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Molar extraction

R

Rabbit

Member
Joined
Dec 13, 2021
Messages
21
Location
Eugene OR
I may need a molar extraction and am okay with it all except the use of gauze to stop bleeding I am pretty sure the use of gauze on the site after surgery would cause great gagging and I would not be able to tolerate it. Ii have read about gel foam and similar products like Biovia hemostatic wound dressing being placed inside of socket instead of use of gauze. Do many oral surgeons use this or any experience with this?
 
I'd hope pretty much all of them! Carefully placed gauze would be very unlikely to cause a gag response though, especially if you tell them you're worried about gagging.
The big advantage to gauze is that you can be allowed to bite down onto it, applying much more pressure to the area, which helps a lot to stop the bleeding.
 
Thank you for the response and I am practicing each day with a small oval chunk of floss on the lower back molar to be extracted. I can hold it over tooth for about 5 minutes before I feel antsy and chokey and it helps to not let my tongue touch it. I hope to desensitize it and also think that the local will remove some sensitization in the tongue and gums.I have just always never been able to generally put anything non food in my mouth especially anything cloth or cardboardlike- Soo choky even if small. X-rays are hard but do them quickly. Just hoping for the anesthetization of the local and maybe not need to with the use of collagen plug and membrane with sutures on extraction site.
 
in last message I said practicing with floss on tooth and I meant to type gauze!
 
Desensitising yourself is a good idea, but while you're doing it, practice deep breathing through your nose, it's important to keep down that sense of panic which starts the whole gagging process off.
It's vital that you don't let yourself get so wound up that you actually gag, since that would tend to ruin your progress up to that point.
There are other tricks such as raising a leg off the floor and holding it there.
Five minutes would be more than ample to apply pressure with gauze though.
 
@Gordon
Some online sources seem to say you should keep biting on the gauze for 30 to 45 minutes. Does this mean without breaks?I thought it did which I would find very very hard. But 5 minutes I can do.
 
That sounds like a US thing? I can't imagine getting some poor bugger to bite on gauze for that long. Utterly pointless thing to do, all that'll happen is they'll rip the clot off when they finally remove the gauze!
 
@Gordon @Gordon
That probably is a US thing! Thank you again for your help. Think I can do this!
 
Sure you can. Let us know how it goes?
 
@Gordon not scheduled yet. I also hope that the local will freeze my tongue and gums so I don't feel it as much. Just cringe at dry gauze on tongue and cheeks. I moisten it to practice. Sorry I feel like such a baby but guess that is dental phobia!
 
I always moistened gauze when I was using it if that helps :) Which has just switched my brain back on! and I had a sudden belated memory, you could always ask them to use a couple of dental rolls instead of gauze, they're sort of compressed cotton wool stuff.
I used those instead of gauze routinely myself.
 
You are so kind to keep helping me! The fear comes and goes. The suggestion of dental rolls I don't think helps because it is still something thick and dry in my mouth which is gagging. A very nice dental assistant today at an oral surgery office I will probably use suggested a tea bag that I hold on extraction site positioned mostly on the cheek side of site for 15 to 20 minutes to stop bleed. And that is if bleeding occurs. Maybe it wont.? With my gums still anesthetized that seems okay. I just want to be prepared to handle this so I won't be hit with something I can't do.Maybe I won't bleed much that I won't need to put pressure on for longer than 5 minutes which you suggested Gordon.There does seem to be some possible solutions but one's mind can visualize the worst and that takes over. Arg
 
Teabags are great for stopping bleeding.
A cotton roll is much smaller than a bit of gauze, it wouldn't go near your tongue...
 
Hey Gordon, I just read the section here on Healing after extraction written by Dental Fear Central Web team which said a gauze pad should be placed and should be changed out every 30-45 minutes until bleeding stops. That amount of time scares me because I can not do it.
 
Thanks for flagging that up. It's wrong so I'll be editing it shortly :) I stand by what I said earlier. Firm pressure with a cotton roll or gauze for 5 minutes or so is more than adequate.
 
Thank LetsConnect for getting in first and changing that article :) And setting all this up in the first place.
 
Hello Gordon again,
Well finally after some time making sure my second lower molar probably is not a good risk to try a root canal treatment I will have it extracted in two days. I am having iv sedation mostly because I gag easily and my issues of gauze especially in my mouth gagging me terribly. I know they will pressure hold gauze over the extraction site while still sedated to start the clot and no gauze when I wake up from sedation. I just need reassurance I won't notice the gauze they use while I am sedated to stop bleeding and it won't gag me as unsedated it would. I forgot to ask them about that concern .(whether I will notice it while sedated) . So again Will I not be bothered by their putting pressure on gauze over site either with their finger holding it or even me biting gauze while sedated ? When I get home I feel pretty confident I can hold a folded moist tea bag on the site for 10 minutes with no gagging( I listen to a ten minute relaxation tape and practice!)
 
IV sedation suppresses a gag reflex quite effectively, so I don't think you need to worry over much on this front.
 
Thank you Gordon
 
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