scoober101

Can you get second opinions after seeing your dentist regarding wisdom teeth removal?

A couple days ago I had a bit of ache in my lower left jaw, it persisted so I phoned the dentist becuase it was coming from the back of my jaw by the wisdom tooth. I assumed it was related.

I went in and have been given some anti biotics for the infection which turns out to be in the gum. He does an X-ray and says I need to have my wisdom TEETH not tooth removed, I ask to explain more and he says I have some decay on the wisdom tooth but on the other side!!! My right said! But I havent had any problems with this tooth at all. Ok, it may only be a matter of time for it to start playing up also but then he goes on to say I have to have all 4 wisdom teeth out!!! But my top wisdoms are fine.

I dont see the logic of going through so much pain + general anisetic in hospital + time of work to get all 4 removed when its only one of them playing up, and it appears to be the gum and not the tooth itself. He says the infection/ache should go away in a few days.

I left the dentist feeling very confused and thought I could maybe get a second opinion before commiting to going into hospital. Can you go somewhere / see someone for second opinions?

Cheers,M.

Midlife......

iTrader: (2)

The hospital consultant who will see you on referral is an automatic "second opinion". You will be examined at your first hospital visit, likely more x-rays taken and an opionion given by the oral surgeon on what he thinks should happen to your wisdom teeth.

If he thinks they are going to be Ok then he will advise leaving them or might advise just taking out or monitoring the troublesome one. The letter of referral from your dentist is for assessment only.

There are NICE guidelines on wisdom teeth, In general they have had to play up at least 3 times IIRC

Does this Help ??


Where are you ??


Shaun

scoober101

Cheers for info, thats good news cos I was kinda concerned that the hospital would do whatever the dentist recommends. So, as this is my first time with wisdom teeth troubles, I still have another couple times before they yank them out? Unless I get serious trouble with them at some point and the only option is to remove them.

Have you had yours out?

Im in Sussex.

StickyMicky

The missus had all 4 out during the winter.

Ouch.

StickyMicky

The missus had all 4 out during the winter.

Ouch.

Midlife......

iTrader: (2)

Scoober101

In answer to your question the Hospital does not do what your dentist wants, your referral will be for a wisom teeth assesment and it will be taken from there

I'm a Hospital based dentist (not wisdom teeth, something differest) and most referrals say something Mr "X" is having problems with "such and such" and would welcome your help and advice.

Along with some background information

Sussex.. ?? Hmm


http://www.westsussexmfu.co.uk/index.html

Ah....... this is the private website but they are the NHS mob as well IIRC

I trained with David (he calls himself Paul) Cheshire, I also Know Clive Pratt ( tidy pair of hands....worked in Poole), and the rest are well known ............. Blimey you are in safe hands !!

Cheers

Shaun

Markus

Ah the joys of wisdom tooth removal. I visited the dentist for the first time in at least seven years in November last year. They looks at my wisdom teeth and saw one was badly decayed, one was slight decayed, o e was partially covered by the gum and one was not visible. They sen me for a panoramic x-Ray the results showed one impacted tooth

I was given a referall to an orthadontic surgeon. We had a nice chat and the outcome was that the decayed ones need to come out and would be simple. The other two were more complex and thus would need minor surgery to be removed. I made the decsion to have them all done at once

I will admit to being aprehensive as I've never been anethesthaised in any form before and was told I would be given deep sedation, which is apparantly between a local and a general.

The op took all of 45 mins from start to finish. The most painful part was the iv going in and slight pain aftr for about 5 mins. The next thing I recall was hearing the doc going on about curry

i was a bit floaty for a few hours afterwards, bt then was fine. Took my antibioctics and drank lots of liquds and ate lots of jelly and ice cream. Over the course of the next five days I was back to pretty normal eating habbits

Bottom line, the whole thing was a very pleasant procedure.

One major thing to take into account is thR this was not done in the uk, I am in Canada, so I am insure as to how different the procedure would be in the uk

I know for a fact that my check-ups here are far more thorough than the ones I had back in the uk, though that was at least seven years ago

Markus

Oh and as for why the doc said to get all of them done atthe same time. It is basically to save you having to go back another three times. My doc said that the good two could last for ages but the older i get the longer the recovery time and it makes sense to have one procedure rather than a total of four. Ibwas perfect sense in that

Moley

iTrader: (9)

Depending where in Sussex you are, i can highly recommend St Faiths in East Grinstead.

