wisdom teeth

[Tash]

i think i have one growing on my top left side- just the tip is starting to jab through my gum. how do you work out if you need to get it taken out? (i can't be bothered seeing a dentist) i guess it'd probabl just hurt a lot. i think i'll wait til january, see if some more grow so it can all happen at the same time. i don't want them taken out!!

[thalbergmad]

Seeing a dentist now is better than seeing a dentist later.

I left my wisdom teeth too late, and it took over an hour to get 2 out.

Extremely painful.

Would not wish it on my worst enemy.

Thal

PS  - On second thoughts, I would wish it on my worst enemy.

[bella musica]

Definitely have to agree with Thal here!  It's better to catch something early rather than risk complications...  Trust me, I know!

[netzow]

Been there, done that. Have them out

[ted]

Wisdom teeth don't necessarily have to be interfered with. They can make you feel really crook while they're erupting though, that's normal. It should quickly pass once they have fully erupted. If it doesn't or the discomfort gets worse, see the dentist. There appears to be a fashion at the present time for having them out regardless, in much the same way as every man and his dog had tonsils out for no reason when I was a kid. At fifty-eight I still have 31 teeth. I'd have 32 had I been taught how to floss properly sooner than I was.

[Tash]

yeah that's what mum said- you only need to get them taken out if they're coming down crooked. it's not hurting yet, i wasn't even aware of it until is was feeling the area with my tongue and was like wow that feels like a new tooth what! we'll see...

[gilad]

i have 3 wisdoms left, i had a filling in one and it was badly filled, so i had it removed.
next time you see the dentist which hopefully will be in the next few months ask him, i dont suspect it will shoot up over night.

[brewtality]

I had all 4 yanked in yr 10. It was a most unpleasant experience; my cheeked were all swollen, I couldn't swallow any tablets, etc and when I had recovered I found that I was now unable to fit my retainer. The only consolation was that I missed a week of school.

[living_stradivarius]

i think i have one growing on my top left side- just the tip is starting to jab through my gum. how do you work out if you need to get it taken out? (i can't be bothered seeing a dentist) i guess it'd probabl just hurt a lot. i think i'll wait til january, see if some more grow so it can all happen at the same time. i don't want them taken out!!

I tolerated the pain as each one poked through my gums and took it like a man (j/k, if it really bothers you, ask a dentist or trust the advice of someone here who actually has the proper medical advice).
I'm glad I still have all four of my wisdom teeth.

[musik_man]

I had all 4 taken out in one sitting.  There are basically two ways you can have it done, with local or with general anesthetic.  I had local, because it cuts the cost down by half.  The whole thing took about two hours and went like this.  The dentist loaded me up with novacain, enough to where everything below my nose was completely numb.  He took a drill to one of the teeth and bore into it, then broke it apart with some metal tools and extracted the tooth (it's not a very elegant procedure.)  The same thing was done to all the teeth.  There wasn't any pain during the operation, although you do feel lots of pressure when he's breaking the tooth apart.

Afterwards, they give you a large quantity of gauze and tell you to switch it out at regular intervals until the bleeding stops.  I think it took about 7 or 8 hours with me.  Everyone had told me that you'd feel miserable for several days after the operation, but I only felt some minor pain in my jaws from having large quantities of gauze jammed in there.

Hope this helps

[pianojems]

It's interesting, I have only one popping up in my bottom jaw, and it has been a long slow process of several years.It is still only partially out. When I was a young teenager a dentist told me that he saw my wisdom teeth in an X-Ray and that they would be coming out within a short time. Here I am in my twenties and they're still not out except this one. There is a slight hole in my gum that gets sore some times. Frankly I am too scared to go and get them removed and don't know if I should. I have been afraid of dentists all my life even though I forced my self to go for all other things. Any one else here afraid of the dentist, or am I the only one?

[Tash]

that's funny cos i saw the dentist like less than a year ago and he saw no sign of them at all. maybe it's not even a wisdom tooth maybe it's a really belated molar. i only have 2 molars on each side of my top gum and 3 on the bottom, so 12 teeth on top and 14 on the bottom. i'm looking at a picture that has 16 teeth- where are all my teeth?!! weird...

[quantum]

I tried to avoid getting mine pulled out as much as possible, but seeing the x-ray changed my mind.  In many cases wisdom teeth do not grow straight, and actually grow into the adjacent molar.  None of my wisdom teeth ever did pop out, but they were starting to push the molars beside it out of alignment.  The dentist said, that if I didn't have them taken out now, there would be potential for more problems in the future and maybe have to take out some molars too if it gets too bad. 

My advice is go get an x-ray, then evaluate from there. 

I had general anesthetic as recomendef by the dentist.  I was really wanting to go local, but he said it would be a less traumatic experience if I didn't witness the operation.  He was quite correct, and when I woke up I didn't feel anything, just the pieces of gause stuck in my mouth. 

The dentist that I was reffered to, to perform the operation had done several operations on wind players in our city's symphony orchestra and was quite familiar with musicians concerns.  I appreciated that a lot because I am also a clarinetist.