Wisdom teeth fear! Cannot sleep :(

Hey. I'm new to the forums because I'm desperate for advice.

Yesterday I went to the dentist to get a general check up on my teeth, and the wisdom teeth that I can feel coming through. After an x ray he informed me that all 4 would have to come out under general in a day surgery (he's a dentist and OS).

I can feel the top and bottom ones coming through on the rhs, and the ones on the left feel like they are just about to come through. He said, however, that none of them would be able to fit in my jaw. I'm in no pain whatsoever. And from what I saw on the xray the roots were not fully formed.

I'm 18 on the 23rd of December and I have technically booked in for surgery on the 14th of January (happy freaking new year).

But right now, I'm scared beyond belief. I'm having full blown panic attacks and could not get to sleep last night. I have never had anything more than a general clean done on my teeth, and otherwise my teeth are perfect. Like I said, they're causing no pain whatsoever and they feel like they are coming out just fine.

Should I get a second opinion from another dentist?

And then there is that very large fear aspect that has left me a sobbing mess for the past 48 hours. I never experience panic attacks. Ever. And this has jus freaked me out beyond belief.

I think I've figured out the source if my fears. I have never had any surgery done, nor any major illness that has sent me into hospital. The worst thing that has happened to me is a few broken bones.

My fear is this: walking into the hospital feeling perfectly fine, then getting knocked out (I fear not being in control) and then waking up feeling so much worse than when I went in. And no one can say that's an irrational fear, even though everyone is telling me that the procedure is nothing.

I do not know how I'm going to get over this between now and the surgery in 2 months time.

Help

I won't be able to give a second opinion but our cases are similar in the fact that I'm not used to surgery. They differ because I'm 20 and I worry about blood loss from flesh wounds, and I cringe when someone describes the passage of blood in wounds. I rarely got injured as a kid (even up to now) so I have an extremely low threshold for pain.

What I can tell you is that the procedure itself isn't as bad as fear makes it appear. One of my best friends had four horizontally impacted wisdom teeth beneath the bone, the procedure lasted for only an hour, and he only felt pain for two seconds (the injection). The pain, he said, was more of a discomfort despite the needle's thickness. The post-op experience was annoying, but not excruciating, and the annoyance only lasted for one day, and he was more pissed at being unable to eat solid food. The ultimate comforting testimony I discovered is that I've met a person who got her fours removed and went to school the day after, and I didn't even know she underwent surgery until she told me that she did. My wisdom teeth are all fully-grown, so I can't comment about your not fully formed one requiring extraction. But I'm sure someone in this forum can help you out with that. Cheers!

Petrified... of sedation. Help!

I've got 2 threads running already but, well, I've located the source of my fear... being knocked out!

I apparently need 4 wisdom teeth extracted. That's according to the old dentist, but I'm going for a 2nd opinion Monday.

Anyway, I'm preparing for the worst (actually having to get an extraction) and I'm looking at my options so I can ask the dentist on Monday whether it will be possible if he says I do indeed need them out.

My old dentist suggested a General Anesthetic, and I had a feeling this would be the only way he'd do it. This is what scared me the most:
1. I didn't trust him (hence why I gave him the flick) and wouldn't want to be around him when I couldn't stop him.
2. General Anesthetic seems way too much for an extraction. I've always associated it in my mind with major surgery.
3. I've never had surgery before.
4. I don't want a breathing tube shovved down my throat or attached to tubes/gas mask etc. which would be done as my surgery is taking place in a hospital.
5. The very idea of not remembering the surgery afterwards scares the cripes out of me.

Then I've been looking around at 'conscious IV sedation'. I thought that that would be the way to go for me, but then I read people's 'positive' accounts of it. Unfortunately, unlike most, not remembering the surgery is a severe negative to me. I want to know EXACTLY what's going on & I want to remember it all afterwards. IV sedation is known to have an amnesia effect and I couldn't handle the thought of it.

What are my options now? Simply local anesthetic? I'm not afraid of needles at all.

Has anyone had this same fear as me (being sedated) and had a sucessful extraction?

Help!

Re: Petrified... of sedation. Help!

Well, if you are afraid of sedation then don't have it. All sorts of wisdom teeth extractions are possible to do with local anesthesia only. If you're nervous in that case too, you can get some anti-anxiety medication and feel calm but completely aware of everything.

I've had GA too and it's a great thing and nothing to be afraid of, if you need it at some point of your life. But in this situation you won't need it.

