Plenty of room in my mouth so I figure they can stay.

7/26/2007 1:11:14 PM

Quote :

"im guessing my dentist has done a good amount just because of the fact that hes been a dentist for like 20 years"

What does that have to do with anything? Oral surgeons perform this procedure, dentists usually don't. So why mess with that?

And definitely go under for this.

7/26/2007 1:19:37 PM

that was really easy


the worst part(so far) was getting the shot in the hard part of the roof of my mouth

it took less than 10 minutes for 2 teeth and I was completely awake the whole time

I got a prescription for Tylenol w/Codeine so hopefully that will work

7/26/2007 3:27:24 PM

Mine were impacted. The doc showed me the xrays and they were sideways pushing on the back molars. He also showed me that the roots had horse-shoed around the nerve that runs through the lower jaw. He said if he nicked it when he was pulling them, i could lose all feeling in my lips and tounge forever. He told me the risks with it, but i said f it. I needed them removed.

They put me semi out, where i was knocked out, but they could still talk to me and tell me to open my jaw and close it down when they needed to move the blocks. I remember them telling me that once, but that was about it.

Down for about 3 days. Motrin only, but 800mg type, so that was some good stuff. Pretty much ate frosties for 3 days.

7/26/2007 3:51:54 PM

That was an xray I had taken of my teeth before I had my wisdom teeth pulled. Had all 4 taken out. You can plainly see the bottom wisdom teeth going sideways. The two upper teeth were pointing outwards to my cheeks but weren't pointed towards my other teeth like the bottom ones. Upper ones were much more painful though because the cusps were digging holes into my cheeks.
Had them all taken out the day before Thanksgiving too.

Since my bottom wisdom teeth were growing towards my other teeth, my bottom row was starting to get crowded. End effect: My bottom row of teeth are now very tight to the point of pushing out of them out of the row and have moved the entire row one direction so now my upper and lower rows don't 100% align in the middle
Guess I need braces as a 21-year old.

7/26/2007 4:17:05 PM

For the surgery they knocked me out. Didn't feel a thing...didn't have too much pain afterwards either.
Unfortunately when my mom was driving home she decided that stopping by my grandmother's to pick up some food for the Thanksgiving feast was more important than getting me home. :rolleyes:
We hit a bump going into my grandmother's driveway and I guess that set me off; I was already nauseated from the anesthesia.
I was all wrapped up in a white fleece blanket. Threw up blood all over it and the gauze popped out. Thankfully I didn't get dry socket.

7/26/2007 4:22:05 PM

Yeah I threw up blood twice after I had mine removed. Just replaced the gauze and everything was cool... Though that was really really nasty. 2 impacted, 2 coming in at an angle. Oral surgeon knocked me out, gave me the nitrous laughing gas for my nose, and I remember waking up while they were working. I still remember the eerie feeling of very very distant pain in the upper part of my jaw where they were working. Thankfully I fell asleep like 30 seconds after that. It wasn't one of those "oh god i'm under anesthesia but can feel everything" situations. That would've been horrible...

7/26/2007 4:53:59 PM

ive had the gauze in for about 4 hours

I have also kept my mouth shut during this time

how often should i change them?

7/26/2007 6:27:22 PM

I'd do it once every 12 or 8 hours.

Shit needs time to sit and heal but you also don't want dirty bandages causing you other problems.

I do forget how often you're supposed to change them though. Your doc should've told you.

I highly recommend calling them if you can, see if anyone is still there to get an answer from.

7/26/2007 6:40:56 PM

dont each the puffy cheetos

very very bad things

7/26/2007 6:58:21 PM

Mine have been coming in and causing so much pain this past 2 weeks. Luckily today's been minimal for the pain. For once, I went a day without taking pain killers (so far, the day isn't over yet). I need to have them taken out.

thanks for making this thread. After reading everyone's responses, I feel better about the procedure, as it doesn't sound as bad as I thought.

7/26/2007 7:10:01 PM

That's a nice panoramic image he took! I would go with whatever suggestions your dentist makes regarding extractions. My wisdom teeth were very deep, and I ended up going to a local oral surgeon to have mine removed. It is very important that you don't suck on anything because dislodging that clot can be disastrous.

In terms of anesthesia, we are becoming more and more cautious about how much we give patients because, frankly, we're afraid of overdoing it and having another damn malpractice lawyer come after us. Many of our professors say that you're better off having the patient feel a little pain than completely knocking them out so you know you haven't overdone the anesthesia.

7/26/2007 7:29:53 PM

Actually, it's now believed that 3rd molars typically don't cause crowding on the lower teeth. We now think it's because of continued growth of the mandible that leads to crowding on the lower teeth, so it's very important that you wear that retainer after having orthodontics or else your teeth will get crowded again in your early 20's.

7/26/2007 7:32:06 PM

My mouth is so big that i'm not going to have to have any of mine taken out

7/26/2007 8:12:23 PM

all 4 of mine came in straight with room

i guess im one of the lucky ones

7/26/2007 8:24:12 PM

i took mine out with a flat head screw driver and a hammer

a rusty one

7/26/2007 8:45:08 PM

most of mine came in straight


one came in a little crooked but didnt cause discomfort


it did cause a spot that couldnt be cleaned so i had to get it taken out

and you cant get just one taken out or it makes your mouth uneven


i got a little dizzy/cold about 3 hours after the first pill, but that went away


they are still bleeding right but not very much


i think i have swallowed too much blood, the dentists said excessive spitting was bad, and its hard to not swallow, so now im just opening my mouth and letting the spit/blood drop out

7/26/2007 9:29:17 PM

Quote :

"i think i have swallowed too much blood"

that happened to me and puked blood and chocolate milk

the motions stretched my mouth and octrupled my recovery time

7/27/2007 8:57:16 AM

All four of mine were coming in just about as badly impacted as they can get. Got all four of them out at once. Sucked, but the Percocet was nice.

