Those Pearly Whites

A random question for everybody! How are your teeth? More specifically, your wisdom teeth? I know a lot of people are practically religious when it comes to their teeth, rinsing after every meal, brushing three times a day, and seeing a dentist every few months, and there are the ones who are a little more relaxed, brushing once or twice every day, and then there are those who just don't care, and brush when the spirit moves them.

So, with that in stride, how has your dental regimen affected your wisdom teeth? That is, assuming you have any. I've heard horror stories [add one of my own to boot], for example a friend of mine had six wisdom teeth, or my mother's, which came into her mouth root-first. Similarly, my own wisdom teeth are coming in [save for one, which has already been removed], and it's not pretty. The molars that were originally in the back had to be removed, because my jaw was actually too small to accomodate my wisdom teeth. But now that they're actually coming in... They seem to be like my mom's, and are coming in every which way except straight.

Worst part is, they're all soft and have broken into pieces, leaving some sharp edges here and there. Needless to say, I've been in quite a bit of pain for the past week or so, and my dentist is being a slacker. They're trying to contact a dental surgeon for me, but they never call me back. To top it all off, I'm pretty much terrified of dentists, due to the one I had as a child being pretty much a butcher.

Anyway, what are your experiences with wisdom teeth? Good? Bad? Discuss.

How ya doing, buddy?

I've had my top two wisdom teeth pulled. It was pretty simple and in fact I went and played golf the same day that I had one pulled. The bottom two are still in, and are going to be problems. One is sitting at a 45 degree angle, while the other is completely impacted, sitting perpendicular to my other teeth. That means that it is completely horizontal. It will have to be cut out by a surgeon.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

I had my wisdom teeth pulled back in high school. They hadn't come in yet, but the dental xrays showed they wouldn't come in properly, so they were preemptively extracted. Besides the fact that the dental surgeon was a gigantic ass, the surgery went off quite easily. I don't remember experiencing any pain, and I was eating normal food the next day.

As for my other teeth, I should probably take better care of them. Growing up I went to the dentist regularly, but once I moved out and had to pay for things myself, I stopped going. I brush twice daily, floss whenever something is stuck, and I've never had a cavity. One of these days I'll have to go back to the dentist; my front tooth was broken in the third grade, and the cap/filling/whatever it is was only supposed to last 7 years. That was 20 years ago. Sometimes it gets very sensitive to temperature, and at some point it will probably just break off.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

It's been really hot here lately, and I haven't been able to drink cold drinks [or have ice in them], or basically eat anything cold because the back of my mouth has become so sensitive to cold. It sucks; I love ice cream, but it hurts to eat it! D:

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

I had all four wisdom teeth ready, but my jaw was too small, so they were all surgically removed about 3 years ago, along with my 4 bicuspids. That was a fun surgery...

I go to the dentist next month, because I had no cavities until I wore braces. Those things make cleaning your teeth so much more complicated...I developed several cavities between my teeth, and they're going to fix them up. So annoying .

I was speaking idiomatically.

Speak of the devil, I'm actually getting mine pulled next month.

The two wisdom teeth on the right side of my mouth are really starting to mess with my bite since every time I bite down, I bite my cheek. The left side has no problems since only one of them is coming in, but I'm getting all four pulled anyway just to prevent any problems.

So for anyone who got them pulled already, how'd you go about doing that? Novocaine? Laughing gas? Surgery?

For me, I just wanna be put to sleep and not actually think about the whole process at all, even if laughing gas makes you forget about the whole procedure, so surgery with anesthesia for me.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Originally Posted by Chaotic

So for anyone who got them pulled already, how'd you go about doing that? Novocaine? Laughing gas? Surgery?

They gave me intravenous and gas knockout stuff... that shit had me throwing up all night, after I got over the initial surgery. Plus I had bloody cotton wads in my mouth. Ugh. It just really sucked.

FELIPE NO

I'm hoping to have mine done surgically, mainly because I don't like dentists. Scared. D: I had one of them pulled out in the dentist chair though, and I guess it wasn't THAT bad. I mean, all things considered.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

I still have all mine unfortunately with no $$$$ to get them removed.

