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Getting wisdom teeth out in less than a month & very nervous!

S

Stumbleina

Junior member
Joined
Mar 19, 2014
Messages
12
Location
New Hampshire, USA
Hi everyone, I'm new here and I'm hoping that I can get some reassurance about my fears of getting my wisdom teeth taken out in a little less than a month. I will be sure to update once it happens as well!

A little background:
I am going to be getting all 4 taken out at once. My teeth are fully erupted, and the main reason I am having them extracted is that one of them has slowly been falling apart for years now. I actually had a big cavity removed from one and filled with a pretty giant filling because I was so anxious about the idea of getting them extracted! I am 31 and I have been told since I was in my late teens that I would have to have it done, so I've been dealing with (or rather, ignoring!) this fear for quite a long time.

About 2 weeks ago the filling in one of my wisdom teeth came out. Ugh. At that point, I knew that I was going to have to bite the bullet and get it done because otherwise I would just be putting more money into a tooth that clearly needs to be gone, and I am not a rich person! My dentist recommended getting all 4 removed so I wouldn't have to deal with this more than once. I was convinced that I should only get the top 2 removed because of monetary reasons, and when I went in for my consult yesterday with my oral surgeon, he convinced me that my dentist was right. They know how nervous I am, and he told me that it would be more cost effective to get all four done at once, and to have sedation for it - he was even kind enough to give me a discount because he knew I was uninsured.

My oral surgeon is a very nice person, kind and reassuring with very gentle mannerisms. He assures me that I will do "just fine" and the whole process should be easy on me. So why am I still so nervous?! I am convinced it is for a couple of reasons:

1) I fear the unknown! :shame: I know this is a very human trait, but logically I can convince myself that I am being silly. It's like my fear of flying - the chances of something "untoward" (to put it nicely) happening is so very slim that it's not worth worrying over. But I still fear it, because I've never been through it myself! I have never had to have any surgery for any reason, and I have never been "knocked out" on any type of drug.

2) I convince myself that I am going to be part of the 1% where something terrible happens. Again, it's irrational fear that makes me believe this, and even though I can "convince" myself that I am being silly, I know that when I go in that morning I am going to be fighting down panic the entire way. I've gotta be brave and get it done, but the flight-or-fight in me definitely wants to fly. :terror:

So that's pretty much where I am at. I know I must do it, and I have the date set (April 11, so I will have the weekend to recover!), and I will get it done.. but I am a worrier. I worry about that moment when I am sitting in the chair waiting for the sedative to kick in, and I worry about how it will make me feel - will I feel overwhelmed? Will I ever wake up? Of course rational me wants to sit down with irrational, worrier me and have some strong words with her.. but I can never seem to fully convince myself to let rational me take over! Ugh! I hate being a worry wort!

In any case, if any of you are not tired to death of telling your stories, I would love some reassurance about this. I still have several weeks to go before the big day and I am trying not to dwell on it too much, but I know that hearing from others about their experiences will help me - and it already has, as I have read quite a bit on this forum already :)

Thanks everyone!
 
Well, I can totally sympathize with your fears and wish you the best of luck! I'm sure it will go fine and smoothly. I also have horrible dental anxiety, I pretty much have a panic attack the minute I walk in. One thing I can tell you is you're lucky to have such a kind, compassionate dentist! Finding a dentist like that is one of the few reasons I've been able to get my work done! And it's great that they gave you sedation and at a discount! My dentist did that for me, as well. Because she knew how much I would need it! Last month I had to have 6 top teeth pulled, including three in the very front. Waiting for that was one of the worst feelings of anxiety I've had to deal with. But getting it done really wasn't so bad! They gave me nitrous which helped sooo much!! My dentist is really nice, she was quick and talked to me through it so i wasn't just nervous and wondering what was going on. I actually had my mom go with me too and sit in the room with me! lol I'm 23 so I'm probably a little old for that but it definitely helped just having someone sit with me. If your experience is anything like mine, the waiting will probably be the worst part! I always just sort of pretend it isn't going to happen, forget about it until its time so you aren't stressing yourself out and making the anxiety worse. I'm sure you'll do fine, if you don't think about too much (I know, WAY easier said then done!) it will all be over before you know it. Good luck, and good job getting it done even when you're so worried!
 
Thanks for the response Comrade :)

I am trying to do just that - forget about it, not think about it as much as I can before it happens - when I do and I can't help myself, I tend to come here and read the success stories over and over ;D

It really helps to hear from someone else who seems just as nervous about this stuff as I am, that you've gone through it and it's not that bad! I really appreciate the support :)
 
Well, the big day is coming up and right now I feel OK about it. Here's hoping that it goes just fine and I will feel silly for being so worried!

I'll post updates once I have the wherewithal to sit down and write cognitively ;D
 
I totally know where you're coming I was the same way! When they sedate you honestly you dont even know its coming! I was all nervous thinking it would be a slow falling asleep process but man I didnt even know it was coming! And when i woke up i didnt even feel anything! You will be eh ok :) and getting at 4 out at once is definitely the way to go! My surgeon told me that if you do 2 with you're anxiety disorder you won't come back. (Because I would have had to get the gas instead of the sedation which the feeling on that freaks me right out). So just breathe! You will be fine :) They had two different people watching my I.V. and all that stuff to make sure nothing crazy happened. Good luck!
 
