Dental Extraction Questions

Joined
Oct 24, 2010
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Okay, so last tuesday I went in to see a dentist for the first time in six years because I have been having severe pain on my upper left side of my mouth.

They took an x-ray, and when I saw the dentist he told me that based on the x-ray he took, he wants to pull a total of six teeth. Four of these teeth are my four wisdom teeth (top and bottom both sides), and the other two are the molars sitting directly in front of the wisdom teeth on top.

My wisdom teeth on bottom are not in bad shape at all, but if he says they need to go, well, they need to go. I have no problem with that.

My upper wisdom teeth, however, are pretty badly damaged. At one point in time, my wisdom teeth were fully erupted and I had no issues with their alignment or any thing else. Now, the outside half of my upper wisdom teeth has been destroyed, leaving part of each tooth level with my gumline, rather than having tooth material there.

I've watched a few videos of dental extractions and did some reading, but I just wanted to ask someone knowledgeable what to expect when I go to my dentist for these extractions. I can only afford to pull 3 at the moment, so I am going to start with my top 2 wisdom teeth and the left side molar. Once my dental insurance kicks in at the start of 2011, I will have the other three teeth pulled.

Specific questions I have are:

Will a local or general anesthetic be used? If local, is it appropriate to ask for some sort of numbing gel to be painted on my gums before the injection is given? (I'm weird about stuff poking me in the mouth, if I can't feel it though I am better about it).

What is the actual process for extracting an upper wisdom tooth? Upper molar?

The dentist when I saw him last week gave me a script of Keflex and Vicodin ES. I have a refill on the Keflex so I can continue taking it until the healing is completed, but will he give me another script of painkillers? He gave me 15 Vicodin ES and my tooth has been in such bad shape this week that I've gone through most of them already. Or will I not need them after the extraction?

I will post more questions if I think of any more.
 

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