Success - but questions.

[Meepmeep]

Finally after years of putting it off I plucked up the courage to have the upper left wisdom tooth out (helped massively by reading the forums on here). It was starting to hurt and post extraction the dentist said there was an infection underneath it. I've had sedation before but this time I did it all just with a local. Yay me (and Yay DFC forums).

The two questions I have are:

1) The actual removal of the tooth hurt quite a lot - not just pressure but actual pain. I have had this before on a lower tooth when I was a teenager. I did raise this with the dentist and he said it'd be fine - how do I avoid this happening again in the future?

2) Aside from the moment of extraction I don't remember anything - and I guess this is a response to how stressful it was. Is this normal or healthy? I don't particularly want memories or flashbacks of it to start rearing up at inconvenient moments?

Would be grateful for anyone's thoughts.

Aside from the above it was nowhere near as bad as the catastrophe I'd built up in my head. I'll reiterate it again that the forums on here were a massive help - not just the dentists but reading the stories of others and knowing I/we are not alone.

 

[drhirst]

Hi Meepmeep,

Well done you on getting through this.

There are a couple of reasons you may have felt some pain during the procedure.

1) Insufficient local anaesthetic. I have had occasions where this has happened and it appears that the tooth had extra long roots of very thick dense bone around it. I overcame this for my patients by giving more local anaesthetic in different areas or by a different technique. Occasionally, you get someone who is just resistant to local anaesthetic but this is extremely rare.

2) You mentioned the dentist said there was infection. The acidity of the pus surrounding an infected tooth can sometimes stop the local taking full effect. So you have the injections, everything feels really, really numb but as soon as pressure is applied to a particular spot you start to feel pain. This is not uncommon in cases of acute infection. Mostly, I can get round it by giving a different type of injection such as a nerve block or something called an intra-osseus injection using special equipment called a quicksleeper. However, sometimes the only way to deal with it is too suppress the infection with antibiotics and drainage if possible, and then try again on another day. It would be my guess that this is what happened to you.
To avoid in the future, I would say try to get things treated before they get to that stage but being more realistic, I would suggest you always tell your dentist this has happened to you in the pas,t so that he can be mindful to be very generous with the local anaesthetic before he starts.

When I was 12 years old I had a baby tooth removed. I cannot recall how long it took, whether the injections were painful or how it was after. All I can remember was think how much pressure was being put on the tooth. So I think it is normal that you only remember one aspect of the extraction and I am very confident you will not suffer from flashbacks because of this.

Hope this helps

Lincoln

 

[Meepmeep]

Thanks Lincoln. I'd put off having it extracted for many years - having done it now without sedation and it not being anywhere near as bad as I'd feared I will be more inclined to deal with stuff quickly rather than avoid.

 

[drhirst]

To be honest I and terrible at putting stuff off that I would rather avoid. I shall try and be as determined as you in future.

 

[letsconnect]

To be honest I am terrible at putting stuff off that I would rather avoid. I shall try and be as determined as you in future.

Is that about the delay with the video? In fairness, having to wait for your eyebrows to regrow after setting fire to them was a pretty good excuse ?.

The end result is well worth a watch:

https://www.dentalfearcentral.org/advice/how-to-woo-your-dentist/

 

[Enarete]

In fairness, having to wait for your eyebrows to regrow after setting fire to them was a pretty good excuse ?.

???? How does something like that happen? Any pictures?

 

[Meepmeep]

Yes that deserves an explanation I think Lincoln - it's unfair to leave us hanging like that

 

[drhirst]

So,

I decided to renovate my late uncle Manny’s Ronson lighter as I love setting fire to things
I attempted to fill it with butane gas rather than lighter fuel in my unventilated compact utility room. I then tested it without replacing the fuel cap. Imagine my surprise when I was enveloped in the biggest wall of flame since the towering inferno. I jumped back, put out the fire raging on my hair and eyebrows only to be confronted by four separate large fires in the room itself. Not wanting to alert my wife to my foolishness I did not get the fire extinguisher from the office as she was in there. Instead, I desperately beat the fires out with one of her jumpers which happened to be hanging up to dry nearby.
I then spent the next 10 minutes using hairspray to try to cover up my now rather uneven fringe. To be fair, my hair and eyebrows have now grown back and the lighter is a good a new!