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Terrified of wisdom tooth extraction! I cried when dentist said the word!

L

littleladylele

Junior member
Joined
May 27, 2011
Messages
2
Hey. This is my worry, but I've included the whole story as it describes my experience of an infection without knowing i had one, which might be helpful for some?

I have all 4 wisdom teeth visible. The two top ones are really through and almost the same height as my other molars (or so it feels that way when i touch them with my finger), the lower right one is through but not to the same extent. I've had no trouble with these. A little aching with the lower right but other than that they've been very well behaved :)

Last Monday - Friday I had a little discomfort around the lower left wisdom tooth. It is visible but not quite through so I thought it's just trying to get through a bit more and hurting my gum. Saturday-Tuesday = no pain :)
Wednesday = woke up feeling like I've been punched in the face. Slight swelling, I could open my mouth full but slowly, could still eat on that side but again slowly. Smiling and talking properly was difficult because when I smiled, it felt like it was pulling on my cheek muscles and that was a bit sore. There was a strange 'sucking' feeling when I swallowed but I looked up symptoms of infection etc and I didn't have pus or the usual symptoms, apart from difficulty opening the mouth.

Thursday morning (yesterday) I woke up at 5am and it really hurt. I was crying because I knew I'd probably have to have it taken out. I got an appointment with the dentist at 4pm and was given an x ray. To me, the x ray looked fine, the wisdom tooth is the right way up and didn't look 'wrong', (but then I haven't studied radiology so that's just my opinion, biased opinion lol).

I have a little infection down the side and I think under (?) the tooth which is why my gums didn't look any different. Probably got a bit of food stuck under the gum flap over the wisdom tooth and moved down the side?
She said she would give me antibiotics or refer me to hospital for extraction. At that point my eyes filled with tears and I felt really upset. She did say I can take the antibiotics ad see how that goes, but if pain etc continues, she can refer me to hospital.

I DON'T WANT AN EXTRACTION BOO HOO :cry:
I'm quite curious about medical procedures etc and sat in with my boyfriend when he had a regular tooth removal, which was a bit of a disaster, and I sat with my 11 year old nephew when he had two teeth removed in prep for braces, so I always thought if an 11 year old can do it, I can do it but that's no use now because I can't. I've never had fillings or anything (I'm only 23) but I have had local anaesthetics for a cyst removal and the contraceptive implant and that hurt enough, without them doing it in my gums! I can't do it. The option for a GA is probably not gonna happen so I've been reading about IV sedation but now I'm worried that I'll still feel the local anaesthetic injections in my mouth and they'll butcher my jaw to get this tooth out. I'm scared of what that will feel like. I've been watching extractions etc on youtube (worst thing to do I know but like I said I'm curious to the point of morbidity). I'm just so scared, I cried when she mentioned the worst extraction. I had to run and hide in the toilets at work on wednesday because I'm so fearful of extraction. People keep saying I'll be fine but it's not comforting.

I'm terrified. Is anyone else as scared as me? I'm fine going to the dentist, because up to now my teeth have been problem free. It's extraction, I'm petrified :(

Sorry it's such a long post but it feels better having blurted it all out lol :)
 
Re: Terrified of wisdom tooth extraction! I cried when dentist said the word!

Welcome - I think I may have some good news - injections into the gums can be entirely painfree. I know it seems like the gums would be really sensitive but they are not, the mucosa is very different from skin and if the dentist does a few simple things it can be done comfortably. Read more here:

Needle phobia

So what I am saying is that your main fear is based on a false premiss - in my experience the worst place to receive an injection is in the toe lol...the easiest, the gum....if you want to be really sure. find a dentist who uses a computer-controlled method of delivery such as TheWand/STA but many can make it very comfortable just with a standard syringe and good technique.

If the tooth is already out, it is likely also straightforward to extract. It is impacted wisdom teeth which can be more difficult.
 
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