Non guitar question for both the Gibson & Epi boys!

[Aster1]

Things have been going pretty well for me health wise the last year. Yesterday afternoon my jaw/face flew into throbbing pain. Have a wisdom tooth part thru & a adult molar that decided to start coming in a little late (like 45 yrs late 2 yrs ago) causing me major trouble. Just found out today that I will have to have both removed when the infection clears. I'm just a corner from 60 now and my risk is high with a heart valve condition I have now after that cardiac virus that hit me 2 yrs ago.

 

Any of you had anything yanked that was a real cut out job like I'll have to go thru? How bad was it and how did it turn out?

 

It's not too bad when your 25, 30 is worse, and then things just go to hell in a hand basket for outcomes w/o comp. when your into the 45-55 range. Dang I'm beyond that now. Guess I'm just fretting but am worried about the heart issue. Either way I'm screwed as leaving things be puts me a huge risk for a bacterial infection in the heart muscle. Will have to gut thing out w/ antibiotics till Monday visit with Oral Surg. to quiz him what I'm looking at. I guess this will be my big deal for 2013. What's a Mother to do?

 

Aster

[Greybeard]

I had a wisdom tooth cut out last year. My advise is to ask how many the guy has done lately and what were the outcomes. I was fortunate to have a real expert and no follow on problems. Its not something I care to sit through every day but its also not the worst thing I've had to go through. I'm 66 so no spring chicken.

[Aster1]

Thanks Beard,

 

That's encouraging to know!! I just quiz the Dr. as I think two of them in this group are both DDS Oral Surg.& MD's. Good reps, but still I just hate procedure stuff I guess!!

 

Thanks again!

 

Aster

[krock]

I've got a wisdom tooth starting to come through. It doesn't hurt but it is annoying

[Dennis G]

I had a wisdom tooth starting to "come in" about 10 +/- years ago (I was in my early/mid 50's). My long time dentist recommended an oral surgeon. He used morphine or something because I was "awake" (yeah right) and somewhat coherent. Took about 45 minutes, didn't feel a thing, slept for an hour or so after and then got a ride home.

 

Took about six months or so though for the "phantom" feeling in my gums when I bent over to go away. It was like an annoying little "feeling" when I moved, but no big deal.

 

Good luck and hoping for a positive outcome!

[Blueblooded]

Relax and follow all instructions after the teeth are out (i.e., rinsing, etc.) an you'll be fine. Wisdom teeth are a piece of cake. You'll be sore for a couple of days and back to almost normal after about a week. As long as you have a good doctor you'll be fine.

[RaysEpiphone]

I had 2 wisdom's removed, it was about 15 or 20 years ago but the Doc had to smash them into bit's to remove them. They where small and the one's on the bottom of my jaw have lots of room so he left them in to this day. They where so small that he just whacked them with a chisel type tool and they got sucked out by the drain thingy they always stick in your mouth. The needle hurt (I hate needles!) but that was the only pain I had, like you, he put me on drugs to clear an infection for a few days before-hand.

[jaxson50]

I've had root canals, teeth pulled, a shattered jaw, severed part of my lip, ruptured four disc in my back. Broke three ribs had my liver lacerated, blew out my left knee, went thru two bouts of chemo that robbed me of 106 weeks of my life. But 6 years later, I'm still here.Other then that, everything is just fine, so pull up you pants and get on with it.

[daveinspain]

Don't worry it's a very normal and common procedure. I think it's basic stuff for any oral surgeon... Google the doctor's name and see if you can find out what kind of experience he has. See if you can contact any former patients if you're really worried about it and ask them their opinions...

[Bender 4 Life]

between 17 & 28 I lost all my wisdom teeth.....

1st one was straddling & pinching a facial nerve, lost feeling in my lower left face, permanently, when it came out.

#2 broke off at the root & had to be dug out....had a dry socket for about 15 yrs afterward, even a dremel type wire brush & silver nitrate wouldn't cauterize it shut.

#3 & 4 were both fused to my upper jawbone and had to (both) be literally chipped out w/a hammer & chisel.

 

i'm 2 generations removed from full blown hemophelia (Dads' Mom) and bleed profusely.....no dentist would see me again after each removal.

 

Mrs.B. asked me why I didn't just have the molars in front of the wisdoms removed to let the W's come in naturally....I was never given that option.

 

good luck, and above all...TAKE THE PAIN MEDS!!!

[Aster1]

Thanks all for the encouragement! (well except for Benders experience)

 

I'm just a worrier when it comes to it and not really scared about the pain aspect. We've really started to get busy with my business (after 4 yrs of beating the bushes for work) and I've got projects underway with design & programming to complete on deadlines. Most concerned about the heart issue I guess. Jaxson, you're right, with no viable options I will just get on with it.

 

Just going into this like a big project and will whip up tons of P.M.A. (positive mental attitude)

 

Thanks again all. I think that I'll find out more Monday and put it off for a week to get thru with a clients work. Then go for it 2nd week of May.