Most of the time they are fine, though a few times out of the year they get infected pretty badly which causes about a week of no sleep.

just gimmie a thin chisel, mallet and an OC160 and I'll do the work myself.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

My wisdom teeth only came in on the bottom row. My teeth squished in a bit, but it's very much bearable. Kept 'em, so I'm au natural~

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by Chaotic

So for anyone who got them pulled already, how'd you go about doing that? Novocaine? Laughing gas? Surgery?

Intravenous stuff for me. I was partially conscious, in that I could hear what was going on and could feel some pressure in my mouth, but I was zoned out. I went home and slept it off, and I don't recall being in any real pain once the numbing agent wore off. I spat some blood, but that was about it.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

I don't have any yet. =X I hate the dentists so much; I even loathe getting a simple scraping done. So if I ever have to have wisdom teeth removal surgery/whatever, I imagine I will be seriously freaked out. I'm super teeth-conscious nowadays though, because when I was younger my teeth were kind of bad due to :candy:. The dentist told my brother he doesn't have any wisdom teeth and will never get any, so here's hoping I caught that gene as well!

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Got all four removed on the same day back in 12th grade high school. It was an interesting experience to say the least.
Knowing that the laughing gas was pretty expensive and wasn't covered in my then dental plan I opted for a couple shots of Novocain. So yeah, I was wide awake during the whole procedure but I didn't feel any pain. Only lots of pressure and chisel-like impacts. I remember cringing a lot ._.

The whole experience wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. The worst part was probably "accidentally" talking and tearing a stitch on the first day. I nearly freaked out at the amount of blood I saw in my mouth .

I was speaking idiomatically.

I had teeth removed when I had braces and fortunately that left enough room for my wisdom to grow through perfectly. Originally they were coming through crooked, but I guess it changed and I dodged a bullet.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

I got all four of them, and they sit tight and perfectly fine, which I appreciate because of the $$$ otherwise. I generally have no problems going to the dentist (last time they drilled a hole and filled it, I didn't feel a thing), but damn it hurts in your wallet afterwards.

FELIPE NO

I had a brace when I was younger, which meant I had four teeth removed. I had another one taken out before that because of hard boiled sweets (evil, evil I tells ya). My wisdom teeth are still growing in but there are no problems as of yet. I'm assuming said teeth removal helped a little. I know that as I type this I doom myself to dental problems in the future and am cringing as I press the "reply" button.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

I was terrified about getting my wisdom teeth removed... got all four of them out a little over a year ago. Only one was coming in crooked, yet they decided to get rid of all them anyways. Luckily, I was knocked out during the procedure... the freakiest part was that I was partially awake when they broke (!) and pulled out the last tooth. I didnt feel anything, but I was just awake enough to think 'oh shit, do I even WANT to know what that was?'. I relaxed the rest of the day at home, and was back at work the next day, barely any swelling.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Chaotic

So for anyone who got them pulled already, how'd you go about doing that? Novocaine? Laughing gas? Surgery?

I had the IV knockout version. It was about five seconds into the IV that I was completely out of it. The next thing I knew I was resting on my bed.

The doctor said that the bleeding would typically last for a few hours, but I was passed out for the majority of the time. I only really remember having to spit out bloody gauze, but I didn't experience much bleeding afterwards. Granted, my mouth was still sore, so I was stuck eating soup for the rest of the day.

The only really irksome thing about the entire ordeal was using the water pick to spray food particles out of the holes in my mouth. The water jet provided a strange combination of tickling and stinging sensations.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

I have all four of them in still! I am glad I didn't have to go through what so many people I know have gone through with medicine and pulling the teeth and the pain and the swelling and the soreness... etc.

...

Anyway. It is all good here!

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Mine are still coming in. They didn't even start to come in until about a year ago. My dentist says that I'll need to have them removed,but he would only be able to do the top set since you can barely see them. The bottom set will have to be surgically removed since they aren't coming through yet.

