I am 40 and am being strongly encouraged to get my wisdom teeth out. I have no pain. Should I?

Or is this yet another unnecessary medical procedure being recommended? Several dentists think I should, my friend an ER doc says, "why? you have no pain, your teeth have stopped growing." I also have a 5% risk of permanent nerve damage if I have them removed. The risk of molar damage from leaving them in is "highly likely" according to the doc.

I am 40 and am being strongly encouraged to get my wisdom teeth out. I have no pain. Should I?
Wisdom teeth can grow after 40!!!!





I'm a 41 year old female and just had three wisdom teeth pulled yesterday! (I was born with two upper and only one lower). Like you, I had been told they had stopped growing, though over the years my dentist still suggested removal. At my 6 month cleaning last November, there was no sign of movement in my wisdom teeth. By December, the lower left molar started to erupt and I could see the tooth. I had no pain, it was coming in straight, and there was room in my mouth so the dentist decided to let nature take its course. I had slight pain as the tooth broke threw the gum, but nothing bad at all and was proud to be cutting a tooth (even joked about it :)





Last weekend, I had the worse pain of my life and I was out of town for the weekend. I was taking Extra Strength Tylenol (1000mg every 3 hrs) and Motrin for the swelling. Nothing worked. The lower left side of jaw was somewhat numb and I couldn't swallow due to the pain. It was excruciating. I went to the oral surgeon first thing Monday morning and he said the tooth was vertically impacted and infected. He put me on penicillin for the infection, Vicoden for the pain, and prescribed a dental rinse called Peridex which really worked to kill the bacteria. We scheduled extraction for Friday morning (yesterday) to give the infection time to heal. Tuesday and Wedsnesday I was still miserable as the penicillin takes a few days to battle the infection. I could barely get off the couch and survive without Vicoden and an ice pack! By Thursday I was more mobile and I was actually looking forward to the surgery as the pain was completely unnecessary if I had followed my dentist's advice years earlier.





Surgery was a piece of cake and completely uneventful. Of course, they go over all the risks - nerve damage, etc, etc, etc, but that's for their own statistical protection and your right as an informed consumer. I had a crown on the second molar that I was told may be damaged due to the fact it was overlapping the wisdom tooth, I already had dumbness in my jaw due to the infection so nerve damage was possible, my infected wisdom tooth was growing into the cheek and gum, etc etc etc.





In any event, I opted to get all three teeth out even though I had no issue with my upper teeth - I never ever want to go through the pain again (and I have a high tolerance for pain) and the cost was minimal to get all three done at once ($1950 for IV sedation and three extractions). I ended up paying $400 out of pocket.





The morning of surgery I was surprisingly calm. I opted for IV sedation and it was so easy I have to tell you it was 1000% times easier than a filling or root canal. I arrived about 9:30am, had a nice conversation with the nurse while she took my blood pressure in the chair, she gave me a blanket (this made me feel warm and safe, as I was nervous), she gave me a small mask with an oxygen/laughing gas mix to relax me while we chatted. When the doctor finished with his previous patient, he came in and started the IV. I remember chatting with him and thanking him for his consultation throughout the week when I was in misery... the next thing I remember was waking up wondering when it was going to begin - though the surgery was over and I was resting comfortably in the chair. The whole thing took about 90 minutes door-to-door, with the actual extraction taking about 15 minutes. The only thing I remember is feeling the stitching slide across my lip at one point as the doctor sutured my gums, but they must have administered more sedative as it's just a brief memory and no pain whatsoever. I came out of sedation very easily and felt fine yesterday - we spent the day relaxing and catching up on reality TV shows! I feel fantastic today, slight swelling and tenderness on my lower left side but I feel on top of the world and soooo thankful the pain is gone and knowing that I won't ever have to deal with that pain with my top teeth. The doctor even let me keep the top teeth (the bottom impacted tooth was in pieces due to the extraction) and I told him I hope the tooth fairy accounts for inflation as my the last time he visited was in 1980 and I got $10 at that time :)





In all seriousness, don't wait to get them removed.





My top teeth were a very easy extraction as the teeth were small and the roots hadn't started penetrating (the teeth look really cool - well formed top tooth with the roots all tightly together as they hadn't separated to grow into the jawbone yet). The bottom tooth is another story and I didn't get to keep it for obvious reasons. In three months time it went from no activity to fully impacted and infected. I have disolvable stitches in my cheek and gum but that was because I waited so long. I have no pain or swelling at all in my top teeth (the ones that were removed without symptom).





Sorry for the long note - but I spent an entire week reading blogs before my surgery and ended up scaring myself more than trusting my dental professionals. Sedation dentistry is amazing and it's the only way I'd go for wisdom tooth extraction. I still have nightmares from teeth being pulled as a child, so I was especially afraid of this extraction.





Of course there are a lot of personal factors to consider for your own case, but from my experience I thought it was all a scam to get money from the insurance company until I lived a week in hell with the impacted, infected tooth. The fact that it happened virtually overnight for me (two months elapsed time).





Good luck! Like I said, the surgery was completely easy and if you follow post-op instructions you should have no problem at all.
Reply:I wonder in what way your molars will be damaged. Sounds fishy and unnecessary to me. I vote for the do nothing approach. I had 3 out of 4 wisdom teeth removed about 10 years ago when I was in my 30s, but they were causing me problems and pain. The surgeon was very kind, but it didn't strike me as a simple procedure. He gave me IV Valium. I was still semi-conscious and it seemed like a war was going on inside my head with all the noise and vibration. He was unable to get the 4th impacted wisdom tooth, and I still have it. Recovery was the pitts. I think I would avoid was sounds like elective surgery to me.
Reply:I agree with your friend, if they dont hurt why take them out. They normally only take them out if theyre hurting you or theyre going to come in and damage or move your other teeth.
Reply:My dentist told me that unless I am having a problem then I shouldn't worry about it. He's been watching them for 30 years and things are fine.





You can always have them pulled if they start causing a problem.



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