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Wisdom teeth removal and root canal

  • Thread starter Thread starter TardissPrincess
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TardissPrincess

Junior member
Joined
Sep 6, 2019
Messages
5
Location
Canada
Hi,
Extremely terrified as everyone else here.
38 year old female, severe PTSD from childhood trauma, axienty and recently acquired a sinus infection from my wisdom tooth. Need all 4 out and root canal. Was advised will be in dental chair for 2 hours and have IV. Not scared of needles or IV however my worry is my present health ...I have Ulcer that's acting up as well as been very sick the past year with various ailments and just injured my foot recently. This was just unlucky recently as experienced intense stress for the past 5 years dealing with Mentally ill family member ...calls at 3am etc fear of family member physically attacking us or commuting suicide themselves... Ulcer, axienty, PTSD and not foot injury and dental infection. I am 38. I realize I need these teeth out but what are my chances of physically surviving this procedure feeling SO sick for the past year? My main fear is that i don't want to die in the dental chair at age 38.
Am I extremely high risk?
Just spoken to the dental assistant and told her all that she basically said she feels for me and wants me to do a procedure as she said my wisdom teeth are not difficult nor easy but this will be done in Dental office not hospital so I am assuming she is quite confident I will be ok but I am not so sure ! Please help ... I have nobody to confide in about this as for the reason of mentally ill individual i cannot tell family that i am getting this done as it will cause that individual stress and a bigger Ulcer for me. Please help!
 
Good for you for posting here.

You got it all out. We are only as sick as our secrets.

First, from what you describe everything you are experiencing is rational: were I or anyone else in your shoes we’d feel the same.

Second, help is available. My recommendations: 211 (or your local equivalent), and your EAP at work (talk to your boss or HR).

Good luck! Keep us posted.
 
They will have your medical history on file, and they will be medically monitoring you during sedation. It’s good that they’re going to do it at the office instead of a surgery. Sounds like you got a lot going on, and stress can make our bodies feel terrible. As Dg6300 said, help is available. And I think everyone here would be happy to let you confide in them. Wishing the best for you.
 
Thank you for your kind words!
 
Thank you for support :)
 
Dear TardissPrincess :welcome:,

first of all, you must be an amazingly strong personality to be able to deal with all those stuff simultainiously as every single thing would be too heavy for most people.. Dg6300 already gave some suggestions about how to look after yourself in such a stressful phase, I would only add Samaritans, just because having someone to listen and to vent is a good thing.

Now to your worry about dying. From our layperson-perspective, sedation looks like someone coming, giving you meds and off you go. In reality, things are much more profound and every single thing gravitates towards your safety. Remember that dentists are doctors and their training covers a lot of overall medicine topics so that they know about the effects of health conditions and medication and their relevance to safety during dental procedures. Sedation training then goes even further and it‘s all about how to make sure to keep everyone safe - no matter which health conditions the person is dealing with or which medication they are taking. This knowledge is linked to the ability to assess whether a person can be sedated safely which is the reason for all the tests and medical history forms beforehand. During the entire procedure there will also be a very close level of monitoring, so that your dental team can make sure you are ok whole the time.

By the way, the easiness / difficulty of the extractions as such has nothing to do with your safety during the sedation or the necessity to do it in a hospital, it‘s more about how quickly and (for the dentist) comfortably the teeth will come out and that depends on the level of experience and skill of your dentist.

If you wish some extra input about how sedation works, take a look here.

All the best wishes and keep us posted
 
Thank you for your encouragement!
 
Tardissprincess,

:grouphug:
It does sound like a lot going on for you. So glad you came on and shared your story and all going on. I do agree with Enarete , Samaritans would be great just to talk to or something similar too . I agree with DG it is totally rational your feelings, completely valid to be scared and apprehensive with everything going on.

Sedation can be scary, I've been scared every time I do it even though I know every time things come out ok and it feels like I just woke up from a nice nap and everything is done, but the reality is it is scary to go into the unknown and when you are feeling drained and sick it is rational you'd be concerned.

One thing that has helped me in the past, not sure you have time or can do this. I go to my general doctor to just check with them prior to any sedation or anesthesia and see how I look what my vitals are.. and when I get the all clear from them, I somehow feel a lot better about it and more at peace.

Its a huge step , we are here for you for support and know there is other support as well.
 
There's nothing in your medical history (that you've shared here) that would make you a higher risk for IV sedation.

I should add, in one of those weird statistical anomalies, treatment with IV sedation is actually slightly safer than without it :-) I usually tell people that the most dangerous thing about their treatment is the car trip to the clinic!
You'll probably find that eliminating the chronic infection from your teeth will have a positive impact on your overall health too, so that's a further bonus in getting it taken care of.
 
Thank you I do also think it's probably much safer then being worried in the chair for 2 hours hopefully less then that :) im slowly getting passed my fears and do realize I need a healthy teeth for my overall health! Thank you for all of your support everyone it truly did make a difference then suffering alone in silence ...
 
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