wisdom teeth, to pull now or to pull later?

[Triple J]

He is an attorney, like sharks...... they just keep replacing teeth lost while feeding

[victor441]

I'd do it now, had mine pulled at 19 (two at a time, two sessions) with only local anesthetic and it was not nearly as bad as I expected and FWIW was on a ship at sea (aircraft carrier) at the time...a good thing in some ways, the Navy dentist had probably pulled 10,000 or more of them so it went quickly and smoothly.  Not much pain at all, the sound was the worst part for me

[ducatiz]

ssssllluuuufrrrpppppp

[lazylightnin717]

ssssllluuuufrrrpppppp

NOOOOOOOOOOOO 

[He Man]

i dont like this one bit!!!

[WarrenJ]

Builds Character

[ducatiz]

in all of my tooth-pulling escapades, i was home that night on nice drugs.  the most important thing to do is obey the doctor's orders.  i got dry-socket on one go around and it felt horrible and the holes where the teeth were removed remained as open, gaping, putrid-smelling holes until they finally healed shut.

word to wise:  no smoking after the surgery until they all heal.

the jist of my advice..  do it now, or suffer far far more later.

[He Man]

i brought this issue up to my parents....heres something funny.

The molar before the wisdom toot...mine has a root canal on it. my father had the same thing, my grandfather had teh same thing etc etc. none of them ever had their wisdom teeth removed....but they did get that molar removed and used the wisdom as one leg of a bridge.

so my dad says dont remove it because none of us have problem with that tooth (thats why it doenst really bother me) except for that molar that will break (which mine already has) so u will need the wisdom as an anchor.

[ducatiz]

interesting

[rgramjet]

Definitely DO NOT get them pulled.  Like a fine wine aging to reach its fullest potential, this is a story that is years from excellence. 

I am willing to wait.

[ducatiz]

Definitely DO NOT get them pulled.  Like a fine wine aging to reach its fullest potential, this is a story that is years from excellence. 

I am willing to wait.

the only advantage to doing this is the big script of oxycodone.  my doc gave me a month's supply with 5 refills.  i never used it at the time, but i got the refills.  it is handy to have around.

but no, don't wait.  after a certain point they can impact the jawbone and then you're in for a real dental torture session.

[The Bacon Junkie]

Why has this gone on for 4 pages...

Suck it up, Buttercup and get them fukin' yanked outta your head. 

I got four pulled all at once when I was 14... 

I was playing drums in an orchestra that same night.

Make a decision already...



-

[NoisyDante]

Pull em all in one go.  I remember doing it when I was 15, I woke up with a mouthful of blood for a week.  Tasted like flat Dr Pepper.   

[AkLiz]

Had mine for ~22 years - they were all erupted and non-impacted.  I have a big mouth and my dentist told me to not yank 'em unless I developed problems.  Never had a single problem (but had a lot of sinus headaches) until I had one abscess this spring (silly me...thought it was a stuck popcorn kernel until I spiked a fever and hadn't eaten in two days because of the pain).  Got the infection cleared up and scheduled myself for the oral surgeon so I could get the good drugs.   I kid you not....ten minutes after I was out, they woke me up, minus all four teeth.  They slid out like butter.  Husband drove me home, I puked once after I changed out the gauze, and I had no swelling and needed no painkillers afterwards.  I still have divots in my gums where the teeth were, but all in all a good experience.

The hilarious part?  The husband doesn't drive (we rented an automatic to minimize his stress at driving my drugged self home)...both his co-workers and mine asked us if he was going to bungee cord me to the back of his bike to get me home, and how the heck was he gonna get my helmet on over my surgerized face.  We still laugh at the mental image of that

Oh and the sinus headaches I'd had nearly daily for ~22 years?  Caused by one of my wisdom teeth....now I only get the very occasional tension headache.  Who'd a thunk?

[sugarcrook]

What did people do about wisdom teeth a few hundred years ago?  Must have been a miserable experience.