Wisdom Teeth Removal anxiety!!

[DemureRose]

So I learned today that my wisdom teeth most likely need to be removed (no they did not tell me how many and I was too stressed out about the news to remember to ask). I’m 19 so I’m pretty much at the prime age for removal.

While many of you think my anxiety is about the pain, it is not. I consider myself to be someone with a high pain tolerance. Or I’m just good at keeping it to myself.

Having anxiety has also made me become accustomed to pain. I tend to get extremely sore and tender muscles and limbs from my nearly constant tenseness. I am also used to horrible jaw pain, because I have a bad habit of unconsciously clenching my jaw.

I’m also a girl so in that way as well, pain is just part of my life.

No, my anxiety is instead of over the idea of 1. Being in a vulnerable state and 2. Having to be taken care of in said state.

Whenever I’m in pain or I’m sick, I very rarely tell anyone and prefer to just handle it myself. The few times I’ve been sick, I begged my mom to leave me home alone while she went to work and I very much preferred that.

As crazy as it is, I get physically nauseous and my adrenaline spikes when someone (like my parents ) asks me “How are you feeling?” in a concerned tone. Like ughh just thinking about it is sending my anxiety through the roof.

I’ve prayed (yes actually prayed) for me to need them removed after I had moved out of my house and lived alone. That way I had control of when people came to my house. I figured I’d probably need my mom or dad to drive me to my apartment or house and then maybe stay for a few hours after to get me settled but then I’d be on my own. They’d come for the occasional visit but I could be by myself.

Unfortunately, I live with my parents. 😒

The only solution I can think of for this is to see if I can get them removed on like a Sunday or a Thursday. Sunday would mean my parents had to work for the next few days and I could be by myself. But if I did Sunday I’d have to miss my first few college classes. Thursday would mean I at least had Friday alone, but I’ve read the later days can sometimes be the worst and I want to be alone for those days. I just want to be alone as much as possible after that initial first day.

I’m also considering asking my oral surgeon if I can just have laughing gas. The fact that I’d be awake takes a weight off my shoulders like you couldn’t imagine. And I’ve been on laughing gas before. It honestly just felt like I had zoned out and time seemed to pass weird. It felt like the unawareness of sleep but I was awake.

And I know that I’d be able to hear things and feel pressure, but if that’s what I had to endure in order to stay awake, I’m fine with that.

There’s really not a question in here. I’m just trying to get my thoughts in order and find a plan that gives me less anxiety. I can’t find anywhere about the anxiety of wisdom teeth removal that doesn’t have to do with pain. Nobody else seems to be afraid of the vulnerability part...

[kleelibby]

Hi DemureRose, I’m like you I get myself all wound up and anxious with any medical/dental appointment. For me it’s fear of the unknown. I feel helpless to be sedated, it’s a control thing. I hope this experience isn’t as bad as you fear. Good luck!

[Damian]

I had two wisdom teeth out, at different times, and it wasn't a particularly big deal. I didn't have a general anaesthetic (or laughing gas) just a normal dental injection to numb the gum. It was then a bit weird having someone yanking on my tooth, pretty hard, but it didn't hurt. With the first one I felt a painful twinge at the moment it came away, nothing at all with the second one. They put some sort of dressing on the gum that stopped it bleeding too much, and the dressing just dissolved eventually, I didn't have to go back to have it removed.

After the first one I went back to work and everyone looked at me a bit funny! To be honest I should probably have taken the rest of the day off, but the fact that I could go into work shows that it wasn't a big problem. I certainly didn't need anyone to come and look after me.

The biggest problem was brushing my teeth! Obviously you still have to do it, but it tends to make your gum bleed where the tooth used to be, so you have to do it very carefully.

[DemureRose in reply to Damian]

Thank you so much for your reply!

It’s very comforting to read your experience with it. The way you had yours done is pretty much what I am aiming for.

Your answer really helped to calm my nerves about it.