Just had 30 extractions under local nitrous

Hi, everyone I just had 30 extractions yesterday using only the local anesthetic and nitrous oxide. I had a entire month of waiting to get into the local dentist school so it was an entire month of anxiety. I have had a fear of the dentist since I was a kid because one time I needed a tooth pulled and I told the dentist I still felt pain and I was crying and he said I wasn't in pain. We ended up leaving that dentist and going to one he referred for kids down the street. This new dentist gave me one more shot and I didn't feel a thing. Ok now back to the day of my extractions. My Dr have me a prescription for 2 of these pills called Alprazolam. I took one Alprazolam an hour before and one when we arrived at the dentist office. I sit in the dentist chair and they put on this mask that covers my nose and tell me to breath in the Nitrous. The dentist then rubs some cream around my mouth that he says will stop the needles for the Novocaine from pinching as bad. He let me sit there for for a few minutes to let the nitrous and the cream to take effect. It could have have been alot longer and I wouldn't have know because by this time I was a little loopy and I liked it. He comes in the room is ready to work and tells me I may feel a slight pinch. I felt nothing! I didn't feel any of the shots. He then tells me if I feel anything at all that he could give me another shot if needed. After a few minutes I was dozing in and out and sometimes he would wake me up to ask me to do something. I felt nothing during the entire procedure except for loopy and tired. When it was all done he has me bite down with the extreme amount of Gauze i had in my mouth and told me it was all over. The worst part of all of this was the worrying. I still can't believe I had worried so much for nothing. Today i'm in no pain and I am excited at the prospect of finally having my dentures in a month. I decided to go with the ones they put in after you are healed. This forum had helped me alot and I hope this will help you.

Great for you 30 at one time is a major undertaking.

Thanks you! I read over and over how the worst part of the whole ordeal was the anxiety beforehand and now i'm just completely blown away about how true that was.

Welcome and congratulations!! You are much braver than I would have been; you should be proud of yourself. Thank you for sharing your story, I'm sure it will help many others.

Wishing you a speedy recovery!

Takingflight

Thank you takingflight! I would not call myself brave. I really wanted to be put under but the school did not offer it for the procedure. I actually had the procedure scheduled a month earlier but they refused to do it because my blood pressure shot up from my anxiety so I had to see my primary care physician to write a note and say I would be fine. The primary care physician is the one who wrote me the prescription for the Alprazolam to keep me calm. I have always been afraid of the dentist. I would even be nervous to go in for a cleaning. Between the nitrous and Alprazolam I barely remember anything. From the few times i've had work done in the past I knew the shot in the roof of my mouth would pinch a little so I was really amazed that I did not feel a thing. My wife said the medicine had me so loopy I was trying to talk to everyone with a mouth full of gauze. It's been two days since the operation and I have felt no pain at all. Now that it's over i'm actually glad they didn't offer to put me under because It saved me alot of money.

I still consider you brave; you went through with getting it done even though you were anxious and fearful. Some may have put it off or refused to do it without deeper sedation (yep, that's me. ) and that's absolutely o.k., facing the fear is brave, however you,look at it.

I'm glad to hear you are still pain free and a bonus congratulations on the money you saved, as a former GA patient I can attest that the hit to the wallet can be pretty hard! Soon you will be showing off your awesome new smile.....enjoy!

Glad it went well

Hey, glad all went OK for you, I had all my remaining telethon out yesterday and I've immediate dentures to put in tomorrow, how are you finding talking with no teeth? It's difficult in my opinion, especially the letters S, V, F and H! Hope all goes well

Talking is very strange and since I won't have any dentures for 4-6 weeks I won't be making too many trips out in public unless I need to. What's weird is I didn't have that many functional teeth left before the surgery and I could speak fine. I could have had some put in the same day but they recommended I let my gums heal up first. Maybe because they reshaped my jaw the same time they were taking out all of the teeth. What's really bothering me right now is the strings I have hanging in my mouth. I cant stop rubbing my tongue over them.

How are things now? Did you get your dentures?

Things are going great other than still being on a soft food diet. I'm still waiting for my dentures. The dentist wanted me to wait at least 6 weeks so I should be getting fitted for them soon. Still loving knowing I'll never have another toothache.

Congrats don't know ya but I'm proud of ya. It's a big thing to do and 30 wow.

Thanks! I feel so much better now and I never have to worry about another toothache. I still can't believe I was asleep before he even gave me my first shot. Guess i'm a nitrous lightweight

Finally got my dentures and I love them. I actually like them better than my original teeth because my original teeth were really small and never quite as white as my dentures. Only thing is I need to find a trick to get the top denture out because it really likes to hold on for life even without using any paste.

Grip it and gently wiggling it from it from left to right to get the suction to break, that's my go-to. Glad you like them!

Thank you. I've tried that and sometimes I've had to pry them out with the denture brush. Still better than a toothache.

Good Lord 30 extractions!!! You are amazing!

I had 4 surgical extractions done about 5 years ago, and i thought that was a big deal, my goodness your amazing for taking such a challenging step, well done to you!!!

Truly amazing and incredibly brave to hear that you had 30 teeth removed in one go! Congrats!

I just had all of my uppers removed on Thursday and will soon be fitted for an upper denture. Reading that you're having trouble removing yours makes me feel terribly optimistic, because that makes it sound as if you can probably eat what you want without them falling out. Is that true?