Extracting Wisdom Teeth at 30 and Parethesia Experience

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 My biggest regret is not getting my wisdom teeth out sooner. I was afraid of the procedure and I stupidly convinced myself that they probably wouldn't cause me a problem. Also I have wanted them to come out through my gums, but they haven't. So my biggest tip to those who still have their wisdom teeth is to not wait and get them checked out by your dentist or oral surgeon. Age will only make it more risky and painful. The risk being the possibility of getting permanent nerve damage which means your tongue, jaw, cheek, and lips will be numb. This post will be about my experience of getting my high risk wisdom teeth out at the age of 30-31 as well as the knowledge I gathered from the internet, and consultations. Above are my x-rays.

 AGE 

  If you still have wisdom teeth, please get panoramic x-rays regularly to check on them. Even in your 20s, the teeth could grow enough to be close to nerves which can cause numbness. Being numb is not fun. They can take weeks and even months for things to feel normal or it may be permanent. There is a low risk of permanent numbness, but obviously the higher the age the more risky it gets. These risks are for the bottom teeth because its where the nerves are. Ideal age is 18-24. After the age of 25 and over, your bone gets denser which makes extracting difficult. At age 35 and over, its best to leave them alone. It isn't guaranteed that you won't have problems in the future so keep that in mind if you plan on keeping them. Also you will heal slower if you're older so it may take longer than a few days. The more difficult your teeth are to extract, the more trauma the extraction site will take during surgery which may effect healing time.

Level of Difficulty

   While you can just wait it out, it is still worth to keep checking on them with xrays. Position of the wisdom teeth is also an important factor. Are they coming in upright, at an angle, or sideways? If your wisdom teeth are sideways like mine, it may be better to take them out to prevent issues. Sideways and wisdom teeth angled toward the back of your head are more difficult to extract. Wisdom teeth will keep moving and it would impact your molars, and could cause infection. As you age the nerves get more complex and your jaw bone get denser making extraction difficult thus adding more trauma to the extraction site.

 How deep your wisdom teeth are also is important. If they have come through the gums, they are more easier to extract. If they haven't then they are impacted, and would mean there's bone in the way that needs to be cut out. These teeth would require you to be sedated. While mine where close to my gums they never came through (erupted) so they are impacted. Plus they are encased in bone so it adds to the difficulty to the extraction. If you're 25 or older, your jawbone gets denser thus it adds to the difficulty of extracting them.

 As you age, wisdom teeth will develop roots, and these roots will reach towards your nerves risking nerve damage. Roots can end up developing into odd shapes making it more difficult to extract. While mine had somewhat shorter roots that are fused, it was reassuring to me knowing there was something that wasn't difficult.
 You can read up more info here.

Getting an Oral Surgeon

 If your teeth are complicated to work on like mine, I highly advise finding a good oral surgeon. Get recommendations from your regular dentist, friends and family, dental schools, and perhaps even from the internet. There are multiple sites that have review options for oral surgeons. Get consultation appointments with them and choose the one you feel most comfortable and confident with.

 Have a list of questions to ask during your consultation. Ask about previous patients similar to you, and any complications they've experience. The oral surgeon may not be thorough with you so ask about how they plan to extract your teeth and about other options like coronectomy where you only extract the crown part of the tooth and leave the roots. There isn't enough info on coronectomy (partial odontectomy) to give statistics, but it has its own risks. If your wisdom teeth are close to nerves, they may ask for you to get a CBCT scan. If they don't, ask about it! Unlike the panoramic xrays which is a 2D image, a cone beam CT scan is a 3D image so it will better show where your nerves and teeth are located. This scan may not be covered by your insurance, and it will be expensive. Though I think the cost is worth it if it will help your oral surgeon reduce the risks of nerve damage. If the oral surgeon plans to extract the whole tooth that are close to nerves, you should report any numbness to your oral surgeon the day after your surgery. They may give you treatment to help nerve healing. If they just say to wait it out, try to see if you can a referral for a specialist on the kind of nerve injury you have anyways. You may have better chances of recovery if the damage is treated relatively early on after wisdom teeth extraction. I personally would rather see what a specialist say about the damage than play the waiting game.

 Normally it may take about a week to schedule a consultation and schedule your surgery a week later. However if you're on Medicaid you'd have to wait about 3 weeks to a month to schedule a consultation, and another 2 weeks to a month for your surgery. I would not wait for your teeth to cause you pain to deal with them if you only have Medicaid. Also you may have a lot less choices of oral surgeons. I had to drive over an hour for one since I do not live near the city.

