About a wisdom tooth: damn it!

zomgwtf

I guess things here in Canada work differently then.

hamster143

Maybe. In the U.S., most dentist offices are tiny businesses, with one licensed dentist (rarely two), a receptionist and a couple of nurses. They have the capacity to do x-rays, fillings, simple extractions, and root canals. They can install crowns, but they can't manufacture them (therefore they have to outsource manufacturing to third-party labs). Serious stuff like wisdom teeth and implants is outsourced to oral surgery clinics.

Monique

Fluidistic: you should not take aspirin prior to receiving an operation or extraction. If you've taken aspirin anywhere in the week prior to the procedure, you should tell your doctor. Aspirin thins the blood and reduces the blood clotting mechanism, which can lead to excessive bleeding.

fluidistic

Oh, that was my doubt. I thought that after 2 days my blood would return as it was before... but I'll let the dentist know.

An update: Now it's the lower left wisdom tooth. I think it was it yesterday also, but the pain was so diffuse I thought it was the upper one. I couldn't sleep until 4 am, when I decided to wake up due to the pain and I prepared some ice cube, I drunk a very cold water which killed the pain for seconds and then I took a half of aspirin. After 30 minutes I think I could sleep. I was awakened every 2 hours due to the pain and I woke up at 10 because it hurts too bad. My lower gingiva is swollen, I can't even close my mouth. My throat also hurts so that I don't know if it's the tooth or really my throat. I've tried to feel some ganglia in my neck, but I can't feel any. I don't think I have fever, hence I don't think I have an infection. But I find strange that my gingiva hurts that much and is so swollen...
There's no doctor working on weekends so I can't check out. Tomorrow I have 8 hours of class, I'd never miss a single class. So maybe on Tuesday afternoon (I have class from 9am to 1pm). Oh wait... the cousin of my girlfriend is a doctor, I don't know is she could examine me... I'll try to ask my gf if I can call her cousin.

I won't take any medic now, so you can tell me what do you think I have. (Just to make an idea).

Edit: Just called my girlfriend and I won't see her cousin, she lives too far away. I could call the dentist, but I already know what she'll say, that I've an infection and she will tell me to buy some antibiotics. In fact I need to be examined, words cannot fully describe what is the situation I'm having. Anyway, my girlfriend told me the dentist gave her dorixina to kill the pain. I've read on the Internet and it seems a medic I could take, but if I'm going to have the tooth pulled out, I prefer not to take anything. Unless the pain increases and some doctor here tell me there's absolutely no problem to take a dorixina pill (I'd use it just to be able to sleep).

Edit 2: I called the dentist, she told me to buy an antibiotic (azitomicina) and Ibuprofeno. I already took 1 pill of each. I've probably an infection it seems, though she didn't really tell me. She pronounced a word which sounded like an inflammation of something. I'll see her next week.

zomgwtf

well you can feel aroudn your jaw and the sides of the bottom of your jaw for an inflammation or infection. It could feel tender in areas and it will tell you how far the infection has gone.

The only reason I said you should take pain killers was because normally to have a tooth extraction such as the wisdom tooth you need to go in for an assessment etc. so I doubted you'd be having your tooth extracted within the next 2 weeks even, especially since it sounded as though it was infected. Make sure you take all the antibiotics though and follow the instructions... even if it seems you've gotten better don't stop taking them

fluidistic

Yeah I'm going to take them all. Ibuprofen has done its job, I don't feel almost any pain now, incredible. I'm so tired, I'm going to take a rest for now...

Moonbear

Just to help reassure you a bit since you're worried about the quality of the dentists. Usually, when there are complications of branches of the facial nerve getting injured and causing paralysis, it's not due to incompetence of the dentist, it's due to the nerve already traveling in a path that puts it in the way of the roots of the tooth being pulled. The same complication could happen even with the tooth being removed by a highly qualified oral surgeon. It's pretty rare that it does that.