 

Aster

[badbluesplayer]

Yeah - Ain't that big a deal. You'll be home for a day or two resting and then back to normal work. It won't really be that painful at all. After a week or two you'll be back to normal.

[jdgm]

Depends on whether you need a general anaesthetic. Hopefully not. I was in my late 20s and had 3 (out of 4) severely impacted wisdom teeth; had to go to hospital, pre-med, general anaesthetic, the lot.

My jaw had to be wired open for an hour and the surgeon said they were the 'epitome of nasty wisdom teeth'. God knows what he had to do to get them out. Incredible pain when I came to, my face had swelled up like a football and a month later I was still out of it....the worst thing I have ever been through by a very long way indeed. No you really do not want that!

But there have been many more advances in the last 30 years, so I think it will not be anything like that bad but it is very important you discuss your worries and medical condition etc with the surgeon beforehand.

My father had died on the operating table under a general anaesthetic during a heart bypass so I was worried. It would be very unusual not to be.

Good luck!

[BobF_]

Not really bad. I've been through a lot worse things

[btoth76]

Hello!

 

My Dad has been through 3 massive heart attacks...He was operated with His heart in 1995. Since then He had a very serious ankle fracture, a femoral neck fracture, His thyroids removed, and this Chrismas a knee-break...

 

He still going strong, smokes a pack of cigarettes, and drinks a litre of beer each day.

 

The moral of His story is: if You have will for life, nothing can get off Your feet!

 

Good luck to You and do not worry!

 

Cheers... Bence

[milod]

I had my wisdom teeth removed in the 80s. The roots were hooked into the jaw so they hadda be broken to get out.

 

That hurt worse than two years ago when I had all my remaining teeth removed in two days. I didn't do a general for any of it, btw. In fact, the top half were taken out here, the bottom half at the dentists' office 60 miles away and I drove myself there and back. No problem. In fact, I was laughing all the way home after I saw myself in the Jeep's mirror with the pink froth emerging from the gauze in my mouth. I still chuckle thinking about it.

 

My wife had a knee replacement last December and new hips a cupla years ago, so they make her take antibiotics even before teeth cleaning.

 

Bottom line is that it seems to depend on your individual teeth and your dentists' technique - and then your response to any painkillers if at all, and to whatever antibiotics they may give you. I learned that narcotic painkillers themselves give me more pain than the pain itself after the first nasty wisdom tooth removal. They didn't want me to use aspirin, but that did far more good with the pain than the prescription stuff. With the two-day trip it was just a light dose of tylenol with a bit of codeine and I quit that after the first evening.

 

Good luck!

 

m

[lazarusvt84]

my 17-yr old son had four cut out a few months ago...he was a hurtin' pup. My daughter had two removed when she was 21, not so bad. I had my four cut out at 40 and it was a piece of cake! No pain, no issues...perhaps I had a great surgeon or a stroke of luck.

 

 

Stay on top of your meds, heed Dr. advice, keep mouth clean....it's very survivable these days. Godspeed!!

[ksdaddy]

I have about 15 teeth left and half of them are broken off. I plan on taking the big step this summer but I hope to hook up with a dentist who will explain the steps and timeline so I'm not freaking out about it. I lost one of my front teeth in 2005 and haven't smiled since. They're a mess.

[Buxom]

Get the full anesthesia.

 

I was ok. They gave me vicodin.

[jaxson50]

Pay the extra 25 buck for the gas passer, you won't remember anything.

 

 

[retrosurfer1959]

Yep sadly wisdom teeth are one of those things that should be removed when your young I was 46 because mine were fine but I took a bad spill of a board and cracked several teeth including two wisdom that were causing no issues and hadn't been a problem for decades. I went to have then pulled and they decided to do all four plus two other broken teeth so they decided to put me out. They had a kit though rather than a full blown anesthesiologist which is common with dental work I guess. It' a fixed set of anesthesia that can be administered with much less gear and risk. Sadly I've been put under so many damn times the drugs don't work very well so I woke up when they shattered the fourth tooth so I got to be awake and sadly alert for the rest of the procedure. and damn it hurt they tried Novocain and everything else short of a baseball bat but nothing was putting be down so they just went for it. Now I know what torture feels like it was truly horrible and when he was finished I don't know who had more tears in their eye's me or the doctor. After about thirty minutes I stood up and they got my wife she took one look and literally screamed. I was covered in blood (don't wear a white shirt) and literally had dozens of bloody handprints covering me from where two dentists and three nurses were holding me down while the poor doctor dug shattered teeth out of my gums. It was so bad they actually asked me to leave through a back doorway and the dentist gave me a surgical scrub shirt because they didn't want me getting blood all over the car, I felt so sorry for the doctor and a nurse that were the main people you could tell they were even more freaked out then I was. He had done like 20k teeth before and never had it go so wrong.

 

Funny thing though we still trade Christmas cards and have even played golf a few times he's a really nice guy for a dentist I just happened to be the horror story patient of his career so far.

 

yours will go much smoother for most people it's no big deal the only thing I would say is especially if you have concerns about the anesthesia make sure they have a actual anesthesiologist not just a med pack and a second dental surgeon performing that roll.