Wisdom teeth extraction, scared....

[mike2008]

I am having my wisdom teeth pulled next week and will have conscience sedation with halcion and laughing gas with novacaine.

The office is making me wait till the day of to watch the informative video and sign a release form. They told me it would gross me out to watch too early.

I am scared to do this. What if it hurts my nerve? Will I be nervous with the sedation, will I feel pain? Will it hurt when they pull it out? I hate needles, and the thought of them doing this just makes me cringe.

Please help.

[mike2008]

Yeah, still here. I am taking hydracodone for pain right now along with ibuprofen and penicillin to help fight a cyst behind one of them. One of my wisdom teeth they have to cut some gum and some bone to remove it. They are both out. Scared still. I hope the halcion and laughing gas really makes me trip balls here because I don't see any other way this is going to work....

[stevetobias]

I'm in the same boat as you, bud. I'm kind of nervous too, and it'll get worse before the procedure. Don't worry about it, we just have to show up, get knocked out, and wake up. Anything that happens after that, we deal with it.

"If you have fear of some pain or suffering, you should examine whether there is anything you can do about it. If you can, there is no need to worry about it; if you cannot do anything, then also there is no need to worry."
- The 14th Dalai Lama

[dave2929ab]

Originally Posted by mike2008

I am having my wisdom teeth pulled next week and will have conscience sedation with halcion and laughing gas with novacaine.

The office is making me wait till the day of to watch the informative video and sign a release form. They told me it would gross me out to watch too early.

I am scared to do this. What if it hurts my nerve? Will I be nervous with the sedation, will I feel pain? Will it hurt when they pull it out? I hate needles, and the thought of them doing this just makes me cringe.

Please help.

I am strongly recommending against wisdom tooth extraction unless you absolutely need it. This is because I had a rather severe complication.

Are they causing you pain? Impacted? Infected?

[charlottefr]

Originally Posted by stevetobias

I'm in the same boat as you, bud. I'm kind of nervous too, and it'll get worse before the procedure. Don't worry about it, we just have to show up, get knocked out, and wake up. Anything that happens after that, we deal with it.

"If you have fear of some pain or suffering, you should examine whether there is anything you can do about it. If you can, there is no need to worry about it; if you cannot do anything, then also there is no need to worry."
- The 14th Dalai Lama

In my case, after I woke up, I realized that something had happened and one of the biggest problems for me was that I was left on my own to 'deal with it'. I had absolutely no idea at that time what the true symptoms of a nerve injury were. I had only been pre-warned that I might be 'numb' for some weeks or months if the nerve was touched or damaged.

So, I was more terrified post-surgery than before, in more pain, experiencing a multitude of symptoms only one of which was numbness, and I was searching the internet for answers about nerve injuries or just to find anyone else who was in the same situation.

You're right that many people go through wisdom tooth extractions with little problem..but there are also those (of all ages) who have had oral injuries result which, and I know from personal experience, can be life changing.

Anyway, I wish you the best of luck...be positive but also be informed, ok? And I hope everything goes smoothly for you...here are some things I've learned that we can do as patients to be more informed and that might help ease some fears that we might have...

1. Be fully informed of the risks involved in the procedure. Ask questions. Ask what the dentist or OS will try to do to avoid injuring the oral nerves either from injections or during the extraction.
2. Ask if there are alternatives to having the tooth extracted...i.e. is conservative management an option? Is this procedure absolutely necessary?
3. Be sure that the dental professional is experienced in wisdom tooth extractions. Ask how often he or she has had patients with complications from wisdom tooth removal in the past.
4. Ask what the level of post care would be given if there happens to be complications.