<p>I'm scheduled to get my wisdom teeth out on Thursday at 7:30 AM, and the surgeon isn't going to put me to sleep. I'm just going to have anti-anxiety medication and laughing gas...</p>
<p>Has anyone ever been awake for their wisdom teeth removal? Mine aren't impacted or anything, and as far as I know it should be a fairly standard procedure, but I'm still terrified. Hopefully since it's so early I can pretty much just fall asleep :p</p>
<p>Not really sure why I'm posting this... just really need some peace of mind!</p>
<p>first, they use a thin, long needle to be inserted into your gums so they numb you. It hurts. Then, the doctor uses a sharp object to poke you in the gums and asks you if you feel anything. When you don’t feel anything, the fun begins. If it’s not impacted, the process is quick and painless. The doctor just yanks it out. You can feel the pressure, but no pain. Impacted teeth get special treatment. While this is going on, the doc’s assistant will run her fingers down your hair to calm you down and sweet talk you through the whole process. Afterwards, you have to bite on a piece of cotton for several hours before you can talk again.</p>
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<p>I totally missed the part about the laughing gas. It’s going to be a cake walk.</p>
<p>Holy crap! That sounds awful. Can you insist on being put to sleep? I got my wisdom teeth out and there is no way that I would have let them do it to me awake even with laughing gas.</p>
<p>@terenc: Yeah, I guess I meant awake in a general sense, as in no IV sedation. And my top two have emerged, my bottom two have partially emerged.</p>
<p>@jasonleb1: I’m having it done at my regular dentist’s office (since he’s also an oral surgeon), so they don’t have IVs or anything. I have to do it this way :(</p>
<p>Didn’t meant to scare you. If it makes you feel any better the guy sitting in the waiting room with me was allergic to anesthesia and had 8 wisdom teeth he was getting removed so he had to get all of them out with just laughing gas.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t worry. My surgeon told me that the main drawback to not being under IV anesthesia is that I would have been very bored since it takes a long time to remove 4 teeth that haven’t emerged yet (doesn’t necessarily apply to you). </p>
<p>If it’s any consolation, anesthesia ALWAYS has risks (i.e. overdose), albeit very small risks caused by human error (which are even smaller for IV), whereas it’s nearly impossible to overdose on laughing gas. Not to mention that laughing gas is a euphoric drug.</p>
<p>With IV, the doctor had to stick a larger than average needle into my arm. I couldn’t eat anything for 8 hours before-hand. After the surgery I was woozy and “drunk” and disoriented and just flopped around and couldn’t do anything for the rest of the day.</p>
<p>EDIT: Just to add, but laughing gas IS NOT supposed to make you fall asleep.</p>
<p>I had mine out back in the day before all the specialization. Regular dentist, laughing gas plus novacaine. Took out 2 wisdom teeth. Worst is that you can hear the teeth cracking as get them out, but didn’t hurt and I think you get over it quicker than having to come out of anesthesia (which makes some people nauseated).</p>
<p>So apparently what I thought was anti-anxiety medication is actually sleeping pills; the night before I’m taking an anti-anxiety pill and the morning of I’m taking a sleeping pill. Maybe there’s hope that I’ll be asleep after all!</p>
<p>You will be fine. Being with a Dr you are comfortable with and trust makes a big difference. My youngest son had his out recently without being under. His older brothers both have bad reactions to general anesthesia and he didn’t want to risk it. His recovery was much easier.</p>
<p>I had mine out with only a local anesthetic. I had never heard of people having general or even twilight sleep until recently. While it wasn’t pleasant, it was not painful at all. I drove myself home and ate soft foods for a day or two.</p>
<p>Sounds like you’re a lot less anxious but thought I would add that my doc gave me all the options and I went with novocaine+gas. My guy had me bring some music to listen to and gave me some pretty high quality headphones to use while it’s going on because it’s honestly not a big deal but the people hovering over you/noise can get a little stressful so it was nice to be able to close my eyes and tune it out so easily. He may not provide you headphones so bring you’re own.</p>
<p>I had the last two of mine removed yesterday. Same as Spectastic said it was. Except the dental assistant did not really comfort me at all, lol. </p>
<p>And yesterday for some reason took way longer than the first time and the numbness wore off faster. The dentist actually had trouble taking out the bottom one for some reason. It was impacted but last time, it only took him like a minute. So yeah it was pretty horrible. But it’s over in a few mins. Good luck! :)</p>