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Wisdom teeth, or...um...not so wise teeth?

If we are talking about having all four wisdom teeth pulled at the same appointment, yes I had it done a couple months back. I'm 39, so I did take a couple of weeks to recover. No big deal, otherwise.

I had one (upper) pulled when I was about 50, and the other upper one came out a few years later; not a big deal at all. (I could play the next day.)

My dentist asked why I didn't have the lower two yanked on the same day, and I replied that the oral surgeon routinely warns patients that there is a small but non-zero risk of nerve damage when lower wisdom teeth are pulled; that could really mess up my playing. My dentist agreed, and has let me keep the last two.

My advice is to ask your dentist which ones really need to come out, and have those done. But don't let them sell you more oral surgery than you need.

I had all four pulled after my sophomore year of college. Two weeks later I was on the field marching corps, but I didn't play in the interim. Your mileage may vary, however.

Uppers are generally not a problem. I had mine pulled on a Friday when I was 25, and started playing again on Monday.

Lowers are a different story. There is a nerve that runs between the roots that controls feeling in the lower lip. Trauma to that nerve can leave you with a permanently numb lower lip. If the tooth is in place and can be pulled straight out, there is minimal danger, but if it is impacted (ingrown), the risk rises somewhat. Get an expensive oral surgeon who is at least 40. This is no time to cut corners.

Recovery time can be 1-2 weeks, depending on how difficult it is to remove them. Don't plan on taking a shortcut there, as lower extractions have a risk of developing "dry socket". For that reason, you will not be allowed to do things like drink through a straw. Follow the doctor's instructions to the letter.

If you don't have to remove a wisdom tooth, don't, but if a doctor says it needs to come out, do it.

SK

I had mine pulled in one visit under simple injected numbin' stuff. Just like any other teeth. I don't know if my experience was typical or unusual, but I was playing again in just a couple of days.

Too bad tubashaman isn't around...I wonder how his "discount dentistry" worked out in Abilene...

I had all 4 done at the same time. I had never even had a cavity, but every time I saw my dentist he was insistent that I do it as he thought that as I got older the wisdom teeth could be a problem. The oral surgeon came highly recommended and I opted for the shot rather than the knockout gas. So they prep me and in walks the tiny oral surgeon dressed in cowboy boots with jeans tucked in and cowboy shirt. He drags in a 12 foot laddder and places it right next to me. Whips out a 12 inch long screwdriver - at this point I'm having serious doubts about this idea. He then climbs up the ladder and much to my relief tightens a screw in the ceiling light. Steps down, moves the ladder, puts on gloves, injects me, cracks a joke and then snap snap snap snap. Happened so fast it took me a bit to realize what had just happened. It sounded like somebody snapping toothpicks. I never used the heavy duty pain pills as I had no pain and played a two hour concert two days later. A skilled oral surgeon makes all the difference in the world.

I had the wisdom teeth on my right side taken out when I was about 26... a week before I had to play a jury. Even though I wouldn't recommend it, I was playing about 4 days after the surgery. I'm sure that was entirely possible thanks to the pain medication.

euphoni wrote:I had the wisdom teeth on my right side taken out when I was about 26... a week before I had to play a jury. Even though I wouldn't recommend it, I was playing about 4 days after the surgery. I'm sure that was entirely possible thanks to the pain medication.

I absolutely wouldn't recommend it. You are probably pretty lucky things were healed up just enough to not cause bleeding in the middle of your jury...that would be....very interesting for the faculty I'm sure.

I used to have a dentist who insisted that wisdom teeth were viable, so even though some later dentists would suggest I get them all pulled, I resisted.

One fine Saturday morning, I woke up with a horrible pain and a swollen jaw, thanks to an infected wisdom tooth. The best part was I was doing "Pics" with the orchestra that night. I had emergency surgery to have it removed, they had to sew me back up, and the dentist gave me these little white pills - I have no recollection of the concert whatsoever. Fortunately it was recorded for broadcast, and I heard the playback. Whatever those little white pills were, I should have gotten a lot more.

I dunno - is the moral of the story "get 'em out now, before they cause you problems", or is it "go to a dentist with really good drugs" "?

Either way, after the stupor wore off, and the long term effects started kicking in, I did notice that my teeth (lower, that is...) were moving around, making the adjustment - my playing had to adjust to it, but it was a gradual moving, and I wouldn't say my playing suffered a great deal for a long time.

I have watched with great curiosity some of my students who have had all four pulled, and the ones who are generally well-disciplined have little trouble making the adjustment, while the ones who are inevitably looking for excuses for their bad playing seem to "suffer" more.

I still have two of my wisdom teeth, and my current dentist (20 years later) is amazed at my upper and lower occlusions - he is a season ticket holder for the orchestra i play in now and is interested in how dental structure affects brass players, and he is convinced that those two teeth are major anchors. So, apparently not all dentists are in agreement about the value of these things - I just know that I take a little more time to floss and brush back there now, thanks to him.

The worst part about the whole procedure is the constant pieces of food getting stuck in the holes where your teeth were. Eventually they close up, but it's pretty annoying at first.

I wouldn't recommend getting them taken out at boot camp, by the way. Those doctors and dentist couldn't care less about your personal feelings, lol.

When I was 17 years old, I got braces on my top teeth. Two weeks later, I had all four wisdom teeth removed. A couple of weeks after that, I went to college. Learning to play with the braces was a bigger deal than recovering from the oral surgery, but I did fine. I think that having braces forced me to figure out how to play without pressure and was actually beneficial.

I had an upper wisdom tooth pulled last year. There was just a little discomfort the first day, nothing too bad. Didn't prevent me from sleeping or anything like that.

I scheduled it so that I could be away from the horn for up to a week, but started playing again after four days off. I could have resumed playing sooner but there was no need to rush it and I wanted to be on the safe side.

If you're going to have it done (I assume that's why the OP is asking), they'll prescribe medications for pain and swelling. My advice is to take the medications like you're supposed to, and follow their other instructions to the letter. They want a good recovery as much as you do.

In my case at least, the anticipation was a lot worse than the reality!

HTH