Surgery is on Thursday and I might be slightly freaking out...

[lpski]

After cancelling my appointment five times, I have decided to keep this Thursday appointment to remove my lower right wisdom tooth. It is partially bony impacted and I'm going for just local anesthesia. Not that I wasn't offered all the other sedations...I'm just overly freaked out by the IV sedation and the gas (like so many other people) and I just assumed that because it is only one tooth, I don't need all that to do. Right?

I have had two root canals and have been told that if I can handle that, I can handle this with just local.

I really am not all that worried about the after care, which I am not sure why that is, as I am a diagnosed hypochondriac, as well! Haha! The surgery itself frightens me, though. I am starting to get really nervous. Honestly, I think the thing that makes me the worst is having my throat be numb. I just had a filling in my lower left molar and felt like the anesthesia used numbed my throat and I felt like I wasn't able to breath...even though I was. I just don't want that feeling at all.

Long story short, local isn't that bad, right? I'll be ok?

 

[JohnGrey]

After cancelling my appointment five times, I have decided to keep this Thursday appointment to remove my lower right wisdom tooth. It is partially bony impacted and I'm going for just local anesthesia. Not that I wasn't offered all the other sedations...I'm just overly freaked out by the IV sedation and the gas (like so many other people) and I just assumed that because it is only one tooth, I don't need all that to do. Right?

I have had two root canals and have been told that if I can handle that, I can handle this with just local.

I really am not all that worried about the after care, which I am not sure why that is, as I am a diagnosed hypochondriac, as well! Haha! The surgery itself frightens me, though. I am starting to get really nervous. Honestly, I think the thing that makes me the worst is having my throat be numb. I just had a filling in my lower left molar and felt like the anesthesia used numbed my throat and I felt like I wasn't able to breath...even though I was. I just don't want that feeling at all.

Long story short, local isn't that bad, right? I'll be ok?

I had conscious sedation, so I can't speak directly to how difficult a local-only extraction may or may not be. However, I can imagine holding one's mouth open constantly and feeling the pressure of the extraction would not be pleasant. I'm not saying this to alarm or dissuade, I'm just answering honestly.

I had a double extraction this past Friday under conscious sedation and it went as perfectly as I could've hoped. With the exception of a few fleeting instances of awareness, I remember nothing. I very much sympathize with your fear of sedation; my own fear of it led me to put off the extraction for nearly two years. I can honestly say that, all things being equal, the experience that you've built up in your mind is statistically unlikely nightmare scenario. You hear a lot of horror stories on the internet but I believe they're a vocal minority.

You handle the procedure in whatever manner you feel comfortable but I would seriously consider conscious sedation. The purpose of it is to combat that same anxiety that you're experiencing and it made all the difference in the world.

I wish you the very best of luck.

~ John