Should I go through with the wisdom tooth extraction??

Hey Kevin,

I had all four of my wisdom teeth out in one sitting. I'll let you into a secret. First of all have a few glasses of Brandy and take the bus or ask a friend to drive you to the Dentist. Now that you are chilled, the Dentist will give you some injections so that you won't feel a thing. Try to look away from the injection and think about something else. The Dentist then extracts the teeth but you won't feel a thing. Go home take another glass of Brandy, get some rest and have soft food later on.

Trust me, it's not as painful as it seems if you follow my advice.

Cheers

I'm not a doctor and this is only my opinion, but I've been told that if the wisdom tooth isn't causing you problems AND x-rays show little potential of the wisdom tooth to shift and kill the roots of surrounding teeth, there's no point in getting the tooth removed. All you'll do is risk infection for yourself and make a payment on your dentist's Jag.

I did some research on this a couple years ago and the medical community is pulling away (no pun intended, seriously) from ripping out wisdom teeth just for the hell of it. I've also read that once you hit 30-35 you're much less likely to have problems with existing wisdom teeth. YMMV.


EDIT: In response to the post above me, I'd recommend skipping the Brandy if your doctor will be using general anesthesia. Although, I doubt they'd put you under for one tooth.

On that basis, I wouldn't dream of having surgery without (at the very least) a second opinion. Call me a skepchick, but I hear that some dentists are comparatively short of work at the moment, given the state of the economy, and so on ...

LOL, posted at the same time as Dan, above, and with much the same idea, I think ...

Two things.

1. Leave well enough alone. If you've had three out already you're operating on 1/4 wisdom capacity. Having the fourth one out could make you a babbling idiot.

2. If you were to have it done recovery time would be minimal. It's one tooth. Most healthy people would be on a soft diet for a couple of days along with Tylenol prn. No biggie.

Personally, I would never have surgery I didn't absolutely need. There is always some small risk of complications (see Man Dies After Wisdom Teeth Removed - ABC News )

In any event, I certainly agree with the others that I would get a second opinion.

I've always had pretty good teeth and have NEVER had a cavity and I just turned 40! I didn't go to the dentist for five years once and it didn't cause any problems. (Although that dreaded hook had a lot of plaque to scrape off when I did go back.)

Anyway, I never optioned to have my wisdom teeth removed despite constant hounding over the years by various dentists about all the problems I'm going to have later in life. One of them actually damn near had me scheduled for oral surgery and I had to force him to cancel it. Some of them are borderline unethical when it comes to these matters.

My current dentist, a nice older man who I've had for four years, has never ONCE even mentioned getting my wisdom teeth removed. He just kindly checks my X-Rays once a year and says we'll keep an eye on them. I go by the rule, No surgery of any kind unless it's needed to save my life.

When I was 19, I had a dentist send me to the periodontist and some buffoon there was all set to schedule gum surgery saying that this gum recession on my lower tooth had to be repaired or it would fall out in a few years. I ran out of there and never answered there persistent calls trying to schedule me for the procedure. As I suspected, that tooth is fine now and in NO danger of falling out.

Anyway, I'm doing fine now and even still have two baby teeth. They always told me those would fall out before 30 but they're still going strong.

So it's up to you but this has been my two cents.

Kevin,

I paid for four wisdom teeth to come out when I was 21 and later I found out that the dentist left one behind. That was 30 years ago. My current dentist does x-rays regularly and keeps an eye on it but said unless it shifts and starts to descend it should be fine.

My recommendation... get a second opinion. Take your x-rays from your current doctor and take them to another dentist for a second opinion!

Bonnie

Kevin,

I'm 70 years old and had 3 wisdom teeth pulled in the 1950s. 4th one still there and never gave a lick of trouble.

Even though I now have false teeth.

Ken

Good question. I am 47 years old and I still have all 4 wisdom teeth. I have been to several dentists over the years. About 15 years ago I went to a new dentist for the first visit, and before he even looked in my mouth he was like "We MUST remove those wisdom teeth!" I asked "why, they don't bother me?" So he goes, "well, maybe not now, but they might someday, and you don't NEED them." So I figured he was full of crap and just trying to make money and never went back. I was to a different dentist about a year ago, and they were bent on doing this "scaling" where they scrape under the gums. I had heard this bs before too, and declined. The interesting thing is the new dentist didn't say one thing about the wisdom teeth. 15 years later they are still fine. If they give me trouble in the future I will deal with it at that time. From what I can gather, people get less cavities than in the past with the fluoride in the water etc. there is less ways for dentists to make money, so they have to be salesmen. One guy tried to sell me an electric toothbrush. Give me a break.

I wouldn't let a doctor fix anything that doesn't need fixing. Preventative surgery scares the crap out of me. Why would anyone take something out that isn't a problem? I've heard of doctors removing appendix while they were in doing other surgeries "just to be safe" - assuming that well, it might go bad some time so lets just yank it now. Later they find out that the appendix actually has a function. Smooth move guys. There is so much unnecessary surgery in this country it's sickening. hysterectomies were being done with wild frequency at one time - a majority of women that had them out didn't need to. The truth is, doctors will do anything you let them do to you. Get the opinion of a natureopathic doctor before you ever let an AMA doctor touch you.

I refer to preventative surgery as "recreational medical practitioning." It's very simply for the doctor's sport and money.

If you think your body is a game field, let them have the tooth. Otherwise, the less medicine YOU practice, the healthier you are. If it starts giving you problems get it fixed early on but leave it alone til then. Remember - these are the same guys that are filling people's heads full of mercury because it's cheaper than the non-toxic alternative.

Nah. Nu-uh. Don't give old sawbones the satisfaction. Heyyyl no, blood.

A lot of dentists these days are salesmen first, dentists second. No way I'm doing anything unless its verified as necessary by another dentist.

I had my wisdom teeth pulled and they came back. The dentist told me it was very rare. He said, get this, he said they were eternal wisdom teeth. Budda boom!

Not me, but a friend of mine had all but two taken out when she was in her late teens, and now has to have serious jaw surgery because of the teeth causing problems. I got mine pulled and it hurts like hell for about a week but after that you won't have to worry about them anymore!

I had a problem with a wisdom tooth years ago, I went to the emergency room for some pain meds. in the middle of the night.

I went to the dentist the next day, he gave me a local shot in the gum, pulled the tooth & I felt like I was in heaven, lol. No joke, I've never been in that much pain & the second the dentist pulled that wisdom tooth the pain was entirely gone like it never happened.

IMO, get the tooth pulled because when it goes bad it will probably happen at the most inconvenient time (ex: 2:00 AM).

awww, don't be such a baby!

It could be a LOT worse.. be glad it's not a root canal/crown where they have to drill in to your jaw bone.

I had a VERY bad long-term experience with a dentist who gave me fillings that weren't good ones. As a result, I had to see several other dentists. The first one wanted to charge me an arm and both legs to remove one tooth. The second (and better dentist) charged me way less and extractions caused me zero pain.
Unfortunately, because of the bad dentist I had seen for years, I have now lost ALL my teeth.
My good dentist was so good that nothing was a drama.
2 weeks ago I had a partial tooth that had started to come up through the gum. He used his normal numbing gel, then some local anaesthetic which I did not even feel.
Then he said "you might feel some pressure" and next thing I know, it was out. He said he did not expect it to come out so quickly and with only one small push.
I had ZERO pain and after 3 days, I could eat on that side again.

The bottom line is...always look for a dentist that knows how to treat you without causing pain. YES, they do exist. AND he is very cheap too so I was happy.