 Since my teeth were impacted, and has nerves on them I need to be sedated and have an IV which only oral surgeons can do.

Cost

 Understandably, money is important and dental work is not affordable for most people. Costs can vary and add up from consultation fee, sedation, xrays, and the extraction surgery itself. Your insurance may not cover everything, or you don't have insurance at all. Regardless, I do feel your quality of life is far more important than money. I highly advise discussing payment options with the dental office as they would understand and can help you. You can always try other dental offices if they have better payment plans. There's also options for loans as well. Do not let money get in the way of your health!

My Experience

 So I will write about my experience and hope it helps people. First off, I am a petite female with a small head, small mouth, and big teeth. My teeth aren't great as I've gotten quite a few cavities, and had two root canals done. So my dental history isn't the healthiest, but its not terrible I think. At first, I knew I have wisdom teeth that are impacted and had my dentist suggest that I should take them out. Though since they didn't bother me and I never had surgery before it was scary to me so I put it off. Another reason I put it off is because its expensive to take them out. Even though I've had root canals and even had a couple teeth pulled and extracted before. Just that I knew wisdom teeth involves going to the far back of my mouth and require cutting an opening at my gums was freaking me out at the thought of it. Drills I'm used to, but cutting is not something I'm used to. I thought I'd be awake for it as I was dozing in and out during my other extractions and root canals. I wish they told me the kinds of risks of wisdom teeth then or I would've easily overcome my fear and done it asap. At that time I just knew that healing would be slow since I wasn't in my teens or early twenties. I didn't have insurance during my college years, and at that time I had to get root canals done which was expensive.

 A couple years later, I have noticed that the gums around my bottom left molars were getting a tingling sensation, but it would go away after a couple days especially after thoroughly flossing and using mouth wash there. The next year, that same area continue to tingle, but it got a bit more stronger. It also took longer to go away. That's when I figure its my wisdom teeth and not my gums acting up. That realization freaked me out, so I spent days trying to find someone that takes Medicaid to take them out. No where close to where I live had anyone. I even went into a walk in only clinic who saw me. The dentist there told me that my lower left wisdom teeth have a nerve through it, and warned me that I could feel it if he tried to take it out. Since they don't do sedation they could only give me a list of oral surgeons that takes Medicaid. The closest one was an hour away.

 I scheduled a consultation and the earliest they had open was three weeks away. Luckily, the tingling feeling has died down a bit during those three weeks. At the consultation, that's when I learned about the risks and that I was at high risk because of the nerve. I wasn't warming up to this oral surgeon because he was telling me I should have done this as a teen, and wanted me to say to him that I accept the risk of getting numb. He didn't say anything reassuring to me. Wanted to cry as I booked my surgery and left the office. Since the surgery is a month away, I spent a lot of time looking up information and stories of nerve damage and wisdom teeth. Some reassured me, but many didn't. I decided to seek a second opinion, and went to another oral surgeon that takes medicaid. That was another three weeks of waiting for a consultation. So I continued to look up wisdom teeth and nerve damage on the internet, and have made posts about my teeth. I am thankful for the few people who I've talked to who tells me that I will be fine. None were dentists, just people who had their teeth taken out at around my age. I did post in a dentist forum, but got very little replies that weren't helpful. They could not give me statistics but I am at higher risk than most people. During these three weeks, the tingling has grown stronger again to a mild dull ache. These nearly a month wait is frustrating, but it had given me time to think and make a list of questions. I just wish I did this before when it wasn't giving me discomfort. Also looked up the oral surgeons I was seeing for reviews and information on them. The one I saw earlier had mixed reviews, so since the new one I was going to see had more better reviews I was a bit hopeful that my consultation with them wouldn't make me feel as bad as the earlier one did.

 The consultation with the second oral surgeon went better thankfully. They were nicer and more reassuring that my nerve damage chances are there, but not significantly. And if it did happen they seem to not worry that my damage would be permanent. They did suggest a coronectomy which they find to be reasonable for my lower wisdom teeth. I'd rather give it a chance since it can mean the roots would move away from the roots thus lowering the chances of nerve damage than taking the risk of removing the whole tooth. The risk is that the roots can become infected or may grow more roots thus I would need to take them out anyways. They want me to have two surgeries for each side. I scheduled for my left side to be done first.