2 of my wisdom teeth had cracked in half, but i don't do dentists (bad tooth extraction when i was young)

Went in there, had in injection in the hand...... and the next thing i knew i was at home. Not even a tiny bit of pain (excpet the bill!!!)

RobJenks

I have had all 4 of my wisdoms removed . Each on separate occasions . 3 were a nightmare and resulted in post removal agony for a week . I had all mine removed in a chair with a local by a dentist that was a butcher . Good luck !

Jamie

You are going to give scoober101 the ***** now

Leslie

I am no expert but I think they usually have good reasons for recommending removal of them all.

Mine were all extracted by an RAF dentist in his surgery in a morning. He must have been very good at the job because there was no pain and they popped out very easily with a patent extractor that he had. I could not believe how easy it all seemd to be.

Les

GlesgaKiss

It's surely not that much pain if you're getting a general anaesthetic? I watched when the dentist took my Dad's out with just a local. Something I would have preferred not to have seen! I'll be getting put to sleep supposing I have to pay for it!

rossyboy

iTrader: (8)

Did they prescribe some heroin for you by mistake afterwards? I've never heard anyone describe wisdom tooth extraction as a pleasant procedure

It isn't painful at the time as they pump you full of pain-killers during the op. If the teeth are below the gumline/impacted, then it'll soon start to throb pretty badly for a week afterwards if you dont take the horse-tablet sized codeine snacks that are provided FOC.

I had the joy of awakening in the middle of the first night post-op, chewing on a sizeable blood clot and a fair bit of blood acting as a mouth-wash.

A pleasant procedure, it was not

Hysteria1983

I have three wisdom teeth and I have been contemplating choosing to have them removed. I have had several tooth extractions in the past, all because of problems with my jaw, and now I have these buggers messing up all my hard work and pain I was going to get rid.

Can anyone tell me how much worse the pain is compared to the removal of a standard tooth?

GlesgaKiss

I'd still rather that than being liften off the dentist's chair by the force required to pull them out.

rossyboy

iTrader: (8)

No arguments there. If mine had not been under GA, I'd still have them.

RobJenks

I actually enjoy the sensation of a tooth being pulled - I know its strange , but its like digging out a big lump of ear wax or having a real quality dump . Its very satisfying.
Post tooth removal zero pain.
BUT wisdoms expect severe pain afterwards for 7 -10 days.
You will look and feel like ****.

scoober101

Thanks for all the replies guys and girls.

Not that Im now dreading the procedure! [IMG]/vomit-smiley-9529.gif[/IMG]

Both of my lower wisdoms have come through almost horizontally or 45 degrees from the jaw bone instead of vertical like my other teeth. The dentist said I'd probably have to have the gum cut and bone removed to get the things out. From the xray I could see where decay was starting on the underside of the teeth where a toothbrush dosent reach.

But its fine, honestly. [IMG]/vomit-smiley-9529.gif[/IMG][IMG]/vomit-smiley-9529.gif[/IMG][IMG]/vomit-smiley-9529.gif[/IMG]

StickyMicky

The missus must have had a bad job done, as she was i really bad pain afterwards, and was looking forward to the painkillers

Her face swelled up around the cheeks, to be honest i was dying to call her hamster face, but i felt far to sorry for her due to the pain she was in.

The funny thing with her, is she was always asking for them to be removed, they were wonky, and she was always getting bits of food stuck around them, the dentist was reluctant to touch them unless really needed, but she pestered and pestered for years.

Had them removed and now she has 4 holes that she gets bits of food stuck in

She has a syringe that she uses to flush the holes out, its more work than she had to do before

Leslie

That RAF dentist I mentioned had a patent extractor which gripped the tooth and when he squeezed the handles with one hand it pushed down on the jawbone and the tooth popped out easily without any struggle and all I had was a local anaesthetic.

I was nervous at the beginning but after he had taken all four out I was wondering what all the fuss was about!

Les