Seeking advice/personal experience from anyone who has had all of your teeth pulled w/o being put to sleep!?

Question

After searching all over the entire county of San Luis Obispo, CA, there is absolutely not one oral surgeon that accepts medi-cal due to me being on SSI for severe Lupus/Fibromyalgia /CFS and all that goes along with that--The only option I have is to go to one of those lovely clinics that has only gas to offer me. Has anyone ever had to go through this with or without gas and what was the experience like for you during the surgery? Also, what can I expect the recovery time to feel like? I am scared of the dentist as it is (more of the shots than anything) for some reason my gums where they put the needdle is the most horrible type of pain. Timing is crucial-I have put this off for a long time and I have heard not taking care of the teeth that need to come out can be very dangerous. Please, if anyone has any personal experience or knows some one that has, please let me know ASAP. Thank you in advance! Fmincali

Answer 1

hi there! i'm a 24y/o female, and i actually just had my wisdom teeth removed two days ago - 3 simple extractions, 1 impacted. My insurance wouldn't cover general anesthesia for the removal; and the idea of going under freaked me out, so i opted for the local, no gas. it was a breeze.

first the surgeon loaded me up with the lidocaine (about 3 shots for each tooth). they administer local (like ambesol) so that you don't feel the injections as much, and then they stick you. once the anesthesia kicked in, it took him about 2-5 minutes to extract each tooth. for the simple teeth, they wiggle each one out and then they extract them. lots of pressure, but if you know this before hand, you'll be fine. as for the impacted one, they had to drill the tooth in half before removing. lots of pressure for that one too... more so, since it was obviously in my jawbone.

nothing about the procedure hurt. the impacted wasn't numb enough at first, and i could feel a slight sensation during the removal. i raised my hand & let him know i was feeling it, and so he administered another shot.

at the most, the shots feel like pinches. so expect to feel that. just embrace the pain of those shots... as weird as that sounds. don't try to ignore it or shut it out. lean into it.

i brought in my headphones & cranked up my mp3 player during the procedure. i think the hardest part of the whole ordeal for anyone would be getting over the skeemishness. i could hear the cracking of my one tooth through my mouth. that was the loudest part. no big deal, but for some it might be a little overwhelming. i just went to a happy place with my music.

so after the removal, he stitched the one impacted site up & put gauze over the sites. then they had me sit in the chair for about 5-10 minutes because was feeling lightheaded and shakey (from the epinephrine they give you). meanwhile, they checked my vitals.

after i was all set & not feeling so lightheaded, they moved me in a little recovery room where i could lie down & read a magazine. all in all, it took about 45 minutes to an hour, which included the time it took me to set up my follow-up apptmnt.

just make sure to keep up on your meds, and you won't feel a thing. it's important to take the narcotic prescription they give you within an hour before the anesthetic wears off. i don't feel any recovery pain today and haven't had to use pain medication at all since last night.

these guys are professionals, so no worries. if anything, the most unpleasant thing would be changing the bloody gauze ever half hour for the first day. but, the best thing is getting it over with & being able to eat ice cream for every meal! :)

you will be fine. ;) it's all about preparing yourself beforehand.

Answer 2

i hope they at least have the shots that num you too. I had really bad teeth all thru school and I had a lot pulled out along the way. When I turned 18 I only had 15 teeth left and they were pretty bad looking, so I decided to just have them all pulled out. There was no way I could ever afford to fix them and I was tired of toothaches and teeth breaking off. I didn't have gas but I did have the shots that make your mouth num so you won't feel pain. I felt some pressure sometimes but no pain really. I was awake the whole time. It's not something I would want to have to do very often, but it wasn't really that bad either. I haven't had any teeth or dentures for 3 years now, but it's the longest I ever went with no teeth problems. Toothless isn't nearly as bad as some make it sound. How many teeth are you having pulled out? Maybe if it's a lot they can do half 1 time and the other half another day. It's worth asking about with whoever is gonna actually do the work.

Answer 3

Well, I have gotten 4 permanant teeth pulled with only shots when I was 12. I didn't think it was that bad but how many teeth are you getting out? The shots SORT of hurt though. And I had already had 6 baby teeth pulled out prior to this so I already had experience...

Answer 4

I had to get all four out without being put to sleep. It took many shots of lidocaine before I was numb enough. Those were very painful as they were injected into my palate. Also being conscious of having all of those hands in my mouth was unnerving. They usually have to rock the tooth back and forth alot before getting it to come out. But in the end it was a total relief to have them out!

Answer 5

I had an impacted wisdom tooth removed with only freezing. The oral surgeon was afraid to put me to sleep, because of the medication I was using.