Oh No...I've lost my wisdom! (Wisdom Tooth Extraction)

Member Name: marymoose

Product:	Wisdom Tooth Extraction
Date:	07/01/08 (2807 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: No more toothache after this, time off work, sympathy from people!

Disadvantages: Waiting lists, pain, loss of wisdom

This review was originally written on Ciao in February 2007, two days after having my wisdom teeth out.

-----The Background to my teeth------

I was 19 when I first started noticing my wisdom teeth coming through. I joked that I wanted them to come through by the time I had my exams at Uni that year - thought the extra wisdom might be useful! My teeth didn't really seem to do a lot - and didn't really come through. There were a few aches and pains, but nothing that would really constitute toothache, and couldn't be solved with a couple of paracetomol.

My teeth have always been pretty much perfect. The dentist always told me so anyway - perhaps this can be attributed to my use of Ultrabrite toothpaste, or perhaps I have just been very lucky. Probably the latter!

However, all this changed one evening at a school sixth form ball in 1998 when I was drunk (nothing new there then), dancing to Step's "5678" (and it's very rare that I dance), and it went "5, 6, 7, SPLAT!" As a result I lost the bottom (well it couldn't really be the top!) half of one of my top front teeth. I looked like a hideous monster (nothing new there then, again!). Anyway, this was all sorted out at the time (over about 6 months of rebuilding the tooth), luckily I was 17 still so it was free on the NHS. Although my teeth would never be perfect again, the filling at the front shows up in photos and especially after drinking red wine.

Ok, you're wondering what this has to do with my wisdom teeth? Nothing really, but it's background information, and I want to let you know about it! I had problems with this front filling 6 years later (i.e. it fell out a week before the wedding, got fixed, and fell out again three weeks later on the honeymoon over a bacon sandwich), so the Mary Monster returned. While I was having a rather expensive private consultation to sort it out the dentist took an X-ray of my mouth and found that I had an impacted wisdom tooth. At the time it wasn't causing any problems, and I put it to the back of my mind/mouth...whatever!


-----The Toothache-----

Anyway in January 2006 I had my first proper taste of toothache, and I didn't like it one bit! Hubby had had tooth problems and while I had been the sympathetic wife (although giving him a lecture on not cleaning his teeth properly), I couldn't really appreciate what he had been through, and the pain...oh the pain. It always seems to be far worse at night. Because one colleague was already off sick I didn't take any time off work, although I probably should have. While at work I phoned the emergency dentist and they managed to get me an appointment for the next day at a dentists in Carlisle.

The dentist took x-rays and confirmed that the back right wisdom tooth and one above it needed to come out. However, with it being impacted it wasn't as simple as him being able to do it then and there. He gave me a course of antibiotics (the nasty Metranidozole which you CANNOT drink alcohol with - one of the few antibiotics you actually can't mix with alcohol - the others it's just not recommended - so my dad the GP has told me). I was very lucky as I got to register with the dental practice (on the NHS!) because I needed to be registered to go on the wisdom tooth removal waiting list! My colleague was not impressed as she had been trying to get on an NHS list for months.
A couple of months later I had an assessment at Whitehaven hospital. That was a bit of a nightmare as I couldn't find the right department - I went to A & E, breast screening, and a doctors' staffroom before I got to the dental department! I waited around, had an X-ray, waited again (not nice since once man proceeded to tell me all about his mouth cancer, and I felt terrible for being there when all I had was a wisdom tooth), and then had a consultation where the dentist informed me that yes, I needed the top and bottom right wisdom teeth out.

To be honest the whole thing seemed to be a waste of my time and NHS money. If my dentist had just forwarded them the initial X-ray then surely they'd have been able to see this. I did ask the consultant, and her response was "Oh, the dentists don't send us X-rays!" At this time I opted for the local anaesthetic and the sedation, rather than the general anaesthetic. As I have never had a general before and there is a minimal risk of death, I thought it was probably wise not to have a general when it wasn't absolutely necessary.

