Wisdom teeth- fun and games!

[RD]

I've had problems with my wizzies for years. My uppers came through with some difficulty but my own dentist removed them (under local anaesthetic, with no difficulty at all and no fear from my perspective) 3years apart in a bid to give the lowers more space to do what they needed to do.

My dentist advised that the lowers (which are misaligned, impacted and growing sideways) were never going to come through properly and that if they needed to come out in future then it would need to be a hospital job.

Fastforward to 2011 after intermittent, but painful, problems over years my dentist and I agreed that the time had come for the lowers to come out too and I was referred to the local dental hospital.

I've had xrays and scans and was hoping that we were nearly there. However, it transpires that the wizzie roots and nerve canals (on both sides) are closer than close. The root is actually touching/possibly in the nerve canal, though of course there is no way of knowing how much space the actual nerve itself is taking up in the canal.

Having thought that I would be having one op to remove the two offending teeth the surgeon instead suggested removing them in four stages:

1- chop wizzie in half and remove the top, in the hope that this will remove the problem. Recognising that by exposing the pulp I will be in considerable pain for a time. If this doesn't resolve the issue or the pain subside in 10days then
2 - operate again to remove the roots.
3 - repeat #1 as above for wizzie on other side
4 - ditto #2 as above for other side

I had no fear at the thought of the removal at all (in fact I was looking forward to being wizzie free for the rest of my life) before the prospect of four operations, spread out over 40 days, was on the table!!

I realise that there is a risk of nerve damage but the idea of 4 operations and the pain of chopping open my teeth and deliberately leaving them all exposed fills me with fear. Surely any benefit from leaving the roots untouched would be countered by the nastiness of leaving me with badly broken teeth in my mouth...

I told the specialist surgeon at the hospital that I have every faith in them (and IV sedation!) to get out the teeth out in two operations (one side at a time), but that I want them to take out the entire tooth both times. I just want this done, dusted and over.

Question is: have I been too hasty in dismissing the 4 stage process??

 

[biffo1963]

As a layman, I don't think you've been at all hasty in dismissing the idea of half a job. Surgeons are sometimes guilty of forgetting that there's a live person who has to live with the results of their suggested procedures - it sounds as though this one is having a particularly severe attack of glass navel syndrome !

 

[RP]

I'd get another opinion, particularly from someone who has 3D CT scanning ......

 

[RD]

OK, one down one to go.

Thanks for your responses Biffo & RP... As a result after further discussions with both my own dentist and my oral surgeon I had entire wizzie on one side removed (in lots of little pieces) under IV sedation last week.

First up I must say I cannot recommend the IV option highly enough!! No-one should be scared of that element. I'm a bit of a control freak and didn't think it would work on me, so I'd resolved in my head that I'd keep watching the clock to prove that I was conscious..... I remember the surgeon said "I'm just going to start injecting now", next thing I know I'm sitting up in a chair, in a different room, with my other half walking towards me!!!

I was pretty out of it on the day of the op and the following one. Halfway through day 3 it was like a switch flicked and I felt like me again. Days 4 & 5 I felt fine, went out for long(ish) walks even.

Day 5 I felt that I was getting side effects from the prescribed painkillers so downscaled to paracetamol. At close of day 5 my pain was less specific - whereas before the pain between killers was very localised it started to spread up towards my eye and cheek and to radiate along the jaw bone. I thought that this change was due to me messing with the painkillers and spent day 6 figuring it would settle itself now I'd reverted to the prescribed meds. How wrong I was...... that radiating pain increased to the point where it felt like my head was in a vice. Last night was one of the longest nights and this morning (day 7) I went straight to the dental hospital.

Today I learnt that apparently the extraction was "quite traumatic, wasn't it?" and that quite a bit of bone had to be removed in order for them to get the tooth out. See IV sedation is definitely the way to go! No nerve even sighted though, so that was good. As for the radiating pain? Yep -you're probably ahead of me here... I've lucked out and got dry socket!! The area is also very inflamed.

So the wound has been packed and the relief of the medicated gauze is wonderful; the vice has been steadily loosening for 2 hours now.

I'm trying to keep as calm and still as possible to retain the gauze and get as much benefit from it as possible.

This is so unfair I don't smoke, I have done the salt water rinses and been v careful about following all instructions I was given. Just the joys of wizzies I guess -at least I'm now 3 down 1 to go!

The questions are: how long should I expect this dry socket to be with me?
Is the one treatment likely to put to put me on an upward trajectory again so that I can get back to work?
or is that like asking about the length of string??
The hospital said just to go back if the pain gets worse again.

Thanks
RD

 

[RD]

Re: Wisdom teeth- fun and games! Salt & Corsidyl combo

OK, no novel this time...

My DS pain is easing, which is great. I want to start using Corsidyl (both for its gum healing properties and to take away my hideous breath!) as well as keeping up the regular salt washes. Is there a particular order, or staggered use time frame, I should adopt in order to get maximum benefit from both?

I'm also quite nervous about the astringent nature of the Corsidyl as I have stitches both on my gum and inside my cheek.