 On the day of the surgery, I was quite anxious. They gave me laughing gas which helped me calm down. They inserted the IV to my arm, and had me bite on something before I feel asleep. I woke up and felt nauseous. I did throw up but only once. Felt too nauseous to be able to stand on my own so I was wheelchaired to the car. My caretaker told me that they had to take out the whole tooth because it was loose. This was a little upsetting since it'll mean I may get numb. Also the left corner of my lip was cut probably since I have a small mouth that the doctor had to stretch it which isn't unexpected.  I rested for the rest of the day since I wasn't able to do much for too long or I'd feel dizzy. I wasn't experiencing pain or swelling so I wasn't in too much discomfort. I was given ice packs, syringes, gauze, and a little bucket in case I threw up. Had prescriptions for pain and a mouth rinse (chlorhexidine) which we got at a CVS.

 The next day, I felt a lot less nauseous. Not experiencing pain but the swelling is more noticeable. My lower jaw is constantly at a dull ache, but it isn't unbearable. Also my cheek, lip, and chin are numb. It is slightly better than the day before, but luckily it isn't too hindering as I can still eat and talk fine enough. Liquids do drip on my numb side of my lip. Though this concerns me since I'm not sure how long it will last as I still have to take the wisdom teeth on my right side out which also has nerve damage risk. I don't want to have the numbness on both sides. I was able to feel my nails pinching with slight pain, but there are some spots that are still numb.

 The third and fourth day the swelling and pain increased, but not too much. I am still numb in the gums, lip, and chin area though I am getting a bit more feeling in my lips and gums mostly from the pain and swelling that is blending with the numbness. I also still have dizziness and headaches from time to time, and it felt like I was getting sick because my forehead was warm. Normally I eat spicy food to fight off oncoming colds, but obviously I can't do that or else it will irritate the extraction site. I am starting to add bread into my diet, because the soft and liquid foods don't keep me full long enough. I feel it all passes through way too fast. Also the liquid foods I have are mostly diary based which does make my stomach a little uneasy. The swelling and the cut lip does make it hard for me to open my mouth to take a bite of something like a donut so I do have to cut pieces small enough to comfortably chew.

 The dizziness was annoying me since it was preventing me from doing much during the day. I searched about it and it isn't something uncommon that people experience. I looked up the pain medicine I was prescribed which is oxycodone, an opioid. A side effect is dizziness and even slowing of breathing which is something I also noticed. Since I wasn't getting any extreme pain, I decided to stop taking them. Before I mentioned I thought I was getting feeling back, but it seems I may be confusing it with the nerves behavior towards the surgery or something. It is a weird sensation going throughout the lower left jaw area even to my ear as well as the lower left bottom gums, lip, and chin. Its like a tingling with pressure and occasionally pain. It also aches, but it is hard for me to tell if its the swelling or the extraction site that is causing it. But since these nerves goes up to my ears it makes sense that it be the reason why I'm getting pressure and pain in my ear canal area as well as my temples. It is annoying and distracting, but icing this area has given me temporary relief.

 I did not have a post op appointment with the oral surgeon, but I did have a dentist cleaning a week after my surgery. At the cleaning I did mention the surgery and that I have numbness. They did poke my gums and ask me how much I can feel on the affect area. I was able to feel pain in some spots they poke me at. To them it doesn't seem bad, and guess it would take weeks but it is hard to predict with nerves. He thinks the nerves were just bruised probably from the swelling and inflammation. They prescribed me methylprednisolone which is a steroid to help with the inflammation that may help with the numbness and nervous healing. My dentist also said I should notify the oral surgeon and see them about the numbness. The medication did help reduce the weird tingling and other sensations I was feeling. They were weird and it was worse when I try to sleep at night. It was a fireworks show so it kept me up for awhile. My ear ache also reduced to a rare occurrence so I was very thankful of that. After a few days on the medicine I definitely saw a noticeable difference in regaining feeling. It did help lower the numbness I was feeling at a faster recovery pace that before. After I was done with the medicine I was still recovering from the numbness though at a slower pace.

 After the first week, my mouth was feeling less stiff and numb. It is a relief that things are finally starting to feel a bit more normal. I did end up having the extraction site start bleeding a bit again probably because I yawned and it hurt when I do that. Slow improvements during the second and third week. The sutures were starting to come out. I still haven't started to eat on the left side yet so it is still a bit sensitive. So far I am getting feeling back especially on my chin. My lips and gums still feel quite weird. The lips bother me the most since they do feel bigger and it is a tad bigger as my teeth do sort of bite into them more than my right side does.