The complications of an impacted wisdom tooth are far worse than the risk of damaging that nerve.

fluidistic

Thanks for the information, nice to know. My dentist was kind enough to tell me what to buy and take. I can now close my mouth normally although I still have some pain but I can live without ibuprofen for now. So I'm getting better.
About a possible surgery: so it's almost necessary to take a radiography of my mouth before the surgery. So that I don't become the unlucky guy who get paralysed.

russ_watters

Maybe. For many people, though (ie, me), removing a 3rd molar requires a hammer and chisel and that wasn't part of your description. It seems to me you just don't relize how difficult the extraction can really be. http://www.teethremoval.com/extraction.html

Whether that is something any good dentist in Canada can do, I don't know, but teeth require so much regular maintenance that the US system seems reasonable to me. Most people in the US go every 6-12 months and the vast majority of the time just get cleanings, cavities filled, root canals, and crowns.

zomgwtf

This is part of breaking the tooth into parts if they are unable to just wiggle it free, obviously I gave a simplified breakdown of extraction of a tooth if you want however I can lay it out in full detail for you... not sure what that'd accomplish since it doesn't change the fact that an oral surgeon is not required for a tooth extraction.

Cleanings/cavities can be done by hygenist, well the cavities can be as long as they are prepped by the dentist prior. Root canals and crowns are both also done by dentist yeah, and most Canadians go twice a year for cleanings plus whatever other work is needed. That's what's suggested anyways (AFAIK).

russ_watters

I'm not trying to be pedantic, I brought it up because cracking the tooth or jaw is the complicating factor that turns a simple tooth extraction with local anesthetic into a real oral surgery procedure: not all tooth extractions are the same and it is common for wisdom tooth extractions to require oral surgery.

I'm just saying this because what you suggest doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. Do typical dentists offices in Canada have an anesthesiologist on staff? Are they large offies? As said above by someone else, in the US a dentist's office typically has only one dentist and the rest are hygeinists/technicians. One of the reasons I see for a dedicated oral surgery office is that when you do a lot of surgery it becomes economical to have an anesthesiologist on staff to do dozens of procedures a week instead of hanging around a dentit's office to do a couple a month. I just don't see how what you suggest could be possible.

Maybe it isn't as common as in the US, but I know the concept of "oral surgery" exists in Canada and I know wisdom teeth are sometimes extracted in oral surgeon's offices. You can find that much with a google: http://www.markhamoralsurgery.com/services.asp
How often I don't know, but then I don't know exactly for the US either. I only know from my own experience (and my friends) that these days it is very common for a wisdom tooth extraction to happen in an oral surgeon's office.

Monique

A dentist should be able to properly anesthetize someone locally for a tooth extraction, I don't see a problem there. The problem with complicated extractions is that the dentist might not have the right tools available or might not be able to react adequately to complications.

I had my wisdom teeth (all three at the same time) extracted by an oral surgeon under local anesthetics. My dentist would have loved to extract the teeth himself, he told me that was one of his favorite jobs, but he thought it was too risky due to the impaction of one of the teeth. I was glad I was at the hospital, there were 5 people busy with extracting the teeth and Russ's description of bone-breaking and teeth-breaking applied to me as well.

Although not pleasant, the procedure itself didn't bother me too much. I did have trouble eating for at least a week, because my jaw was very sore.

Count Iblis

I also had my wisdom tooth extracted. That is done routinely here, even if they are not causing problems. It is better to extract them when you are 20 than wait until they are causing problems when you are 30.

It is done under local anesthetics as Monique wrote. But in my case there was only one doctor and one assistent. When the doctor was starting to pull with force, my head moved, so that didn't work. The doctor asked me to pull in the opposite direction. So, I was puling with my neck muscles as hard as he was pulling.

The problems really come after the teeth are pulled. As Monique wrote, you have problems eating for a week and that's very difficult to deal with if you need to eat a lot. Also, I had a big bleeding a few days after the teeth were pulled.

They remove the wisdom teeth only on one side. A few weeks later they will remove the teeth on the other side. This makes it possible for you to eat, albeit with great difficulties.

I'm glad that I did this a long time ago when my parents could still take care of me.

Borek

A little bit of mild pain and some swelling and my wisdom teeth all grew without problems. They didn't start to hurt at 30, they didn't start to hurt at 40, next report in 2002.

Flu: remember you can make an ice compress and put it on your face close to the tooth, in plastic bag and piece of dry tissue. It doesn't stop the pain, but it usually makes it bearable.

Monique

Not always, they can also pull out both the upper ones and one of the lower ones in one go.

zoobyshoe

I had a quadruple extraction. Full anaesthesia.

My cheeks swelled up and I talked like Don Corleone for a while.

Monique

I was told by the dentist that they generally don't anesthetize both sides of the lower jaw, because it can lead to total numbness of the tongue with associated risks of complications. Did that affect you, or had the anesthesia already worn off when you woke up?

I hope I'll never have to get the rest of my teeth removed. If I have a nightmare at night, it's about teeth falling out