Your experience with wisdom teeth

In summary: Well, it has been about three months now that one of my wisdom teeth freaks me out - it gets swollen approximately every two weeks, hurts (sometimes less, sometimes more), and I can't use the entire left side of my mouth to bite ! Which means that I must eat extremely careful and slow, which I don't practice, since I fully enjoy food only when I eat fast and greedy. Anyways, I went to the dentist about two months ago, and she gave some mouth-washing liquid which I'm using, but she mentioned that the wisdom tooth should be removed unless it stops causing trouble. So, it shall be one tooth less in my mouth, I guess (I'm going to see the dentist
  • #1
radou
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Well, it has been about three months now that one of my wisdom teeth freaks me out - it gets swollen approximately every two weeks, hurts (sometimes less, sometimes more), and I can't use the entire left side of my mouth to bite ! Which means that I must eat extremely careful and slow, which I don't practice, since I fully enjoy food only when I eat fast and greedy. :-p

Anyways, I went to the dentist about two months ago, and she gave some mouth-washing liquid which I'm using, but she mentioned that the wisdom tooth should be removed unless it stops causing trouble. So, it shall be one tooth less in my mouth, I guess (I'm going to see the dentist next week).

Additionally, tooth pain is a completely new thing to me, since I never have problems with my teeth, so it's kind of hard to get used to not be able to fall asleep at night because of a painful toothache. That totally sucks.

Anyways, I'll end this with a return to the title of the thread. :smile:
 
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  • #2
My wisdom teeth never came out until I was 18, and then they started pushing into other teeth so my dentist pulled all of them (4!) out in one sitting... Needless to say it was pretty painful. One of the teeth wasn't coming out so he had to drill it into 5 pieces and take them out one by one.
But on the bright side, it only hurt for 3-4 days.
 
  • #4
I got my wisdom teeth pulled in high school. I remember feeling like a million bucks when I woke up, whatever they gave it, it was good! :)
 
  • #5
daniel_i_l said:
One of the teeth wasn't coming out so he had to drill it into 5 pieces and take them out one by one.

:eek: *now* I'm scared.

George Jones said:

:rolleyes: Should have checked before staring another one.. anyways, thanks for the literature.

Greg Bernhardt said:
I got my wisdom teeth pulled in high school. I remember feeling like a million bucks when I woke up, whatever they gave it, it was good! :)

I can imagine. Looking forward to feel like a million bucks, too! :cool:
 
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  • #6
Couldn't tell ya. I'm 24 and they haven't come in yet. The dentist took the xray and they are definitely there, they just aren't pushing their way through.
 
  • #7
I still have all 4 of mine. If they come in straight, you just treat them like any other teeth and do your best to keep them clean. Flossing is a bugger back there though.

I have heard some real horror stories about breaking teeth apart and drilling into jaw bone to get wisdom teeth out. Luckily you can be under anesthesia for the whole thing and get a nice healthy dose of Vicadin for the week after.

There are two things I am a total wuss over: Back pain and tooth pain. If they are giving you troubles, you should seriously consider getting them removed.
 
  • #8
I was talking to my dentist about my wisdom teeth about a month ago because they were hurting quite a bit. It turned out that they were growing in just fine but as they were coming out of the gum some food was getting down under that gum and causing a mini-infection which was causing the pain. Anyways I just made sure to floss/brush really good back there and the pain went away pretty much right away.

Your dentist should be able to predict how hard it will be to take the teeth out. If he/she says that it will not be bad, I think its worth it to just go ahead and do it if they are causing you pain Radou.
 
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  • #9
Getting my wisdom teeth out was a piece of cake, and I am total sissy when it comes to dental stuff. I didn't have any pain, just a little swelling on one side, and I had to eat very soft foods for a few days. I had the whole thing done under IV sedation- I went to sleep, woke up, and they were out. I even went to the store and rented videos that same afternoon.

If you're near Houston, Texas, or have relatives there, I'll give you the number of my oral surgeon. He was awesome. Heck, I flew out from California just to go to him. Otherwise, it might be good for you to start shopping around for someone to do the job. Do you have friends who have been through this who could give you a recommendation?

Anyway, just don't be scared, OK? I put it off for a long time because of horrible stories I heard. Now, my teeth are crooked because I waited so long. The IV sedation was the way to go for me. I was actually more scared of the IV than anything else when I went in that morning, but even that was no big deal. They sprayed my arm with this vapocooling spray so I barely felt the needle stick. Super fast and easy!:smile:
 
  • #10
FredGarvin said:
Luckily you can be under anesthesia for the whole thing and get a nice healthy dose of Vicadin for the week after.

An inevitable thought that crossed my mind right now was - how was it before anesthesia?

