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IV Sedation Wisdom Teeth Removal Walkthrough - Success Story

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dahmk

Junior member
Joined
May 19, 2008
Messages
6
Hello!

I like many of you have quite a lot of fears in regards to dentistry, and also in plenty of other areas! Thansk to Valium I've been able to get regular cleanings and even had a root canal done. However, the scary dragon was always waiting in the corner, and today I slayed it!

I had all 4 of my widsom teeth out! 3 of them were supposed to be "VERY EASY", and the 4th would take a few more minutes and carefulnes because it was in kind of crooked and close to a nerve.

I had a whole month to wait to have this done, and plenty of time to read everything online. We all know how bad of an idea that can be. Some of the horror stories I heard actually almost had me call and cancel the surgury. Finding a comprehensive and honest story, that ends well, was very difficult. That is why I am here now. I want to help you, as others in the past have helped me get through so much. (I'll be back to being totally panicked in a few months when I start the process of getting braces.)

So, I went to an oral surgeon and was planning on explaining during the consultation how phobic I am, but I didn't. That was a bad idea. Luckily, when I called yesterday (a day before my surgury) I was able to have all of my questions answered. If you are going to have this done, I can NOT reccomend any higher the importance of having it done by a BOARD CERTIFIEED surgeon. They not only have massive experience with pulling wisdom teeth, but they also have exstensive training with sedation.

Ok, on to the preocedure (again, it was just today!)

It was at 10am, and I of course wasn't able to sleep much last night. Somehow though, as that time drew near, I wasn't shaking the way I normally do. I kept reminding myself about a friend who had exstensive chemo and surgury, and he's only 23. I figured this can't be anything that bad.

I went with a best friend to the clinic. While waiting in the lobby I started getting the shakes and for a few moments contemplating leaving, thinking I was going to be sick. Of course, that is when my name was called.

I walked into the back almost crying, but trying to not completely embarass myself.

Once in the room, you sit in the chair, and are given a consent form to sign saying you agreed to the sedation.

After that, I had a small plastic thing attached to my thumb to keep my pulse rate, a blood preassure cuff on my arm, which automatically takes your blood preassure every 5 minutes. I also had something clipped on my ear, not sure what it was. They then put a blanket over me, and a seatbelt type thing over me because many people while they are sedated are so relaxed they start falling down into the chair! Next, they rubbed my arm with some alcohol where the IV would go in. Though I am scared of everything dental related, the IV doesn't scare me. I watched it, and realized how INCREDIBLY SMALL it is! Everyone has had blood taken, this feels nothing like that. It's barely a pinch at all. It's like getting stung by a mosquito! I then had a small plastic thing over my rose which just had oxygen coming out of it, and it really helped me relax MASSIVELY. I asked to make sure it wasn't gas because gas tends to upset my stomach. It was just air, which really made me realize that when you are anxious, you don't breathe enough and it makes everything worse. Breathing is so important in calming you down, and having some help oxygen wise was wonderful. After that, the surgeon said we were going to begin. At this point I had one last moment of wanting to get up and leave. I asked how long it would take for me to be "out". He said it typically takes about 1-5 seconds. He said "Here wo go.", and I immediately felt very warm, and that was the last part of the procedure I have any recollection of. In my IV was verced, which is a benzodiazepam (which has allways helped my anxiety), and a painkiller. I was VERY worried about the pain killer as on top of being a very anxious person, I also have emetophobia, a fear of vomiting. My worst fear with this was waking up, coughing up blood, or throwing up. That did NOT happen!

Then next thing I remember I was in another room (keep in mind to me it felt like 2 seconds, thogh it actually took 20 minutes!..only 20 minutes for four wisdom teeth!) The nurse asked me what kind of ice cream I would like to take home, and i was lucid enough to know that I had bought vanilla yesterday, so I asked for the chocolate! The next thing I new I was in the car......lucid enough to give my friend directions to get us to the drug store to pick up my prescriptions and then get back to my house. I then wasn't tired or sleepy, and had no pain!

The worst part for me of everything was taking out the gauze pads from my mouth, as they were covered in blood and were just kind of yucky. Though it's bad, you only have to keep gauze in for couple hours, and only changing them once or twice. This really was the worst part for me but it didn't last long and the sedative was still a bit active which helped a lot.

I picked up Vicadin and a strong aceteminophen at the drug store..........I had the surgury 11 hours ago and have only had two doses of extra strengh tylenol. 3 of my teeth, or what was my teeth, dont hurt AT ALL. It's seriously like nothing happened. One though (not the one that was twisted) had to have 2 stitches, so that side of my mouth is sore. It hurt twice for a few minutes, but the tylenol and popsicles and ice pack made it go away very quickly. Aside from the fact that I'm not allowed to chew and I'm already sick of popsicles and soup, I'm FINE!

Of course, every wisdom teeth surgury is different. Some aren't erupted (in your mouth all the way), some are twisted and/or near a nerve in your mouch, which could lead to having a small part of your face numb for the rest of your life ((I had this possibility, but they were able to stay far away from my nerve.)

Overall, the surgury was nothing.....the WORST part was waiting for it to start. If you need to have this done, find a board certified surgeon, and take a deep breath!

I hope I answered a few questions here or at least made someone feel a bit better. These forums have helped me so much, and I really wanted to give back. DON'T TAKE STOCK IN THE HORROR STORIES! THEY ARE NOT NORMAL! Most people don't post anything online when everything goes fine. Wisdom teeth coming out is VERY COMMON, and the majority of people have no problems at all, and I"m happy to say that I am now one of them!

If you have any questions at all, let me know! I'm very happy to help with info or calm some nerves!

Dahmk ;D
 
Thanks for posting this. I have an appointment for some extractions tomorrow and I'm incredibly nervous. I couldn't sleep all night so I got out of bed at 4 AM (it's 5:20 now) and read some great success stories on here to make me feel better. Thanks!
 
So happy to hear all went well for you! :jump::jump::jump:
WE all need to hear success stories!
 
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