Or maybe it was the other way around. Either way,I need them out and will have to go to two different places to get them removed! Do not look forward to it.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

I've always hated going to the dentist even for the 6 monthly cleaning. About 4 years ago i kept putting off an appointment and never rescheduled, and soon enough the dentist i went to packed up and went elsewhere leaving me without one, which i thought was alright. But as time went on i didn't really take care of my teeth as properly and i've began to notice tooth decay around the top part of the 2 front teeth and a dark hole in the inside of the top "fang" tooth (pardon myself i don't know the dentist lingo).

This worried me greatly and i was afraid to smile and talk a lot in public. It was only recently i did something about it and visited a new dentist. Like i said i hate having ym teeth looked at etc and another worry was them judging me. Fact is, a lot of people hate dentist and most dentists and hygienists work with dental phobia patients, they want to accommodate them best they can. They didn't even judge me or go, "EWW GROSS WTF!" trust me they all seen worse and i'm gald i went in the time i did cause they might've had to do some root canals.

Long story short my top first 6 teeth are now crowns, they had to remove all the decay and make sure it was good and gone, and good thing was my gums where healthy. So now i have my permanent crowns in and they look great. Needless to stay i'm on top of a daily brushing/flossing routine and you don't' want that to happen, cause it'll only hurt more later and the cost might be high.. i think we are having to pay around $6,000 for the whole thing cause crowns cost a butt load. But i'm happy with them, i'm not afraid to smile and feel very confident and healthy. Also the new dentist rocks, the whole office is nice and knows my name already, i don't even know all of theirs but its nice to be in a friendly dental environment.

Back at topic at hand, about 3 of my wisdom teeth have surfaced and the 4th is still inside the gums so it feels kind of weird. They don't bother me at all but the dentist said it is probably best to remove them for future health cause they're harder to clean and what not. So i'm not happy thinking about them being removed sometime so i'm trying my best to keep them clean.. i dunno how they take these out just thinking about makes me cringe.

I was speaking idiomatically.

The first time I ever had surgery was when I was in 9th grade. At the time, I had to get 2 teeth pulled from my top line (I think they were my cuspids, or something like that) and was given the option of having all my wisdom teeth removed at the time. They hadn't grown out at all, but when you're offered Nitrous Oxide, some heavy duty anesthesia, and Lidocaine in one serve, getting 6 teeth pulled now is better than 2 now and 4 later.

(And I missed 2 weeks of school for the recovery as well. I spent that time completing Chrono Cross, Final Fantasy IX, and Legend of Mana on my PSone)

Some of the other recent work I had done with my new dentist entail about 8 Cavity drill and fills, 4 root canals, and heavy duty cleaning. I have yet to feel anything more painful than a drill hitting your inner nerves when the Lidocaine wears thin.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

I got to be put under general anaesthetic for my wisdom teeth, which was pretty cool. First they made me breath pure oxygen, and then they had me count down from 10 until i feel asleep from the injection (got to about 7-8 from what i can recall, heh).

Then I woke up from what felt like the fastest sleep ever, and felt more fresh after a sleep than ever before. It was only hours later when it started to get a tad painful. They had me on Tylenol 3 for a few days and i was bed ridden for those days, sleeping most of the time. My teeth were impacted, so i guess it was a particularly intrusive surgery or something.

I remember looking in the mirror while my cheeks were all chipmunked and recoiling in disgust. "Look away, i'm hideous!" =D

All in all it wasn't too bad of an experience though. The pain was definitely a tolerable pain (the medication helped, i'm sure). However, i got to get knocked out. I can imagine it would be a traumatizing experience to have them pulled only under local anaesthetic. I had my bicuspids pulled that way and it was a pretty awful thing for a 12 year old to endure. Get knocked out if you ask me.

Most amazing jew boots

Mine came in while I had braces. My dentist said they should have been removed for that very reason, but my oral surgeon and orthodontist both agreed that they where doing no harm to me or the braces so the teeth stayed in. Its been 5 years since I got my braces off and there are no problems with my wisdom teeth at all.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

I selected the "Don't have any...yet" option. However, the word "yet" doesn't really apply to me. I will never have wisdom teeth. I'm a rare, but getting less rare breed of human being. I was born without wisdom teeth, nor will I ever get them. Perhaps an option needs to be added to the poll?

Jam it back in, in the dark.