Wisdom Teeth Removal

Has anyone ever had wisdom teeth operation under general aneasthetic where they have had to cut the gums open to remove?

If so Id be grateful for any advice on recovery time

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I am afraid I cant be of any help but I will look out for the replies as I am getting my wisdom teeth out end of august and having a general.

I hate dentists at the best of times. Hope ti all goes well for you.

Olive

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Hi Pampam & Olive86

Firstly can I ask why you are having a general anaesthetic? Wisdom teeth removal is nearly always better done under either local alone or local and sedation. There is definately an argument in favour of asthmatics avoiding GA at all cossts. With a GA for removal of wisdom teeth they will place the tube in the nose rather than the trachea.

Recovery from the GA itself is pretty quick. You may feel a little groggy for the rest of the day. You must take someone with you to drive you home!! This of course is the case if the GA is uneventful. As an asthmatic I would recommend that you pack an overnight bag just in case the anaesthetic makes your lungs misbehave. Make sure you take any meds and action plans with you as well.

In very general terms, recovery from the extractionsis likely to be 4 - 10 days.

If you look after your mouth well the recovery time will be at the lower end of the spectrum. Aftercare advise is softer diet until healed, pain killers as required (speak to your resp consultant about this as the better analgesics are ibuprofen as they also reduce inflamation - asthmatics of can't take the preferred NSAID pain killers so please do get advice from cons as to what you can take it may be paracetamol is your only option), Use a mouthwash at least twice a day (probably Corsodyl). You may find you suffer trismus for a while until fully healed.

I must stress that you must follow the advice given to you by the hospital performing the operation as they have a more accurate picture of your personal circumstances. The above is in no way intended as advice, it is merely an overview of what you can roughly expect.

Hope all goes well

Erasmus

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Hi, I had mine out via GA some 17 years ago now, I guess if you are having the gums cut like me that the teeth have grown into the side of the jaw and to ansa the other persons question I was told that it could not be done any other way due to the amount of force needed to get them out and the pain involved.

its hard to remember now but I do know that it was not pleasant, I think it took a good couple of weeks to be fully over it and struggled to eat properly for a while so ended up blitzing everything and having it through a straw!!

On the plus side I am glad I had it done!

Snowy

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Maybe the level of force required 17 years ago was an indication for GA. I believe these days force is less of a problem as technique is taught in all dental schools thus reducing requirement for dentist brutality. I have been informed of these facts by a very reliable source. Not google or wikipedia which can be useful sources of knowledge though far from gospel, but a dentist in the flesh who was trained within the last century and still holds a license to practise.

Generally the reason for GA in dentistry associated with exctraction of eights (otherwise known as wisdom teeth) is patient phobia.

[KateMoss]

Had mine out under local around 20 yrs ago at local hospital.

I had a stat dose of Hydro as well as increasing steroids.... slight splat after second batch removed. They did one side at a time.

I assume yours are very impacted and haven't erupted yet? Mine were poking through but still a bit impacted.

I would ask for local and referal to local dental hospital etc as you are asthmatic etc.

I took codeine I think and swilled mouth with warm salty water.

Only problem with splat & numb mouth was trying to do a peak flow for A&E!

I used to be scared of denstists but they are more scared of me now!

Good luck

Kate

x

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Wisdom teeth removal is nearly always better done under either local alone or local and sedation. There is definately an argument in favour of asthmatics avoiding GA at all cossts""

I disagree, if it is going to be a difficult extraction then a GA may well be a good option rather than local with or without sedation.

It took the dentist nearly 3 hours to extract my husbands wisdom tooth under local which was pretty traumatic and took a long time to recover from. As an asthmatic I dread to think how my breathing would have been in such circumstances. I personally would rather have a GA if the extraction was going to be difficult, at least your breathing is kept under control for you during the procedure.

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Erasmus, your probably right!

I think dentistry has moved on a lot!!

I still looked like I had been beaten up even with having a GA!, I know at the time I was not given a choice, was clearly told that as it was all 4 and the gums had to cut to get the impacted and constantly infected teeth out there was no other option, Im glad its all over and long forgotten but prob wish they had the knowledge there is now, but I suppose its like everyhing in life... it progresses and gets better!

Snowy

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Had a bad time having one out just with injection,she put a knee up on my

chair and took 3 lots of grippers to get it out.