Anyway, I was told that the wait would be up to 6 months, so I was expecting to have them out in September 2006. So, I put it to the back of my mind. In August 2006 I got bad toothache again (I had had the odd bit of toothache, but nothing major), but this time it was in the left side. I looked in my mouth and could see that there was this flap of skin over the wisdom tooth and that had got infected. Went to the dentist, got more Metranizole and anti-inflammatories as well. He told me that I should ask the hospital to remove that one as well. So, I phoned up the hospital and they said that wouldn't be possible as I'd have to go on a waiting list. The next day I got a letter asking if I still wanted to be on the waiting list for the other 2 teeth (coincidence, I think not). Yes, of course I did, I didn't want to go back to the bottom of the list.

So anyway, I resigned myself to the fact that I'd only get out the badly impacted one, and the one above it, and that the other one would have to wait. In the meantime, my front tooth filling chipped and I had to have that repaired. I was told that I need to get a crown really, but that I should wait until after the wisdom tooth removal in case they knocked things around in my mouth - this didn't fill me with confidence!

Six months came and went, and my teeth were behaving, so I didn't really feel the need or desire to pursue it. I think it's like any pain - when you're not in it, you forget just how bad it was. So, I was surprised when in January I received a letter asking me to make an appointment for the removal, and even more surprised when I phoned and we scheduled the operation for 21st February. It was a good time since work is quiet during half-term at school so I could easily have a few days off. I don't generally have sick leave (I have had one day in 2 years, which is quite a lot for me!), but I thought that I'd quite like a couple of days off sick - things not going to well at work at the moment!
I received a confirmation letter and an information 'booklet'. The booklet was actually a piece of paper which told me that I needed to eat a light lunch beforehand, wear flat shoes, not drive for 24 hours, and have someone to take me home. I felt a bit in the dark, so did my own research on wisdom tooth removal on the Internet. This was probably not a wise idea as I read a load of horror stories about damaged nerves and paralysis of the jaw. I felt that I would have liked to have been given a bit more information. I am an intelligent person, and I was able to carefully access the pros and cons of the removal, but I am worried that some people (for whatever reason) may not be able to make an informed decision as I was.


-----The operation------

Hubby picked me up from work at 2:30pm on Wednesday (21st Feb), and drove to the Cumberland Infirmary (in Carlisle) - they only remove teeth there, not in Whitehaven which is our nearer hospital to home, but since I work in Carlisle it was actually fairly convenient. The hospital looked very nice, despite a load of people huddled smoking by the entrance despite large signs saying that the hospital would be Smoke-free from September 2006! Put it this way, I was glad to be there rather than Whitehaven hospital which looks like it could collapse at any minute!

It was easy to find the dental department as it's the first bit you come to in the hospital! I signed in at 2:55pm, appointment was 3:15pm, and I actually went in 10 minutes early - now that must be a first! I sat on the dental chair, and hubby sat in there while they went through a few things. I mentioned the bottom left tooth, and the dentist said that she could easily take that one out as well as it was a simple one. I was really pleased about that! I also asked if I could keep the teeth, and the dentist said yes - I have kept all of my baby teeth you see - yes, it's weird I know!

My blood pressure and pulse were taken (all was normal), and hubby left the room. The sedation was what I had been most worried (but also most excited) about. The surgeon informed me that I would feel drunk and not know what was happening - sounds good to me! I was given the local anaesthetic and then the sedation. To be honest while I felt very relaxed I did fee like I was with it the whole time. Everyone has said that under sedation you won't remember the operation. I am sure I remember the whole thing although it was a little bit blurry I must admit....the bottom left came out first, then the more complicated impacted bottom right. This involved a bit of tapping and breaking up the tooth. Then the top right tooth (I kept the top left). The surgeon stitched me up and then I walked to the recovery room. Two nurses tried to help me, but I was confident I could walk on my own - and I could.

Hubby joined me in the recovery room 5 minutes later. I was hooked up to a blood pressure and pulse machine, which took my BP every so often. A nurse sat in there to monitor me. All I wanted to do was talk (I do talk a lot at the best of times), which was hard as my mouth was numb, and I was spitting blood. The nurse was very nice, and cleaned the blood around my mouth. I asked for some water and I poured it down me as I missed my mouth! Hubby went to get my prescription of Metranidozole (again), and I did a test to show I could walk in a straight line - to be honest I was a bit disappointed by the lack of effect of the sedative. Anyway, then we left and went home!


