My Dentist is pulling twenty-two of my teeth at the same time. Is this safe. I am concerned.?

Question

I am not at all comfortable with this. I worry about the pain and bleeding. He plans on putting in my new denture's immediatly.If anyone has had this much work done in one sitting, please share your experiencewith me.

I have had radiaton therapy from larnyx cancer and my teeth are now brittle and decay quickly. I have a nunber of teeth that are still good, I know how quickly they are deteorating and feel I have no choice but to have this done. Also, I am close to sixty years old.

Answer 1

Jesus, people! WHY would you think that the motivation behind this was to "get more money?" If she needs the teeth out, she needs them out. Almost ANYTHING we can do to a tooth costs more than taking it out and once it's gone, you can't do any more to it. Once the tooth is on the tray, that cash machine is closed forever.

Now to the question... If you are not comfortable with this approach, then talk to your dentist about it. Please do this as soon as possible, some time well before your appointment. It is not uncommon to have 22 teeth removed, especially if they are pretty loose anyhow. It is also quite common to take out all but the front teeth at visits prior to the "final deed." You could ask about having all of your teeth from the left taken out at one visit, the right at another visit and then the front at the final visit when you are going to get your denture.

The only thing is... The impression was made with all of your teeth in place. This is a change in plans. The denture has (probably) already been made. If you have teeth out now and don't get the denture inserted for maybe another month or so, due to a delay in the other extractions, the gum on one side will shrink quite a bit before you even get the denture placed. With immediate dentures, you always KNOW that you will need them relined rather soon after they are inserted. In your case, you may fell like the dentures are too loose the very day that you get them, because a lot of the shrinkage will have already occurred where you had some teeth taken out. Just be ready for this.

HOWEVER - if you call your dentist TODAY, maybe you can get him to hold up the final denture fabrication and then he can take new impressions about a month after your next-to-last extraction visit. This will allow a lot of the shrinkage to occur and you will not need relines as quickly.

Answer 2

Yes, I've known that to happen in cases where the teeth are very loose anyway, the gum hardly circulates them and there is next to no bleeding on extraction.

No dentist would do this to healthy teeth in healthy gum tissue but I would guess that if your dentist is prepared to take out that many teeth at once, that they will already be very loose and it'll take no time to extract them as they're virtually falling out anyway.

After your dentist has removed the tooth, he or she will squeeze the space in your gum where the tooth was. A piece of gauze will be placed over the area and you will be asked to bite down on it. This helps to stop the bleeding.

You'll probably find that some won't hardly bleed at all. Avoid anything that might prevent normal healing. It is usually best not to smoke or rinse your mouth very vigorously. These activities could dislodge the clot and delay healing. After meals, gently bathe the site with warm salt water (one teaspoon of table salt to a glass).

If you are frightened ask for a mild sedative. Its upsetting to have that many teeth taken out.

I don't know how old you are but you will experience bone loss after a certain time frame of having those teeth removed. Perhaps you want to consider implants whilst you still have bone to place them without any need for bone grafting etc. If you're happy with a full denture, then fine.

Good luck.

Answer 3

I had four teeth pulled out by my dentist when I was 11 years old. Two in one week and two more two weeks later. My dentist is very gentle and professional so I had no problems. I did not miss school and had no complications. But it depends how competent the dentist. I just had a nightmare rootcanal where i live now and I am so traumatized that will fly 2,000 miles in December to, among other things, visit my old dentist! I would get a second opinion!

Answer 4

That's pretty normal if you are getting dentures. There will be bleeding but as long as you apply pressure, it will slow soon enough. And when teeth are pulled the pain is more like a ache than anything. If it bothers you tremendously, ask the dentist to prescribe something for pain but take it only of you really need it.

Answer 5

I Sure hope to ___ that he gave you alternatives, such as implants, or restorations on your natural teeth. If your teeth are badly decayed, then I can see them getting pulled but don't ever, and I mean EVER try to get rid of your natural teeth if you can absolutely help it. If you aren't satisfied with their looks, then get braces, veneers, crowns, or implants, etc to fix what you need. Dentures seem like a 'quick fix' but without implants or natural teeth there, the bone levels go down, then the dentures won't fit anymore, you'll have to buy adhesives for them, and eventually get them relined, or worse, have to buy new dentures. Either way, you're gonna have to pay $$$, either now or later. The choice, ultimately, is yours to make, but I would get a second opinion. Some offices have payment plans and many accept credit cards, if it's a money issue.

Dentistry is one of those things where an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Take care of your teeth and gums now, and you won't have to pay out the you-know-what, later.

Answer 6

I had all of my teeth pulled at once - I had a bad pregnancy and my teeth rotted as I threw up so much - I wanted my teeth taken out under general anaesthetic so it was done this way - I woke up with my false teeth in - then after your mouth swelling goes down after a couple of months you then get a new set of teeth put in (which I havent done because of money) so I still have my original false teeth but I do get some ulcers on the bottom so propper fitting teeth would probably avoid this.

Having mine all out at once was no big deal - but if you dont like the idea get it done while your asleep.

Good luck with it!

Answer 7

I had an infected tooth pulled a few weeks ago. The normal painkiller does not work very well, they had to use a stronger one and it was fine. I am not sure about a root canal being dangerous, I would have thought there was small risk? Talk to your dentist, root canal work might still be perfectly possible and there is no sense in loosing your tooth when it can be perfectly fine again.

Answer 8

22 is A LOT! I had 8 teeth out at once... It was okay - just hard to eat for a bit until my braces moved the remaining teeth together...then I had my 4 wisdom teeth removed. I do think that is a lot at one time - couldn't he do the top first, then the bottom later or something? Good Luck!

Answer 9

I had 17 out at once and I was ok. I had some pain meds but I didn't need them after the 3rd day, I just used Aleve or something if I needed something. I didn't get my teeth right away like you are tho. I won't be getting mine til like March/April. I had stitches and the first day was pretty uncomfortable, but the pain pills made me sleepy so I slept thru most of it. You should be ok after a few days. Still a little sore probly, but mostly ok, especially after like 4-5 days.

Answer 10

I took my mother to have this done. She had all her teeth pulled at once. She was in some pain for a few days, but she did fine and her new dentures look great.