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| quote: | Originally posted by Alccode
it's ok Demon, he already explained above...
Dr. Z, yes impacted wisdom teeth happens to a lot of people, so much so, that in fact it's widely considered to be somewhat of a "rite of passage" into adulthood. So don't worry, you're not alone.
As to how they extract it, they can either give you local anesthetic, or full anesthetic (I forgot the exact term), or even both (!) - which I think is redundant and overkill. What they usually do for each impacted wisdom tooth, I think, is that they cut the gum around the area, then actually cut some of the bone from your jaw so that the tooth itself is revealed. Then they usually take a drill and cut your tooth up into several pieces, usually 3-4, removing each one. Though I'm not entirely sure, I think they don't "patch up" your jaw, from the part they cut off. It's really small, though, so there isn't anything to worry about.
I think there was (still is?) debate of whether or not removing the wisdom teeth weakens your jaw, because once you remove them, there is a small area of jaw connecting to your skull. If you see pictures you'll see what I mean. But I think that it was disproved that removing the 3rd molars "weakens" the jaw.
Though I have to get my own wisdom teeth removed, I'm sort of delaying because I'm not in the "critical phase" yet - there is no swelling, and no pain. I'm assuming in a few years, it'll get bad. Also it's kinda expensive, so there's another reason. A third big reason is that from the x-rays of my jaw, my dentist explained to me - actually, gave me a "heads-up" warning - that the roots of my wisdom teeth are pretty fucking deep.. deep enough so that they're verrrry close to the main nerve in the jaw. He warned that during the procedure, there is a chance that the nerve will be damaged and/or severed. If that happens I won't be able to feel in my mouth or tongue or cheeks or anything. Usually, if the nerve is just injured, the disorder will eventually go away, in a few weeks, or months, or even a year or two (at most). However, there's a small chance that I might get permanent damage... imagine that, never being able to feel anything in your mouth, or cheeks, or taste anything. No facial expressions etc. Real bummer. So I'm kinda chickening out and sitting the fence right now... also my dentist was careful to give out "dislaimers" - stuff like "you might get permanent nerve damage" and "there is a slight chance of death from being put under during surgery"...it was funny in a gruesome way - he tried to be all happy and cheerful about it, trying not to make it sound bad.
lol...so much for that.. 
But you don't have to worry, Dr. Z. Really, extracting wisdom teeth is a very common practice for dentists and oral surgeons. It's usually no biggie whatsoever. |
Oh ok. Sorry about that.
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