Mega Bad Anxiety and Wisdom Teeth

[Impulsecontrol]

To start off with, I've had to deal with an anxiety disorder all my life. When I panic, I go into an extreme flight mode where I just have to get out of whatever situation i'm in, or my mind is convinced that I will die. This has caused me to; jump out of rides moments before they start, try to get out of moving vehicles, and even pry myself out of the 3d x-ray scan I was velcro-ed into prior to my consultation appointment. Dentists often bring the worst out of my, and plenty of times I've had to get away from the chair because I just couldn't handle forcing that impulse down.

Fast forward to here and now, and im absolutely terrified of the procedure for getting all four of my unexposed, impacted wisdom teeth out. My oral surgeon said I'd be given laughing gas and an iv sedative, which I thought was great until I did further research on their website, and noticed that they primarily give conscious iv sedation. Now I've been worried to no end, and I still haven't even been given an official date of when my appointment is!

I'm not afraid of the possible pain, (I have bawled several time when I had to be given iv fluids for dehydration) but rather just the thought that I could blink awake during the middle of the procedure, and see the doctor looming over head with scalpels shoved into my mouth, and me not being able to do anything about it! I know people say that it'll be ""just a memory"" after everything's done, but that still doesn't make the situation seem any less terrifying! Yes, I know that a surgeon knows what he's doing and that its unlikely that the knife with slip out of his hand and cut up my throat, but if you've had to deal with severe panic attacks its very difficult to reason with yourself during one! I've heard that laughing gas does wonders for people with anxiety, but im fairly skeptical because I've never been given any kind of medication for my anxiety before, so it's hard to imagine not being scared at all for once in my life!

I suppose my question is, is it more likely that I'll be asleep for the whole thing than awake at any time? (If forensic class taught me anything about how drugs correlate with the body, much smaller and lighter people tend to react more intensely to medication so I'd assume my 4'11 and 110lbs self would be completely out on a regular dosage.) Is laughing gas really that strong enough to knock out even the biggest anxiety sufferers? And sure, i'm nervous about complications after the procedure like any other hypochondriac (Cracked jaw bone, infections and dry sockets, oh my!!) but my main concern is waking up even under sedation, and having to get a good first person view of a dentist inches away from my face with two knives, a wrench, and those suction tools all jammed into my mouth. And as an extra tidbit of information, I'm 18 so the wisdom teeth are fairly early in their development stage compared to most I believe. I did miss a checkup once, (it was supposed to be in april, but I missed it and ended up going back in july due to jaw pain which is when my regular dentist saw that I had wisdom teeth growing in) so I'd assume that they aren't rooted yet (or the surgeon would have told me I think, plus im not entirely sure if wisdom teeth do grow in that fast!)

 

[britt]

I just had all 4 wisdom teeth removed 12 days ago. Having never had anything like this done before having a condition called Essential Tremors, which is made worse by anxiety I was very nervous about having it done. All 4 of mine were erupted, but 2 were chipped at the gum line and one had very curved roots. These facts added to my anxiety because I knew there would be at least a little cutting involved. My dentist wanted to remove all 4 with only the numbing shots and noting to help with my anxiety. I insisted that if this was happening I had to be unaware of what was happening. He sent me to an oral surgeon who didn't think I needed IV Sedation, but was willing to do it because I requested it. That surgeon's office messed up my appointment and I ended up finding another oral surgeon who uses IV Sedation as standard procedure for wisdom tooth removal.

This surgeon was very nice and understanding of my anxieties. During my consultation he spent 30 minutes with me answering all my questions and doing his best to put me at ease. He gave me a prescription for a pill to take an hour before my appointment so that I was relaxed even before sitting in the chair. After the IV was put in and the medicine started going the next thing I remember is his assistant telling me I could go home. It really wasn't as bad as what I had thought it would be and my healing even went better than expected!

I know everyone's experience is different, so I can't promise you that yours will be similar to mine. My advice is to talk to your dentist about your anxiety and ask all the questions you may have. The dentist should do all s/he can to put you at ease and help you be calm before the procedure begins.