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2 wisdom teeth removed after 15 years of avoiding the dentist

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Darcy25

Junior member
Joined
Dec 7, 2017
Messages
4
Hello all! I've lurked on these forums on and off for years as I've done research about the dentist and dental phobias but only signed up today.

I'm 30 years old and can't ever remember not being scared of the dentist after having a bad experience as a child when the dentist I saw didn't tell me what he was going to do and started to scrape the back of my front teeth with water and scared the living daylights out of me. After that every visit was full of screaming, crying and fear until eventually as a teenager I stopped going.
I've been very lucky and have good teeth - mostly straight, fairly clean although some plaque buildup in crowded areas, no toothache other than little bits off and on which I used the "ignore it and hope it goes away" strategy which seemed to work.

Anyway, last December I decided that I would be a grown up and would go to the dentist and see about getting a check up. My husband had an infected tooth which needed removing as an emergency and he went to one in town and I decided to give them a go as well after doing some research online and hearing good things about them and they specifically mentioned on their website that they deal with anxious patients.

So almost exactly a year ago today I went for my checkup and needed three visits to the hygienists and two fillings which I was able to have done under LA only in February a incredibly proud of myself and only cried a little bit out of a build up of anxiety before he gave me the LA. Went for my next check up and was told that I needed another filling, that my upper right back molar had a cavity which could be filled, but it became clear that I couldn't clean it adequately due to lack of space and so I agreed that it should come out, rather than filled and then be removed down the line. Also, I had an impacted wisdom tooth which also had got a cavity which needed to come out. At this point, my dentist said he could do it all in one go under IV sedation. This was back in July by the way.

I had a marathon at the end of September and asked whether it could wait until after that and he agreed as they weren't causing me any problems so it was scheduled for October 21st, however I got a cold and this had to be rescheduled hence it being on Monday.

I was really anxious but knew that IV sedation should give me amnesia and if it wasn't full amnesia at least I wouldn't care what was going on. So my mum came with me as my escort and they took me pulse and blood pressure and got me settled in the chair. The dentist out the IV in my elbow and started to titrate the sedative and he asked me to let him know when I started feeling relaxed. I told him when I did and then I'm pretty sure the next thing I remember is him packing my mouth with gauze - it was all over and done with. I have a vague memory of a lot of pressure on my lower left jaw which I assume was part of the wisdom tooth extraction but other than that I remember absolutely nothing.

i can barely even tell that the tooth has been removed from my upper right and I didn't even realise that was a wisdom tooth itself but as it came through normally I think it was very easy to remove.

I've currently got three stitches where the impacted tooth was removed, I feel like I've been punched in the face by the hulk when someone made him mad and I think I've got a bone fragment trying to push through at the back of my mouth where the wisdom tooth used to be. I've been off work all week and the cocodamol I'm taking makes me nauseous which probably isn't helped because I'm not eating much. I'm probably going to have tomorrow off work as well as I'm still quite tired and the pain mess are messing me about.

So, that's my shortened story, when you compare it the fifteen years it took to get here, and I'm incredibly proud of myself. I'm just now having to get used to the flip side of the coin of recovering from a dental procedure which is new to me. I'm sure I'm being whingy and grumpy and my tolerance for pain is quite low but this is new for me.

if you have any questions about IV sedation I'm more than happy to answer and honestly would recommend it for anxious patients. It's been an absolute game changer for me!
 
So I went back for a follow up check today and it was so weird because I hardly had any anxiety at all. It was like going to the Drs instead of the dentist. I mean I knew that he wouldn't really be "doing" anything but also I didn't know what he would do so in the past I would be crazy anxious and thinking worst case scenarios but I was so calm.

Anyway, he had a look and I told him that it had been quite sore until about Saturday night and my stitches were starting to dissolve. He had a look and said it looked a bit red and sore still and he gave it a good flush out with Corsodyl and removed my stitches and also removed some food debris that had gotten in there. Again another good flush out and then he packed some Alvogyl in it - I did some research myself and found this out. He just said it was aniseed tasting and would help heal and it would dissolve by itself. He told me not to eat or drink anything for an hour and I asked how long it would take to go and he said probably by the end of the evening as I'd be having some dinner later on.
I don't think that I have had dry socket as I've read that it's excruciatingly painful whereas my pain has just been a bit of an ache that's been pretty constant so I imagine he's done this as a precautionary measure. Although when I got home my husband told me that I had been having bad breath which I hadn't realised.
so, now I'm a bit concerned as to why he packed it as I don't know if it's a sign I'm getting an infection or if it was just something he does. He did say it should be okay from now on but to come back if it's not getting better in a few weeks or the New Year.
To me, that means I'm okay, no infection, no dry socket. He also said I should do vigorous salt water mouthwashes at least three times a day. Must admit I haven't really been doing them the last few days.
Anyway, let me know what you think if you would like to. I'm pretty sure there's nothing to worry about but I am a natural worrier
 
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