Scared they're going to break my jaw and also terrified of nerve damage

[Ihatedentistss]

Hi,

My wisdom teeth badly need to come out but my dentist wants to get my other dental work out of the way even though she isn't going to be doing the extractions. She said they could wait but I think I will have them out before much longer...they're clearly past ready to come out and I don't want my teeth to end up crooked.

Anyways, that being said, I have a very tiny mouth. I'm terrified now that they're going to break my jaw when they try to get the teeth out (they're all impacted). I'm going under the knife for this one since I don't dare risk being awake for the grand event. I'm also scared that they'll damage my nerves when they cut into my gums...I've heard of people going numb permanently in areas of their mouth due to nerve damage.

I also worry I won't wake up...I went under once as a younger kid for some dental stuff but I didn't think about death back then. And I also worry about them messing up my other dental work (fillings, RCT).

Any words of comfort or advice? Thank you sincerely

 

[carole]

Hi

I had all four of my wisdom teeth out over 20 years ago and had the same worries as you. My mouth is small too and my teeth were impacted, I was fine. I was also given GA which I was pleased about as I was terrifed. A friend drove me home and I slept for the rest of the day and night and some of the next day also.

I had swelling and a bit of bruising after which looked interesting. I had stitches which I didn't feel at any time they came out on their own when they were ready. I did have some numbness after for a few weeks but it wasn't bad and went on it's own. I did take pain meds after as I did also feel a bit sore and achy.

They won't break your jaw, they have ways of dealing with small mouths, also they can get at things at different angles.

Today things have moved on and improved so you will be fine. I was fine and mine was done a long time ago

 

[ScaredyCat22]

I was afraid of the exact same things, and even more that I won't mention and scare you with. My mouth is very small and my wisdom teeth were sideways. Only one of them even poked through my gums at all, the others were impacted in my jaw. I never had the option of getting them "pulled" because there was nothing there to pull. I had to be put under anesthesia because they had to cut a flap in my gums and then cut into my jaw bone and get my teeth out in pieces. I was beyond terrified. Especially when I saw the long curly roots on an xray.

Anesthesia has weird effects on me and I woke up crying. not because of any pain, in addition to the anesthesia they had also given me something for pain so that I would have plenty of time before I needed to swallow a pill. It's just that anesthesia makes me cry. I was a little groggy and crying a lot. But I had no pain at that time. I hated the bloody gauze in my mouth and wanted to spit it out. It was not comfortable but let me stress again that I was ok and had no nerve damage or damage to my other teeth. I did have stitches and I did have to go back a week later to have them removed and to check my healing progress.

Because of mine being impacted in the bone my recovery period may have been longer than normal. It takes time for bone to fill in where these giant teeth were. I stayed out of work for a full week due to the bruising and swelling. I will be honest and tell you the first 3 days were painful. They did not give me very good pain meds like they do these days. They gave me Tylenol 3s with a bit of codeine in them. They will likely give you something better.

I only ate pudding, cream of wheat, mashed potatoes, apple sauce and chicken broth that first week. after that week I was able to eat things that were a bit more solid, such as scrambled eggs but I was told to wait a full 6 weeks before eating anything hard or crunchy due to the empty spaces that were left in my jaw, so no nuts, raw carrots, pizza crusts etc.

I'm sure you will be fine.
best wishes for a speedy recovery.
remember to use an ice pack 15 minutes on and 15 minutes off to reduce your swelling, and if you keep your head propped up on pillows and do not lay flat you should have less bruising and swelling than I did. nobody told me this at the time.