Several months later, the oral surgeon and his mistress were arrested on his yacht with a significant amount of cocaine.

7/27/2007 9:28:02 AM

all 4 of mine were impacted too...
it got to a point were i really wanted them out though, i was getting headaches that seemed to start at my jaw and end in my temples and i was starting to feel the pressure between my front teeth as though they were being pushed together

i didn't think the surgery was bad at all. i went to an oral surgeon in durham that my dentist had recommended. and i made sure i took my pain medication however often i was supposed to so i don't remember really being in any awful pain... except when i got a dry socket but even that was bareable just annoying more than anything.

7/27/2007 11:09:44 AM

can anyone tell me of a good oral surgeon around here?

My pain is barely there today, but I don't know how bad it really is. It was just the other day that I was in really bad pain with headache/dizziness from it.

7/27/2007 12:38:18 PM

I've had sixteen teeth removed, though ten of them were baby teeth. For the other six, two incisors and my four wisdom teeth, I went to an oral surgeon. As far as getting my wisdom teeth out, they were basically growing in sideways and they hadn't even broken the surface. I did get the nitrous, I was used to it after all the other tooth pullings. They still numb the shit out of you, generally with those big needles in the back of your cheek (though they can give you the stuff straight into your gum, too, but it doesn't last as long as they'll likely need to cut those fuckers out). Healing after the extraction wasn't that bad, although that may be just because I was so used to getting teeth out that it absolutely wasn't an issue. I didn't even need the prescription he had given me afterward.

Also, protip: don't eat that morning. I was so loopy on the nitrous that I didn't realize that I had thrown up that morning's waffles on my oral surgeon... And when it was over, I was suddenly all sticky.

[Edited on July 27, 2007 at 3:55 PM. Reason : ,]

7/27/2007 3:50:02 PM

I would recommend letting your dentist pull them out if they have come out of the gums (and arent sideways) instead of an oral surgeon.



It was alot cheaper and took less time and they didnt have to do any cutting

7/27/2007 8:08:46 PM

When I woke up I threw up blood....first thing I said was I am going to throw up...they gave me something, but I didnt spit it out it just went all down my chin, since I was pretty much still out of it.....mom thought that was funny a couple days later when she told me about it.

[Edited on July 27, 2007 at 8:22 PM. Reason : w]

7/27/2007 8:22:03 PM

^^^^generally your dentist can refer you to an oral surgeon in the area.. i really liked the office i went to in durham off duke st
it's cheaper to go ahead and get your x-rays done at the dentist office and take them over to the oral surgeon so you might as well get a referral while you're there.

^^^ did your doctor not tell you not to eat? i'm just wondering because they told me not to eat anything from 8 or 9 the night beforehand. although i bet that was pretty funny/embarassing to wake up and realize you puked on your dr

7/28/2007 11:32:48 AM

my surgery was ok, except for the bastard having to try six times before he could thread the vein for the iv, that many needles sticking out of you was a little freaky. But once that was done I was out like a light. I'm sure mine were impacted because they took a long time to heal and getting them out was rough. (had to crack the teeth and pull them out in pieces, after cutting open the gums since they were mostly still underneath) Took a while to heal and I was pretty serious about no straws and soft foods and all so I didn't have too much trouble after that. Although some stuff was coming out of one of the holes so I went back and the guy ripped out one clot and cleaned it out some...

7/28/2007 1:03:02 PM

Quote :

"my dentist sent me to an orthopedic surgeon"

uhh, do you mean an oral surgeon?

7/28/2007 1:44:21 PM

Quote :

"did your doctor not tell you not to eat? i'm just wondering because they told me not to eat anything from 8 or 9 the night beforehand. although i bet that was pretty funny/embarassing to wake up and realize you puked on your dr"

I think it was just that they figured that I'd had plenty of tooth procedures before that, so they neglected to remind me. I should've known better anyhow. It was pretty funny, and my surgeon was ridiculously nice about the whole thing. He called me later that afternoon to see how I was doing, and I couldn't stop apologizing for throwing up on him.

7/28/2007 5:23:39 PM

i had 4 teeth extracted before i got braces, and b/c i have a high threshold for anaesthesia it took 16 lidocaine injections to numb my entire mouth--well, on #16 he hit a nerve with the needle, which felt roughly equivalent to being tasered in the jaw, and when i jumped, my knees came up--knocking over the instrument tray and kicking the shit out of the poor assistant

7/29/2007 10:51:05 AM

Hah, you could always do what I did. I passed out stone cold during the consultation. The oral surgeon said he wouldn't perform the surgery unless I was given vicoden and put under for the operation. Insurance company had to cover it.

7/30/2007 1:55:00 AM

^^^ wow that's nuts they didn't tell you that you couldn't eat before being placed under anesthesia.

Quote :

"Why is eating before surgery an issue? Because the body normally has reflexes that prevent food from being aspirated (or inhaled) into the lungs when it’s swallowed or regurgitated (thrown up). But anesthetic medications can suspend these reflexes, which could cause food to become inhaled into the lungs"

7/30/2007 2:13:05 AM

They didn't put me under, they just gassed me a little. And it's not like they wouldn'tve noticed the vomiting, they're working in my mouth.

7/30/2007 2:20:32 AM

they put me to sleep when I got mine out. they said to eat as soon as I woke up but that was a bad idea. I threw up and had to repack them myself. I took one percocet and it didn't help so I just took ibuprofen. I was putting a transmission in a truck the next day, but it was a few weeks before my mouth would open all the way. i had a dry socket also, but they drained it and gave me antibiotics and it was fine. it hurt bad until they drained it, though.

7/30/2007 11:08:31 AM