Fear of wisdom teeth removal/going to sleep

[HappyFeet36]

So the good news is that my normal dentist's appointments are done for six months, barring any other issues. I had my cleaning and two cavities taken care of (one was an old filling that needed to be replaced; the other was small enough that she didn't need to drill through), so yay, right?

Well, I went for my consult with the oral surgeon about my wisdom teeth yesterday, and I burst into tears as soon as I was in the exam room. The surgeon was nice and tried to calm me down. He even told me I do not have to make an appointment immediately and I could have time at home to think about it. I have the choice of getting either two wisdom teeth out or four and being put to sleep or staying awake. If I choose the sedation, it will be a twilight sleep, not general anesthetic.

I have decided to go into the twilight sleep, but am still considering if I want two or four teeth out. I haven't called the surgeon back yet because I cannot shake the feeling that something is going to go wrong, even though he told me my teeth aren't grown in such a way that I'll have a lot of problems. He said I'll have minimal discomfort. However, I can't stop thinking that I'll go to sleep and never wake up, or that I'll have serious complications. I don't feel ready for this at all and wish I could just run away, but I know I have to suck it up and have the procedure.

How can I calm down? Right now I feel nowhere near ready to schedule my surgery. I don't know if I should seek out some therapy, even if just for a session or two, or just keep procrastinating until I'm ready. I'm 29, and I know I'm waiting late compared to so many others who had it done at 17 or 18, but I just don't feel like I can be calm and relaxed about this. And it sucks because my fear of the regular dentist is fading since she was so great with me, but the oral surgeon is a whole other beast. I could barely ask him questions yesterday b/c I basically froze and felt so nervous.

I wish this could just go away already!

 

[Ihatedentistss]

wisdom teeth are a scary thing, aren't they? Don't worry, I'm having mine out too in the near future and I'm plum freaked out about it!

Twilight sedation has less risk, but considering you're just getting your wisdom teeth out I would think you should be totally fine either way! If people were dying while being sedated for wisdom teeth no one would ever have them removed

I totally understand your fear, however. I'm terrified of not waking up as well. When I was much smaller a crummy dentist had me put to sleep at the hospital for dental work. I never even considering dying back then, so I was getting wheeled down the hall in a gurney into the room wondering when I'll go unconscious and next thing I'm waking up and I go "there's a hole in my mouth" which the nurses thought was funny.

You're going to be fine. Don't let all the horror stories out there get to you. A lot of people are drama queens. I'm going to get all four of mine out because then there's nothing left to worry about. I would suggest you do the same. That way after it's all said and done and you don't ever have to bother with the cursed things again!!

 

[HappyFeet36]

Going to bump this back up because I could use some extra help here.

I have since calmed down and thought about the surgery a little more and how I want to do it. I've decided that I want the twilight sedation and that I want to have all four of my wisdom teeth out. I'll be calling to schedule my appointment on Monday.

However, despite the fact that I'm an adult (I'll be 30 next year), have my own insurance, a full-time job, etc., my mom cannot stay out of this process and my decision. When I first came back from the oral surgeon and said I'd been given the option of two teeth vs. four out, she said I should only get the two because the other two aren't causing problems. And then of course she added how painful it will be (though the surgeon said my teeth aren't that bad and the procedure shouldn't be too complicated) and that my face will be swollen, there will be pain and so forth. I did consider that viewpoint at first, but then I realized my age and how I don't want to be dealing with possibly problematic wisdom teeth in my 30s. I want to have a better life then than I did in my 20s, seeing as I'm already past the age most people have this done. I don't want to deal with possible abscesses or huge cavities, or any emergency oral surgery. Given my dental anxiety, I feel an infected tooth and an emergency surgery would make things worse.

Now granted, I may not have problems with the other two teeth, but why take the risk? And besides, everyone has swollen face and pain after this, right? Why am I made out to be so special and unique in this category? Yet my mom is treating me like I'm crazy and basically telling me oh you have no need to worry about the other two. I love her and she's a nurse, but not in a dentist's office, so I'm of course more apt to trust my dentist and the oral surgeon than her opinion in this one.

It's so frustrating that even as an adult, people with no expertise still want to interject their unwanted opinion!

 

[carrotcake]

Whether you get any swelling and pain is very much dependent on the dentist's skills.

I had one of mine taken out under local anesthesia (no sedation) and had little side effect. No swelling and very little pain. I was eating meatballs less than 48h after the procedure.

 

[FearfulInMA]

Good luck making your call to schedule the appointment on Monday! I was 30 when I had mine out and tried to have all 4 out at once (I PM'd you more details about this). I made this decision because I didn't want to go through it twice and I also, like you, had no interest in them someday causing problems needing more urgent care. You're the only one who knows what's best for you!

Best if luck!

 

[Sevena]

My mother talked about how terrible it was getting wisdom teeth out; she was in agony for weeks, intense swelling, her face was bruised etc...

I got mine out, and had swelling and tenderness for a few days and that was it! The swelling went down first, and was not unbearable at all - it just made me look odd. The tenderness hung around longer, but as long as I was careful about not poking myself in the face, it was perfectly bearable.

Remember, our parents often had their treatments a long time ago, and everything has advanced since then. Never assume your experiences will be as bad as theirs.