Parents in surgery? Am I asking too much?

Right now I'm looking at sedation techniques for the removal of 4 wisdom teeth.

In short, the idea of being knocked out scares the living crap out of me!

My best option is IV sedation and I think that's what they're offering me, but in a hospital setting. But, from what I hear IV is similar to GA in the sense you don't remember much, if anything. That's my issue with it.

I figure the only way I could go through with IV sedation is if someone I trusted sat through the surgery (a.k.a parents), keeping in mind that this is to be done in a hospital, not a dentists office.

Is it a reasonable request to ask that one of my parents sit in on the surgery? Or am I asking too much.

I don't want sedation if I can't have someone I trust watching over me at all times, but I don't think they'll do the extraction with just Local Anesthetic alone.

Edit: Also, I'm currently 17 but the procedure will occur when I'm 18 (legal adult). Does this change matters?

Re: Parents in surgery? Am I asking too much?

I don't think it's very likely that you could take your parents with you to the surgery. There are hygiene reasons and all that. But of course you may ask about it! And ask also if LA only is impossible, I don't think it is.

A nurse's answer

Hi Eep,

I can understand how having your parents there might be a comfort to you but unless they are medical professionals I'm not sure they would be equipped to watch over you. In fact, just the opposite may happen, if they don't understand what is happening they could be a distraction for the medical folks whose job it is to take care of you. Your trust is based placed in the doctors and nurses, having your parents be part of the process of choosing your oral surgeon with you.

At a young age, or any age for that matter, it is very rare that anything unusual will happen. They will constantly monitor all of your vital functions during the surgery and IV sedation can be quickly reversed with medicine if need be.

I just had IV sedation to have 4 teeth removed and it was a piece of cake, even at the ripe old age of 50.

rp

Re: Parents in surgery? Am I asking too much?

Thanks.

RP: I know that they'll monitor me, but I have control issues. For some reason I'm not fearing the horror stories etc etc., but just the process of surgery and sedation.

My preference for sedation is IV with Dad there (mum is a qualified pathologist, but I know that doesn't really count), so it's over and done with and my trust/control issues are dealt with.

If I were to get a LA, I would want a mild sedative (oral maybe?) to help me tune out. Would they let mr take in an iPod.

Due to anxiety I'm almost at a point where I'll just say to them to knock me out. But the whole idea does not rest well with me, and I think I'd come out of surgery feeling like crap and with a new and unfaced fear of sedation (I'd be unsettled).

Re: Parents in surgery? Am I asking too much?

Having someone 'listen out' for your welfare whilst under sedation is no bad thing but it's probably not achievable in a hospital setting.
It would be more possible in a dental office but remember your relatives might not want to witness actual surgery even if the dentist/surgeon were willing to have them present..but they could listen at the door to make sure it sounded like you were comfortable. At the very least they should be able to remain with you until you have been 'put out' just as they would with a child in UK in hospital going under GA.

I just had a wisdom tooth removed eight hours ago under LA. I did not feel anything. Okay I did, but the worst feeling was this pressure that reminded me of ice cream making my teeth tingle, only that it's not cold. Sure I moaned and all but only because I'm a sissy, not because it was painful.

So if you're thinking of LA, I say go for it. Took an hour and a half to remove one tooth in my case because it seemed that its position was not the same when it was x-rayed months ago. Normally, it would take at most 30 minutes. So yeah, the extraction experience under LA isn't at all horrible. The only thing you might find disturbing is having to open your mouth for a long time, or hearing cracking sounds (which aren't different from the sounds you hear from getting a prophylaxis or having a cavity patched up). At first I used my iPod and had a blindfold on, but I took both off after an hour or less.

I had no one stay by me during the operation, even if I told my mom to join me (I'm 21). But the assistant and dentist will sense if you're scared, and they'll definitely comfort you because a relaxed patient is easier to handle. Sorry if I'm not answering your question, but my point is, if you fear getting knocked out, then take LA.

Thanks for that.

I got a 2nd opinion and was told currently I need none out, although 1 of them may or may not need removing in the future (it all depends). In this case, the dentist said a removal under LA would be easy. You can read my full account in the "Success stories" thread.

I will take my iPod in if I have to, although the dentist itself doesn't scare me. As long as I'm in control then I have no fears.

Please let me know what your recovery time is like in terms of swelling, pain/discomfort etc.