Math Is Hard said:
If you're near Houston, Texas, or have relatives there, I'll give you the number of my oral surgeon. He was awesome. Heck, I flew out from California just to go to him. Otherwise, it might be good for you to start shopping around for someone to do the job. Do you have friends who have been through this who could give you a recommendation?

I'm not even on the same continent where Houston is, but thanks anyway. :smile:

Math Is Hard said:
Anyway, just don't be scared, OK? I put it off for a long time because of horrible stories I heard.

Well, actually I'm not so scared, since there are a few cute female dentists at the place where I go. So, even if I'll be scared, I'll have to hide it. :biggrin:
 
  • #11
You should get them removed before it causes a serious problem. I had an abcessed tooth as a child and it was very painful.

Funny story. I remember laying down on the table. They put a mask on my face and gave me some kind of gas, maybe laughing gas. Everything was slow and heavy and cool. I remember them talking and the doctor gave an order for the nurse to inject me with something. She was preparing to give me a shot in my inner elbow and with some effort I started to roll my head over to see what she was doing. My eyes never made it to my elbow. They stopped at the perfect angle to look down her shirt. I believe it was my first sexual experience. I woke up a few hours later feeling great.

I had 2 of my wisdom teeth removed in the military. That was an entirely different experience. The guy shot my gums full of novacaine. He put a rubber ball in my mouth and told me to hold onto the chair. Then he started yanking and cracking my teeth and cutting my gums open and prying my mouth open. It was excrutiating. After he was done I felt like I swallowed a football. My jaw was all sore and my mouth was still bleeding and the sound of cracking teeth was still in my head. He gave me a few motrine pills and sent me on my way 20 minutes later.

Go for the nitrous oxide.
 
  • #12
If they're causing you that much pain, then it'll be a relief for you to get them out. Someone else I know had wisdom teeth that actually caused pain like that, and the pain of having them removed was NOTHING compared to the pain they were causing while in.

As for me, they never bothered me when they were in, and really didn't bother me much getting them out either. I didn't even know there was a problem with them until the dentist told me they were pushing against other teeth, so would have to come out. I didn't even need any of the painkillers they prescribed for me. I did the "twilight" sedation thing...you're not totally asleep, just so loopy you couldn't care less, though the valium that's part of the anesthesia makes you forget the whole thing, which is really a weird thing to know you were awake and can't remember any of it.
 
  • #13
Best part of the whole thing was getting drugged right before I got em out. All I remember is then sticking an IV in me, them putting the medication in, then falling asleep. I woke up later thinking that I didn't get them out yet, but then I felt the gauze in my mouth.

The worst part about it was the week after. I had two impacted (not growing out correctly), so they had to cut in pretty deep. I didn't eat much besides yogurt and pudding for 4-5 days, and then it hurt for about a week after that. Nothing unbearable though, as long as you eat carefully. Be careful not to poke at the holes to much when you get them out--you could get dry socket, and I hear that hurts worse than anything.

Good luck :)
 
  • #14
I've had mine since I was about 16 or so and they're still here at 26. A dentist I saw during my senior year of high school told me I'd need to have them taken out or they'd cause an infection. They never did, and neither did they deform any of my existing teeth and they have never caused me any pain, either.

Damn lying dentist hacks!
 
  • #15
Huckleberry said:
Funny story. I remember laying down on the table. They put a mask on my face and gave me some kind of gas, maybe laughing gas. Everything was slow and heavy and cool. I remember them talking and the doctor gave an order for the nurse to inject me with something. She was preparing to give me a shot in my inner elbow and with some effort I started to roll my head over to see what she was doing. My eyes never made it to my elbow. They stopped at the perfect angle to look down her shirt. I believe it was my first sexual experience. I woke up a few hours later feeling great.

I had 2 of my wisdom teeth removed in the military. That was an entirely different experience. The guy shot my gums full of novacaine. He put a rubber ball in my mouth and told me to hold onto the chair. Then he started yanking and cracking my teeth and cutting my gums open and prying my mouth open. It was excrutiating. After he was done I felt like I swallowed a football. My jaw was all sore and my mouth was still bleeding and the sound of cracking teeth was still in my head. He gave me a few motrine pills and sent me on my way 20 minutes later.

Man, what a contrast between these two experiences! :biggrin:

DyslexicHobo said:
I didn't eat much besides yogurt and pudding for 4-5 days, and then it hurt for about a week after that.

That's okay, since I like yogurt and puddings. :smile:
 
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  • #16
For me, it didn't hurt much afterwards and the swelling wasn't very noticeable from the outside after about 5 days, but I couldn't open my mouth wide enough to eat anything thicker than pizza for about two weeks. A week and a half after I had them done, I went to lunch with my work colleagues and ate some mozzerella sticks for lunch - I had to flatten them with a fork before they'd fit in my mouth!
 
