Scared - wisdom teeth

[Patches]

So I haven't been to the dentist since school/parents forced me to go. Once my final baby tooth was lost I was adamant on not going and so it's probably been around 5-8 years. I'm 20.
Here's my current situation. Past three days I've had mild pain in my mouth. It can fade in and out. The cause is undoubtedly my wisdom teeth. My bottom right is the only one that hasn't come through at all and I have no idea if there's a tooth there at all. Both of the top have seemed fine came through with a bit of pain over time and I think they're fully through and seem pretty straight to me. Now the bottom left has only slightly come through which I believe is called impacted. You can just see the top of the outer edge of the tooth. It looks like it's not in line with other teeth and the gum near it is now sorta blown up. Weirdly the pain I feel is around my upper left wisdom tooth and the lower one only hurts if I poke at the gum.
I had been keeping this from my parents but I cracked today and told my dad who had a look at it. He said the top looks fine (can't really look at it myself since it's so far back). The bottom though weird looking the gum isn't super red or anything like that.
My dad naturally is trying to get me to the dentist tomorrow. Just the thought of going makes me cry. From reading up online I feel like it's pretty guaranteed the bottom left wisdom tooth is gonna have to be removed and I'm terrified. I absolutely would want to be asleep for the operation. Do you get to choose or does it depend on the dentist? The thing I'd be most afraid of is the recovery honestly. I hate the idea of having to replace gauge or whatever in my mouth and having a hole in my gum leaking out blood. Wish I could just sleep through the recovery too. Maybe I'm freaking out over nothing and I'll go to the dentist and it won't need to be removed but that seems highly unlikely. The thought of having to lie down in their chair while they poke around is horrible to me. I wish you could just stand and chat definitely think I'll be crying in the waiting room and in the chair. I don't know needed to rant a bit.

 

[FearfulInMA]

Hi and welcome!! A couple of things I wanted to mention:
First, you are an adult now which means that, ultimately, you get to make decisions about your dental care. This is really important because it means that whatever you decide to do, your frame of mind can be that your doing it to take care of yourself instead of thinking that you are powerless and having something done to you.
Second, very, very rarely are dental issues a true emergency. This means that you shouldn’t feel pressure to make a decision quickly or without all of the information you need/want. Now, I will say that dental pain can escalate quickly, but I will also say that I had what you seen to be experiencing on and off for about a decade before I summoned the courage to have my wisdom teeth out.
Now to address some of your specific concerned... if you are in the US (not sure about UK or other places), most dentists would refer to an oral surgeon for impacted wisdom tooth removal. And, most oral surgeons have a strong preference for sedating patients for these extractions - at least that was my experience (I didn’t not want sedation and it took me a long time to find an oral surgeon who would do the extractions without sedation). Either way, you should have the option. Depending on your insurance, you may have to pay extra for the sedation so keep that in mind if that’s a concern. In terms of healing, given that you are relatively young and the roots of your wisdom teeth are likely not fully formed, the healing should really be relatively easy (even if the tooth is impacted). My guess is you’d have minimal bleeding and probably be back to yourself in a day or 2. I was a teacher a number of years ago and used to see students come back to school the same day and he totally fine. Finally, being in The Chair can feel horrible and vulnerable. While the dentists will have to look at your teeth to make a treatment plan, it’s totally ok to ask to sit in a normal chair to first have a conversation with the dentist before s/he looks in your mouth.

wishing you all the best!

 

[Patches]

Hi and welcome!! A couple of things I wanted to mention:
First, you are an adult now which means that, ultimately, you get to make decisions about your dental care. This is really important because it means that whatever you decide to do, your frame of mind can be that your doing it to take care of yourself instead of thinking that you are powerless and having something done to you.
Second, very, very rarely are dental issues a true emergency. This means that you shouldn’t feel pressure to make a decision quickly or without all of the information you need/want. Now, I will say that dental pain can escalate quickly, but I will also say that I had what you seen to be experiencing on and off for about a decade before I summoned the courage to have my wisdom teeth out.
Now to address some of your specific concerned... if you are in the US (not sure about UK or other places), most dentists would refer to an oral surgeon for impacted wisdom tooth removal. And, most oral surgeons have a strong preference for sedating patients for these extractions - at least that was my experience (I didn’t not want sedation and it took me a long time to find an oral surgeon who would do the extractions without sedation). Either way, you should have the option. Depending on your insurance, you may have to pay extra for the sedation so keep that in mind if that’s a concern. In terms of healing, given that you are relatively young and the roots of your wisdom teeth are likely not fully formed, the healing should really be relatively easy (even if the tooth is impacted). My guess is you’d have minimal bleeding and probably be back to yourself in a day or 2. I was a teacher a number of years ago and used to see students come back to school the same day and he totally fine. Finally, being in The Chair can feel horrible and vulnerable. While the dentists will have to look at your teeth to make a treatment plan, it’s totally ok to ask to sit in a normal chair to first have a conversation with the dentist before s/he looks in your mouth.

wishing you all the best!

Thank you so much for the kind words. That is an extremely good point I used to beg my parents not to go but I'm thankful now that they did take me. Which is part of why I decided to tell them now because I figure future me will thank me for it. I've been fretting over my wisdom teeth for a long time, observing them as they came in and hoping there won't be any issues. I always imagined it'd be the one thing to drag me back to the dentist and now I'm here.
Wow an entire decade. I was actually waiting to see if it would lessen and go away. I can eat and drink but I have only been chewing on the right side and slowly in fear of poking at the gum. Only ate half of my dinner tonight and then I had a mild freak out when I looked in the mirror a few hours later. Thought that the gum had been bleeding but turns out it was a bit of food that I brushed off with a toothbrush. I really want to be back to normal it's only been 3 days but I just miss my mouth being relatively healthy. I definitely have some plaque build up which is another thing I'm a little stressed about is them wanting to clean my teeth when one side hurts but surely I can say no to that. Did you get all yours removed? I'm a little nervous that something is wrong with the top ones or I'll get an X-ray and will need all 4 out (don't know if there's a 4th one) vs just the one impacted tooth. I mean that's assuming I'll need any removed at all but it seems like a sure thing for at least the one.
I'm Australian actually. But it's still very comforting to know that sedation is the standard elsewhere. No idea the situation with insurance. Money is really at the back of my mind but I would gladly pay any extra to be completely unaware for the procedure. Just the idea of them having to cut open my gum to get the tooth out freaks me out. Passing out and waking up with it done sounds absolutely worth the cost. As a kid I hated wobbling teeth out and mine decided to be loose in groups so I ended up having most of my baby teeth pulled out at the dentist. This is probably a bit gross but afterwards I'd come home with my numb mouth and lie down on top of a towel to sleep and just drool rather than have to deal with the aftermath. God that is such a relief to hear. I really really hope it's like that. Coming back to school on the same day sounds unbelievable wow.

 

[Patches]

Lil update. Just got back from dentist. I have an infection and am going on antibiotics for 5 days. Dentist said it'll just come back and only way to fix it is get it removed. Can either get it done with him or go to hospital. I'm leaning towards hospital but am unsure. I was getting really nervous just having him look inside my mouth. Was offered a clean and declined. My parents think having it done at dentist would be best. Going to look into pros and cons of each in more depth.
I asked dentist if it would just be the one tooth (top two wisdom teeth have come through) and he said yes. But I have one that hasn't come through at all and had to get an X-ray done elsewhere so I'm worried the one that hasn't erupted at all will need to be removed too. I guess only my dentist can tell me if that's the case so I'm trying not to worry about it but naturally it's hard.