Got them out! I did it!!

Well first of all, I would like to say thank you, thank you, thank you - to everyone who responded here, and elsewhere on the forums shared their fears and success stories!

I got all 4 of my wisdom teeth out this morning and I am so happy it is over! Here's how it went.

My appointment was for 10:15 but I didn't actually get admitted until about 10:45, so it was a lot of waiting in the office beforehand. I had my dad there to help me keep my mind off of things and that was really helpful.

When I was brought back, I started crying. It's a nervous habit that I truly hate - I can feel just only a little bit nervous and the tears start coming, it's obnoxious, but that's how I work. The nurse who brought me back in assured me that I was in very good hands and she asked me what I was the most nervous about. I told her I was afraid of the general anesthesia. She brightened and said that they could do it without anesthesia at all, and that I wouldn't feel any pain. I told her that I would like to be sedated but that I feared getting put under completely, and she told me they could do that too.

So I sat down in the chair and she took my blood pressure and the other nurse in the room put what looked like a little scuba mask over just my nose and told me to breathe in and out through my nose. She told me it had oxygen and nitrous oxide and would make me feel light headed and tingly. They leaned me back in the chair and I was able to concentrate on a lovely mobile of paper cranes that they had hanging above me. The first nurse gently lifted up the thing on my nose to dab away tears and told me "this is why we tell people not to wear makeup!" it made me giggle and she patted me and assured me I was doing fine.

They then put the IV in in my right arm, which was no problem at all. She told me that she was giving me two medicines - one that would make my mouth feel really dry, and I forget how she described the other - and told me they were not giving me the sedative yet so not to worry! A couple of minutes later (I have been steadily breathing in and out of my nose all this time and have indeed calmed down a little bit) I felt the dry mouth that she was talking about, and the Doctor came in.

Now there were 3 nurses and my Doctor in the room! They were all so very sweet and reassuring and told me I was doing great. The Doctor told me he was going to give me the sedative and that in about 40 seconds I would start to feel warm and calm. Sure enough, about 40 seconds later I felt warm, calm, and completely at ease. I still FELT like I was in charge of all of my functions, I was just tired and no longer worried about anything. They had me open my mouth so they could put the local anesthetics in, and I felt a couple of pinches but no big deal. They had me bite down on a spongey block which rested between the teeth on the right side of my mouth, and I felt them doing things on the left side - I had the idea that they were probably taking the teeth out, but I really wasn't sure and they didn't say. Let me remind you that this whole time I was feeling just great. I have worried about this moment literally for YEARS and I was completely fine. I do remember my legs shivering a bit - I didn't think much of it until after (when I asked, the nurse told me it's not uncommon for people who come in very nervous - she called it "your body catching up with you", and it only happened during the procedure). They kept reassuring me I was doing great. They moved the block to the left side and had me bite down there, and did some things on the right side of my mouth. I remember they had to remind me to breathe through my nose at one point, and then a few minutes later the nurse was putting gauze in my mouth and telling me I was done.

"Really?" I remember asking.
"Yes! You're all done!"
"All four? They're gone?"
She laughed. "They're all gone, and you did so well."

It was amazing. I was awake during the procedure, I remember it all, but it was NOT a bad memory. I felt happy, safe, reassured, and completely at ease. The IV sedation was wonderful. I know that we use something different in the US (and this Doctor in particular) and that it is a combination of Ketamine and another drug (if I can find the sheet I wrote that information down on, I'll come back and edit that in). All I can say is that it was a great experience, and I will know now what it feels like to be under IV sedation. It was a breeze! For anyone who is reading this and is fearful about an upcoming sedation, I know I can say "don't worry!" until I am blue in the face and you'll still worry - trust me, I did the same thing. I can tell you with confidence though, that you're going to be just fine, and if you're worried about going under completely, opt for the IV sedation - you will still feel in control, and if you can still remember the procedure after like I did (most people apparently don't!), it will NOT be an unhappy or scary memory.

I asked the nurse how long the procedure took - she said about 35 minutes from when I sat in the chair 'til I asked her. It truly felt like about 10 minutes, so it's definitely true that time flies when you are medicated like this!

Thanks again to everyone who helped me through this - you're all awesome for sharing and I can't thank you enough!

If you're getting your teeth removed and you go the IV sedation route - you'll be just fine - it will be a breeze! You CAN do it, so march in there with your head high and don't forget to BREATHE. You'll be fine and it will be over before you know it :)
:hug5:

Now, for me - it's on to recovery! I've been "with it" for about 6 hours now, and I have some minor ache in my mouth but nothing major.

:yayy:
 
Last edited:
Thanks kellymarie, but this is essentially a success thread at this point, as is explained in excess in the post above yours.
 
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