Oral Surgery

I have never had oral surgery in my life, still have my wisdom teeth.

What is it really like to be in the oral surgery chair?

It's really scary.

They have this chair with arm rests that have restraints so you cannot move with the IVs in place. Depending on the procedure, they have large gauze pads they will use to pack your throat so you don't swallow or aspirate anything. There are bright lights from the ceiling and additional lights to illuminate the operating area. There are sharp pointy and strong metal instruments everywhere, drills, saws of various types and other threatening looking instruments ever ready for whatever the procedure demands.

Be afraid, be very afraid.

It's really scary.

They have this chair with arm rests that have restraints so you cannot move with the IVs in place. Depending on the procedure, they have large gauze pads they will use to pack your throat so you don't swallow or aspirate anything. There are bright lights from the ceiling and additional lights to illuminate the operating area. There are sharp pointy and strong metal instruments everywhere, drills, saws of various types and other threatening looking instruments ever ready for whatever the procedure demands.

Be afraid, be very afraid.

Im very intrigued by this know, I want to experience it but at the same time Im honestly scared.

I would love to experience it from the dental assistant side!

Wasn't terrible really. I remember counting backwards from 10 and didn't make it to 9 before I was under. I woke up in my bed later that day and came out of general anesthesia laughing hysterically. Worst part about my wisdom teeth being pulled was the recovery. Otherwise I didn't remember a thing about the experience.

It can range from basically like a normal dentist's office, to an operating room, to everything in between! Some relatively uncomplicated procedures can be performed with only local anesthesia while the patient is awake, some require or are easier with IV sedation, and for some you'd be fully anesthetized.

My wisdom teeth were fairly uncomplicated, so I had them out with just local anesthetic and nitrous oxide rather than being put under. It was still pretty stressful--the procedure on the patient before me ran long, so I was treated to a long anxious sit in the waiting room, during which I heard a lot of loud noises including some moaning and yelling. The nitrous helped calm me down once I was seated in the chair myself, but at one point things got trickier than expected and the local anesthetic was inadequate, so the nurse thought I might move too sharply during the procedure and held my hands down. Similarly when the extraction sites were being stitched up at the end, some of it was wearing off, so they turned up the nitrous a bit and held my head in place for the last couple of stitches. If I could have talked through all the gauze and blood and hands and instruments in my mouth, I would have asked for more local injections--and if I ever had to have something similar done, I would want to be doubly numbed at every site for good measure. I don't care how many injections it takes, numb me up until I can't feel my face for days rather than letting it wear off! But they thought I was just panicking/overreacting to the feelings of pressure and unnerving sounds and the sight of the instruments rather than being in pain, so they reacted a little differently.

It's no worse than being in a regular dental chair. If you are having IV sedation for your wisdom teeth to be extracted you won't feel anything until you wake up and then you probably wont feel anything for a while because it's likely that you got local anesthesia while the procedure was being done.

I guess I should have said BAZINGA after my post.

Not a problem. I've had 3 wisdom teeth removed - all at different times. Then I had the remaining teeth removed in 2 separate surgeries 4 months apart in preparation for a full set of dentures. Docs can put me out and do anything to my body they want. I've never felt a thing during various surgeries.

It's really scary. They have this chair with arm rests that have restraints so you cannot move with the IVs in place. [...] There are sharp pointy and strong metal instruments everywhere, drills, saws of various types and other threatening looking instruments ever ready for whatever the procedure demands. Be afraid, be very afraid.

Only SwitchableSusie could have written that! 😉 Actually it reminds me of the story on the Web about Alfred Hitchcock making an episode of his TV series with the 7yo actor Billy Mumy. Mr Hitchcock whispered to him: 'If you don't stand still for your close-up I'll come and nail your feet to the ground and the blood will run out like milk!' (They got their close-up!)

- Ken

I also have never had oral surgery, I'm scared but at the same time would love to see what it's like.

It’s not as bad as you may think. It can be a little overwhelming at first, but once you’re in the chair, there’s not much you can do other than have your procedure.

I had a dental implant a year ago. First the old tooth (2-6) had to be extracted. My surgeon did it in Lessing than 6 minutes. Most exciting was the waiting and the preperation on the instruments. The implantation itself was more exciting. Prep with all the covering, blood sample,... but ist neither hurt, nor caused any pain..also I was able to meet other people after a day. No swollen cheeks,.. As a dental fetishist the best was the injection for the anasthetics. I expected unpleasant noises while the implant was drilled or set. Even there I can take any fear for the less freaky people.

I would love to experience it but still have some fear at the same time.

I’m sure once I’m in the chair and it’s started all would be fine it’s just getting to that point.