Visit 4 - Tooth Extraction

Tuesday 19th February - 4.10pm

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/1f3dae_7ca69362a7ee42bb882f6ab626a3c94d/720p/mp4/file.mp4

Today I met again with Dental Associate, Paul Davies over at the Dental Surgery to get two upper wisdom teeth removed. This was to make extra space in my mouth for my teeth to move when I start my Invisalign treatment in a few weeks time.

I have had teeth out before so wasn't too nervous but it not necessarily a nice thing to have done. The way I looked at it was I am paying a lot of money for my braces, so I am prepared to do anything I need to in order to get the best result!

Paul was lovely and put me at complete ease. He explained the top wisdom teeth generally come out with no trouble and all I would need was some local anesthetic.

Firstly, he rubbed some jelly on my gums (I think this was to clean and numb them slightly) then he injected me with local anesthetic on both sides of my mouth. The needles were not bad at all and it was over in seconds. Paul kept explaining every step he was doing so I knew what was happening which helped. He then took what felt like pliers and began to gently twist and pull my tooth out and I'd say after about a minute my left one came straight out. He then went onto the next one and this was a little tougher to get out, but after a couple of minutes this one popped out too.

I honestly didn't feel any pain whatsoever. I would describe it as a really strange feeling, a feeling of pressure, but no pain. Paul showed me the teeth and they were really small wisdom teeth with small roots, I felt so lucky to be in and out with no problems!

I'd say I was in the chair no longer than 15 minutes and I was able to drive home by myself afterwards.

Paul advised me to not swill my mouth out for 24 hours as you want the gums to form blood clots and heal and swilling your mouth out can stop this. Afterwards I had no swollen cheeks, no bruising or no stiff/sore jaw! The only thing I would say was I had abit of an unpleasant taste in my mouth and could taste some blood which wasn't very nice.

After an hour or so the anesthetic started to wear off and I could feel a little aching, but I wouldn't describe it as painful, so I took two Ibuprofen.

I know every person is different but to anyone getting theirs taken out I would say please don't worry about it as my experience went absolutely fine!

To reduce pain and aid your recovery, it can be helpful to:

- Use painkillers such as Paracetamol or Ibuprofen

- Avoid strenuous activity and exercise for a few days

- Use an extra pillow to support your head at night

- For 24 hours, avoid rinsing, spitting, hot drinks or anything else that may dislodge the blood clots that form in the empty tooth socket (they help the healing process)

- Avoid smoking and drinking alcohol for 24 hours

- Eat soft or liquid food for a few days and chew with your other teeth

- Gently rinse the extraction with antiseptic mouthwash after 24 hours, and repeat this regularly over the next few days, particularly after eating – you can also use warm water with a teaspoon of salt as mouthwash to reduce gum soreness and inflammation

The cost per tooth was £90 and Queensway were happy to let me use another dentist for this if I wanted to as some other places are cheaper.