I had my top wisdom teeth pulled recently. They both achieved total emergence just fine. Completely healthy and properly positioned. The issue was that they were pretty much completely pressed against the back of my mouth, meaning I literally had no way to get to them with anything. Even the dentists couldn't get back there during my cleanings. So after a few years, they had pretty much completely rotted away on the back sides. I could reach back and feel two sharp points with a huge gap in-between. The pain was so immense that I couldn't think straight anymore. I was getting lightheaded from it.
When I saw the extracted teeth, I understood it. I couldn't help but think "Holy shit, THAT was inside my head?!" They were disgusting.
Fortunately, there was no major infection. All they did was administer a ton of local anesthetic and wedge them out. Because of how they emerged and how much space my jaw allowed, it was easy. Each tooth took just a minute or two of prying and pulling. I didn't even know they were out. Honestly, I was more nervous in the waiting room than I was in the chair. Thinking about it and not being any closer to a resolution is more nerve-wracking than being a few minutes away from being done with it. I just wanted to get it over with. So the thought "It's gonna come out now." was more of a relief for me.
There was a moment when he lifted my entire body up from my head while driving the wedge up... ...that was unsettling. And yes, the sounds.
All in all, not really scary to me... ...I just had no reference point for that experience. I kind of internalize it more as strange than scary. The whole concept of removing something that's usually inside you is pretty hard to integrate. It just doesn't seem totally real to me. The implications are easy to understand, I suppose. The whole not even feeling it part makes it difficult to internalize. But it's probably better that way, haha.
Never really had any post-op pain... ...just felt the inflammation pressed against the sides of my mouth. They healed quickly. At my 7-day follow-up, the dentist was very pleased to remark that that they had just about healed completely and told me it was back to business as usual.
I vaped the whole time, doing everything I could to avoid suction... ...wide open RDA's with gentle lung-inhales and open lips. Honestly, I felt more suction swallowing water the wrong way. Wasn't an issue for me, though it may just be that dry-socket risk for me was just very low to begin with. Easy, fast-healing, easy-clotting extractions and all that.
So I guess I got lucky. Very lucky. It really wasn't as big of a deal as I thought it would be at all... ...not much more significant than a filling. I think a root canal would be worse than an extraction.
One of the bottom ones is completely impacted (hooks under the top of tooth in front of it) but I was advised to keep it in, as it's not causing any issues and the extraction itself presents a greater risk for complications than having it there presently does. Hopefully it stays that way, because that would not be a fun experience. The other one fully cleared 3 years ago and remains pretty healthy. There was some decay on the back of it, but there's a good 1/16" behind it, so it's not an issue of not being able to clean back there. I just haven't. They were able to cap it off. They don't anticipate any problems.
So I got lucky there, too. I've been told the bottom ones are harder to extract for numerous reasons. Also, dry sockets are apparently more likely than not.