  • #17
So, I was at the dentist today with an X-ray of my teeth, and the situation is pretty bad. My wisdom teeth are growing in a completely wrong direction, and pushing my second molars, which is the cause of caries on both of my second molars. I have an appointment next week at the dentist to treat the second molars, and the wisdom teeth will have to be removed afterwards, probably in September. This is the first time in my life that I experienced problems with my teeth (thank God, my teeth are in extraordinary health, my dentist always admires them!), and I hate it. :rolleyes:
 
  • #18
Haha, I was at the dentist just yesterday. I will need my wisdom teeth removed sometime soon.
 
  • #19
So, I went to see the dentist today, and my second molar is partially treated. It lasted for two hours! :bugeye: Didn't hurt even a bit, though. Just one more to go and I'm done... :rolleyes: And then the wisdom teeth story follows. Charming.
 
  • #20
As a youngster, I had buck teeth. The front ones stuck straight out of my mouth. As a result 4 of my teeth were pulled to make room to pull the front ones back into my mouth with braces. When my wisdom teeth came in, I had no problems except that my front teeth buckled.
 
  • #21
radou said:
Well, it has been about three months now that one of my wisdom teeth freaks me out - it gets swollen approximately every two weeks, hurts (sometimes less, sometimes more), and I can't use the entire left side of my mouth to bite ! Which means that I must eat extremely careful and slow, which I don't practice, since I fully enjoy food only when I eat fast and greedy. :-p

Anyways, I went to the dentist about two months ago, and she gave some mouth-washing liquid which I'm using, but she mentioned that the wisdom tooth should be removed unless it stops causing trouble. So, it shall be one tooth less in my mouth, I guess (I'm going to see the dentist next week).

Additionally, tooth pain is a completely new thing to me, since I never have problems with my teeth, so it's kind of hard to get used to not be able to fall asleep at night because of a painful toothache. That totally sucks.

Anyways, I'll end this with a return to the title of the thread. :smile:


I had all my wisdom teeth by the time I was 16, I think. I had the exact same thing you have, the left side of my mouth was swallen and I could barely eat, because I like eating fast as well :smile:

But it past after a few weeks. I still have all 4 of my wisdom teeth and they don't bother me at all.
 
  • #22
EugP said:
But it past after a few weeks. I still have all 4 of my wisdom teeth and they don't bother me at all.

Well, hopefully it stays like that. :smile:
 
  • #23
radou said:
Well, hopefully it stays like that. :smile:

Heh yeah, but I heard getting wisdom teeth out isn't so bad, so whatever happens, happens.
 
  • #24
EugP said:
Heh yeah, but I heard getting wisdom teeth out isn't so bad, so whatever happens, happens.

It isn't that bad, I agree, but then again, it varies from individual to individual. There are horror stories, and there are fairy tales. It just depends.
 
  • #25
I never had any wisdom teeth .
 
  • #26
At age 30 I went to the dentist for the first time in 20years (signed up for a company medical plan)
I asked about wisdom teeth, he looked and said "you have them all, didn't you notice?"
Nope so I have no idea when they arrived.
 
  • #27
I got my wisdom teeth sometime in the middle of high school. They grew in fine, and I have had no trouble with them yet.(Knock on wood)

I do have a friend that had partly embedded wisdom teeth which the entist insisted on removing. They had to shatter them and out the shards.:eek: I remember he wasn't able to eat solid food for a couple days. He was fine in the end though. I think his case was extreme though, so you guys don't have to worry too much.
 

FAQ: Your experience with wisdom teeth

What are wisdom teeth?

Wisdom teeth, also known as third molars, are the last set of teeth to develop in the human mouth. They typically emerge between the ages of 17-25 and are located at the back of the mouth.

Why do wisdom teeth need to be removed?

Wisdom teeth often do not have enough space to fully emerge, leading to impaction or partial eruption. This can cause pain, infection, and damage to surrounding teeth. Additionally, wisdom teeth can be difficult to clean properly, increasing the risk of decay and gum disease.

How do I know if my wisdom teeth need to be removed?

Your dentist will typically take x-rays to assess the position and development of your wisdom teeth. If they are impacted or causing issues, your dentist may recommend removal.

What is the process for removing wisdom teeth?

The removal of wisdom teeth is a common oral surgery procedure. The surgeon will administer local anesthesia to numb the area and may also offer sedation to help you relax. The teeth will then be extracted, and the surgical site will be stitched closed. Recovery time varies, but most people can resume normal activities within a few days.

Are there any risks associated with wisdom teeth removal?

As with any surgery, there are some risks involved with wisdom teeth removal, such as bleeding, infection, and nerve damage. However, these complications are rare, and your dentist or oral surgeon will take necessary precautions to minimize risk.

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