RF Generation Message Board

So, I went to the oral surgeon yesterday to find out about my wisdom teeth removal....and had quite a surprise.

I have approximately 7 extra teeth (beyond my four bad wisdom teeth).  Most of the extras are tiny and bone impacted in my jaw.

One of my teeth is through a nerve and its removal gives me 50 / 50 chance of permanent feeling loss.

I originally intended to get 4 wisdom teeth removed on Friday with only local anesthesia.  Instead, my case is so complex that he can only do one side at a time and I need full anesthesia.  My surgery was originally scheduled for 90 minutes for all four.  Now I have 2 hours for just one side.  Should be a blast.

The other side gets better.  One tooth goes this direction ---- instead of this | direction.  The tooth in front of that one needs to be removed to get the other one out by breaking it and taking it out in small pieces.  75% chance of permanent nerve loss on that side.  That one is part 2, the next surgery.

Ouch, that's sad to hear. :(

But when you say "75% chance of permanent nerve loss" -- is that in a small place or your entire side of your jaw?

With the possible nerve damage, it would be limited to the side of the damage, so in the 75% case, it would be the bottom left side.  It would affect jaw, check, tongue, and taste.  That side doesn't need to be done right away, but it should be, so, I guess I'm going to have it done......I'll just have to hope for the best.

:( :(

75% of your entire bottom left side jaw is still a huge thing! :o

I really hope it'll turn out well.

Ugh cannon... Dental work suck. I had four normal teeth knocked out of my head last year. Not fun. However, you condition seems far more... severe. Good luck man.

Yea, the part that really gets me is the whole "permanent" thing.  That seems like such a long time......

I'll just have to hope for the best, but be prepared for the worst.

Thanks for the well wishes.

Yea that does sound rather serious.

Good luck with everything man. Maybe you should also ask the surgeon about who to reference for second opinions. You might be able to find a more skilled surgeon who could drop that percentage or might have a different way of doing it.

Does that mean no taste? or what?

Could be kinda neat being able to take a fist to the jaw and not feeling it.

Well, I trust this dentist.  He came recommended from both prior patients that my family knows as well as by other professionals in the dental industry that I know.

As for the feeling / taste loss possibility.....he didn't get into it too much (probably to avoid scaring me), but as I understand it, it could be a permanent numbness in check, jaw, gum, and tongue (he described it as having permanent novacane.  Possible taste loss because of nerve damage, more unlikely than the numbness possibility.

I'm hoping to get a copy of my X-Ray so I can scan it in and post for everyone to see my freaky mouth.

Note:  My front teeth are all perfectly aligned with no misaligned teeth, and I have never had braces, cavities, etc.  So, I don't want people to think I looked like a wacko from the movie The Hills Have Eyes or anything like that.  The problem teeth are all where they can't be seen without dental mirrors or X-Rays.

From a scientific point of view, I'm interested to see that.

My wisdom teeth were already at the total end of my jaw (and they had no place to come out) that's why they had to be removed. I'm wondering where you could fit another 7 teeth.

Do you have a rather large jaw? (no pun inteded or anything)

Well... if they say it's something that can wait, maybe you should wait. There's always a chance that new medical breakthroughs will change that 75% chance to a 10% or something, you know?

That sounds horrible but really cool at the same time. Are the teeth causing you any pain? Is it really necessary to have the teeth you didn't even know you have removed?

But at least if you did lose the feeling to taste, at least it would make eating healthy easier :P

Well,  I am no pain except for some mild sensation every now and then.  The extra teeth, at least most of them, are pretty tiny and in areas where I wouldn't know about them without X-Ray.  The problem with them is that because they shouldn't be there, they could lead to problems with my jaw, etc. in the future, even though I don't know about them and they don't bother me now.

I would say my jaw is pretty normal sized, and except for the one extra tooth that has actually pushed through that I just assumed was my wisdom tooth, everything seems alright and normal to me.

Another main problem is the damage the bad teeth are doing to my good teeth.  One of them is pushing forward and actually causing damage to the roots of a tooth that should have stayed in (needs to come out to take out the bad wisdom tooth.

The one good point about this is that it is all in the back hidden my checks, other teeth, etc. so, once the post surgery swelling goes down, I will look exactly the same.

If its like permanent novocaine then don't you run into the problems of having difficulty eating, drinking, spitting, speaking, etc?

I would hold off until your actually in a degree of pain that would be reason for concern. Regardless of if the issues i have listed would be a real problem or not.
It just sounds overly risky for a problem that isn't really physically bothering you.

Damn man, best of luck with this!

Yea, the physical pain isn't the problem.  It is the damage that is occurring to my other teeth that I don't want to loose that is the problem.  Can't feel the damage, but it's there.

Any updates tholly on the tooth probs ?

Right side complete.  3 teeth out.  2 wisdom teeth + 1 extra.  Other extras stayed in....too hard or dangerous to get out.  They will need to be monitored via xray in the future.  The next side is coming out sometime in March.

It doesn't appear as though I have any nerve damage, so that is good.  He said he didn't see the nerve at all, so that was a plus.

Thanks for checking up on me. 

Sounds like it went swimmingly.

This morning, everything is going well.  I'm eating okay.  No crumby foods yet like cookies, bread, etc.  No beer for 1 week. 

Other than some mild eating restrictions, I'm doing very well.

One tooth he removed was apparently extremely hard to get out without causing nerve damage.  Took him 45 minutes to get that one tooth out.  He said it normally takes him 45 minutes for all four wisdom teeth on a normal person....not on a freak like me.

That is great to hear, tholly. :) Are you wearing an ice pack wrapped around your cheek to prevent swelling? I had to do that when the took out my wisdom teeth two summers ago.

Let's hope the left jaw will go equally well. :)

I actually stopped using the ice pack on the first day.  My swelling is very very minor right now.  He said my check would be black and blue and out 1 inch or more.  It is barely out 1/8th of an inch with no discoloration.

I am amazed at how good I am feeling.  I quit using the Vicodin and have barely any pain.  This went much better than expected.

Yeah, I was the same. :)

I used the ice packs (I had two, both cheeks at the same time, looked like a rabbit!) for a full 24 hours (including the night) and had no swelling whatsoever. My cheeks were completely numb by the constant cold though.

Do you have like these pieces of cotton/tissue inside the holes where the tooth used to be? I had that for like 4-5 days and then they took them out. It was the strangest feeling. :P

I actually don't have gauze in.  Did your dentist not do stitches?  I have stitches across my gums (the hole was so big because of the extra tooth).

Yeah, I had stitches but also gauze which was held back by the stitches. It was done by a specialist in a hospital.

About a week later I went to my regular dentist who removed the stitches and took the gauze out. That was really crazy, lol. It's only the size of your tooth yet it's 30cm long! :o (1 foot)

It is amazing how differently two doctors can do the same thing.

Glad to hear everything went ok tholly.

Next surgery, the left side, is March 6th.  I'm excited.