 About a month after the surgery, there is a still some numbness on my lip but its not totally numb thankfully. My gums and lip still feel weird, but it is slowly getting better. There is about a cm of my lip that still feels funny and numb-like. The front of my teeth still feel weird and sensitive, but my chin area mostly has feeling back. I can feel about 70% as much as the other side of my chin. It still kind of feels like there's a thick layer of dead skin on my chin. I have noticed there is a weird hard spot on my inner cheek right by where my last molar is. It kind of feels like a bone or something as its hard and I can feel it when I move that part of my mouth around. Haven't seen the oral surgeon to ask what it is. It feels like having food stuck in my teeth so it is a bit annoying. Thankfully, after a week or two that cheek thing went away and was no longer bothering me. I was able to eat normally too.

 Its been about two months after the surgery. The gums did start to feel rather sensitive for about a couple weeks, before it started to feel more like normal gums again. It doesn't feel as weird to brush with my Sonicare on that area as much. My lower lip is the most stubborn area to heal. Like with the gums, it did start to feel really sensitive which I assume is a good thing. When I tap my finger repeatedly on it, it hurts a bit than it should. I did buy a bottle of B-12 vitamins, but whether it helped or not I can't tell. I does feel better to me to do something than nothing. While my lip area still feels weird, I do noticed I can move it around more so that it feels more normal to talk and eat. If I were to describe this weird feeling on my lip, its like a pebble got stuck inside.

 At the three months after the surgery, it starts feeling like gauze or cottonballs are stuffed in my lip. Healing is really slow and so its hard to tell if there's any improvement. I am stilling taking B-12 vitamins but hard to tell if it actually made any difference. My gums also feels relatively normal. It is still a bit sensitive when i brush my teeth with my sonicare, but compare to my lip I really don't care at the moment if my nerves in my gums healed or not. The cold liquids or food barely feel sensitive on my teeth. It still sensitive on my lip area but not as much as it use to. I have talked to my oral surgeon about it and he says that since I'm feeling things I am close to being back to normal. He is referring me to see another doctor to get another opinion. I won't be able to get the wisdom teeth on my right side until the nerves are fully healed.

On 4.5 months after, healing is still slow I do think that the lip area is feeling slightly less stuffy.It does feel weird and sensitive when applying lip products with a doe foot applicator.

At 5 months, healing is still slow but the area does feel slightly less stuffy and the corner of my lip does feel a bit more normal.

Around 6 months, my lip area is no longer feeling stiff and feels about 90% normal. Just a part of the lip area still feels fuzzy, but overall it hardly bothers me throughout my day.  I had been taking two B12 tablets a day, and daily multivitamins as well, but I can't tell if they actually helped. 

On the 8th month, I don't feel much different from the my 6 months status so I would change that healing from 90% to 80%. It still feels fuzzy and in the center feels the most stiff. The area overall has some feeling, and there is sensitivity when I poke the spot with a toothpick. Hopefully it is still healing, but I am worried that it may be done.

At 9 months with next week to be 10 months, healing is still happening! The fuzziness feeling has lessened, and sensitivity when I poke the area with a toothpick also lessened. I do have a bit of feeling back in the whole area, but its not back to normal compare to the other side of my face. It'll be soon one year since the surgery, and I'm hoping that I will fully recover sometime this year, and be able to get the rest of my wisdom teeth out. I am thankful that the remaining wisdom teeth have not caused any problems that I may have to do the surgery before the nerves healed. I will note that I have stopped taking B12 tablets since I have finished the bottle a couple months ago.

It is one year since the surgery, and I am still recovering from my nerve damage. Healing has been very slow so I haven't been updating monthly. Only real difference is that the corner of my lip is feeling a bit more normal, but the rest of the lip still has a fuzzy feeling. At this rate I don't think I'll be able to fully recover this year. There are some areas of the lip and chin that I don't feel much unless I poke with something very pointy.  

So its been about 4 years since the surgery. Sadly I am not 100% recovered from the nerve damage. At this point I can't tell if its getting any better or not. But it hasn't hinder my quality of life as I still have enough feeling back. I have yet to take out the wisdom teeth on my right side. I now how dental insurance so hopefully I would have a easier time whenever I get that done.

This post will continue to update!!