Then had to have antibiotics and the hole packed 4 times with stuff on.

Would have the needle again as realy dont want gass xxxx

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Most things have moved on although sadly in everything there are good ones and bad ones. I guess the bottom line is if it needs to be done then so be it.

I wouldn't have liked to be in the dentists waiting room behind a three hour wisdom tooth removal! Very traumatic and probably way over the top. The majority of dentists in that situation would have stopped after about twenty mins to half an hour and then referred on.

Not even any of my c-sections (of which I have had three) took three hours. Yes they were painful, took force and weren't terribly pleasant but didn't require a GA for them.

I would suggest a strongly worded letter of complaint after an hours attempt let alone three!!!

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dread going the dentist,but went last month and escaped with just a clean and

polish sow thats me now for 6 months.

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Hi erasmus,

I am having mine done my GA because I am getting all four teeth taken out at once and they are difficult to take out as the roots are growing down the side of my jaw between roots of my other teeth. My con has been consulted about this and given the situation of the teeth has said it is better to ahve it all done at once than do it in several sittings. Also if it was not under GA the dentist would have difficulties as I can not tolerate lying back at all.

Olive

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I have to have a GA as my two bottom wisdom teeth are severely impacted and are basically growing in so much sideways that they are lying along my jawbone. I have also damaged my jaw by grinding my teeth in my sleep. oops

Saw a dental surgeon in a Glasgow clinic last month and she can only do sedation in her clinic but she said theres no way she could cut that deep under sedation as its such a big job. Im still waiting for my consultation regarding this at the hospital, should be within the month

I have had GA twice, when i was 5 and 16 and was fine both times, came round really quickly too. Admittedly I didnt have problems with my asthma then but im sure the hospital will know best and it really cant be done any other way. Also there is no option of just leaving them as due to the severity of impaction I regularly get severe pain and infections

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I had all four of my wisdom teeth removed under general anaesthetic three years ago. The bottom two were very impacted and they had to cut open the gums and remove part of my jaw in order to get the teeth out. The gums were stiched back up and you would never know I had had it done. I was meant to stay in hospital overnight as had the op in the early evening but discharged myself at about 11pm so I could sleep in my own bed. It did bleed a lot so I slept with a towel on my pillow for a few nights and I had the following three days off work (mainly because it was very difficult to eat and so I didn't have much energy and was groggy from the op). They give you pain killers for the pain but to be honest I only took one dose and then didnt need anymore- however my consultant was horrified when he found this out, and so was I when I subsequently found out they had been removing bits of my jaw (I was obviously drugged up when they told me this post op).

There was some brusing on my face for a week or so and I guess about a week before eating all solid food properly. The main problem for me was the bleeding in the first few days, but I think that was from the top teeth that they removed as they just pulled those out. If you are just having ones removed where there are cutting into the gum it will be all stiched up and so that shouldn't be an issue. I was really surprised at how quickly I bounced back so I really hope it goes well for you. Obviously need to make sure they are aware of your asthma etc etc. Good luck

Sarah

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Hi

I had two wisdom teeth removed (bottom left and right) last year and had the operation done under General Anaesthetic in hospital. I was actually given a nebuliser before I went into theatre - even though my asthma is under very good control and I rarely have an attack - they gave it to me as a precaution and also asked me to take my Salbutamol inhaler into the theatre with me as an extra precaution. Asthma was fine though. Wisdom teeth are usually removed under GA when they are deep-rooted or near to a vital nerve, as mine were, rather than at the dentist under Local Anaesthetic (and considering the pain I felt after, I'm glad I wasn't awake to feel it!). Just take care and when you're taking your inhalers do it quite gently to avoid moving your jaw too much. The spray from the inhaler didn't irritate the stitching or anything. Took me about 3-4 week to recover from the op but I had to go back a few times as an outpatient to replace the 'packing' which is antiseptic tape used to fill the wound and keep it clean from infection. I lived off soup and mushy food for a while as my mouth was very sore and it was hard to chew.

Hope it goes well!

[angievere]

Debs - bumped up this post for you. Hope it's useful. I've had several ops under general anaesthetic the anaesthetist knew all about my asthma (I made sure he knew!) and I took reliever before going under. Everything went fine.