-----The Recovery-----

We got home at 5:15pm. When you consider that it is about an hour's drive, that means that the operation and recovery in the hospital was under an hour. Much quicker than I'd expected. I lay down and watched 'Neighbours' - one of the few times hubby didn't moan about it!

There was quite a lot of blood, and I spent the evening spitting very gently into a tissue. I didn't need to use the gauze I was given as the gums didn't start bleeding properly. In fact the bleeding had stopped completely about 10 hours later. I wasn't given any painkillers, was told just to take paracetomol - not aspirin due to the bleeding.

So, Wednesday night I didn't sleep well, and ended up watching "Brother Bear" at 2am. Since the bleeding had stopped, on Thursday I introduced aspirin into my pain relief, so then I could take the maximum of paracetomol and aspirin (I always do this and it works very well). I did however find that I was very very tired, and slept Thursday afternoon. Thursday night was better, I woke up, but managed to go back to bed once the painkillers kicked in. Yesterday (Friday) was good, and I even went out - but I felt so tired just walking a little distance (I bought more painkillers, and thought I'd try some different ones!). Last night again was quite bad, and today I just feel so tired.

It's not pain as such - it's just the aching. My mouth is swollen and I look a bit like a hamster. I have been eating, soup, pasta and ice cream (that was very soothing). I did have a piece of pizza which I ate VERY slowly, and chewed using only my front teeth. This did make my jaw ache later. I have been cleaning my teeth, yesterday I knocked one of the stitches, but although it hurt luckily it didn't start bleeding. I have also been rinsing my mouth out with saltwater regularly. This isn't particularly nice, but makes me feel that I'm doing something! I do feel like I have bad breath (hubby confirmed) and this isn't very nice. The stitches are also a bit annoying as I keep thinking they are food!

I am glad that I had two days off work. I wasn't particularly ill, but I don't think I'd have coped with getting to work (even though I don't drive there) and being so tired. Today I feel very tired. But I'm finding that doing things like typing this review is taking my mind off the pain, and keeping me busy.

All in all the pain hasn't been as bad as I expected - it's just moderate toothache really (except the teeth aren't there). I am happy knowing that my wisdom teeth won't cause me any more problems. The stitches should dissolve in a few days, and the swelling should go down in a week or so.


-----Nearly a year later-----

The healing process went very well. I could feel the stitches in my mouth for about 10 days which was a bit weird. The pain soon subsided and I was back at work the following Monday as planned - I kept up with the saltwater for about a week. Two weeks following the extraction it was like it had never happened, except that I have my teeth in a little pot in my drawer!


-----Other information-----

One thing that annoyed me at the time was comments from people saying "I had mine out at the dentist and it didn't hurt at all". The chances are that these were simple removals. Mine certainly couldn't have been done at the dentist (well not at my dental surgery anyway). It is the impacted one which really causes the pain. I'm not an expert on teeth, and looking at sites like http://www.animated-teeth.com/wisdom_teeth/t1wisdo mtooth.htm give more information. There seem to be different types of impacting teeth, so maybe all three of mine were impacted, but only one in the really bad way - the one which they left is apparently in a perfect state! In the past people had wisdom teeth removed for no apparent reason and this was not a good thing. The NICE clinical guidelines now state that healthy wisdom teeth should not be removed - http://www.nice.org.uk/page.aspx?o=509 It is also costly to the NHS to remove teeth for no reason!

So, certainly if wisdom teeth are causing problems, talk to your dentist about it (you should do this anyway of course). Of course there are risks, and I had to sign a form to say I understood that things might go wrong. I guess I was quite lucky having them out in the hospital as it meant I didn't have to pay anything! At the end of the day, a bit of toothache meaning no more toothache has got to be a good thing. Mine hadn't caused a lot of problems in comparison to some peoples', but I was told that if I didn't have it removed it would almost certainly damage the tooth in front, so it's got to be worth it!

I don't feel any less wise, and I got lots of sympathy from hubby, and flowers from my mum - so all in all a pretty good experience! Better than being at work anyway :o)

Also published on Ciao by marymoose99.

Summary: If your wisdom teeth are causing problems, have them out!