Wisdom tooth extraction death

[Peazzzer]

GAH! How awful for the family! I cant imagine that, I Think it such a routine deal at the surgeons office that it was an unforeseen tragedy. Their only child, that is just heart breaking. I have all of my wisdom teeth, but the old wives tale of losing a tooth per child was true for me. Had one pulled and had 2 root canals, my teeth have 5 roots each, bummer as I am scared of the dentist.

 

[Nova]

...A bit O/T, I have had a few root canals and the doc who did all of them is such an amazingly lovely, gentle superstar!!! Not one shred of pain.....EVER! Don't be afraid - just find a good doc!

It's odd that "root canal" remains a metaphor for "the worst experience", as in "I'd rather have a root canal than...".

I wrote above that I've had root canals done without anesthetic and, yes, that was pretty grueling. But properly numbed, they aren't that big a deal: once the root is removed, all one is left with usually is a little tenderness from minor bruising of the gums. Nothing a pair of tylenols won't cure.

 

[Kat]

I've had two root canals all with local. They took longer than a normal filling would but were not painful. During or after.

 

[MCDRAW]

Two of my children are having theirs out in January....something else to worry about.

 

[mysteriew]

legal, I hope I was clear that I wasn't saying dentists are commonly negligent, but that general anesthesia carries some small percentage of risk, regardless of the competence of the doctor(s) involved.

If your point was to emphasize that the risk is rare, thank you. That is my understand as well. I just wonder whether any risk is worth it when a local anesthetic does just fine and the additional comfort of a general anesthetic is largely psychological and brief. (As I wrote above, I assume there are also cases where the general is absolutely essential; that would make the risk worthwhile, of course.)

General anesthesia does carry risks. But just about anything carries risks. I had been to the dentist before and never any problems. But at one point in my life I got a little neglectful with my teeth, and when I went back to the dentist things needed a lot of work.

My dentist injected me with lidocaine and went to work. After a few minutes I stopped him cause I was feeling nervous and weak. He took my B/P and it had dropped. Had heart arrythmias too. Turns out I had developed a sensitivity to lidocaine. He said to be careful about taking any of the 'caines.

I guess that is rare. Later I was pregnant and in labor. Told the dr. I was sensitive to lidocaine and needed reduced doses. He said he never heard of such a thing and gave me my epi. My B/P bottomed out and they almost had to code me.

A later dentist also never heard of it. A dose of the local and I had to stop him too. The two later ones both apoligised cause they said they never heard of anyone being sensitive to the caine family. Both had given me regular doses.

I guess the moral is, things can go wrong no matter which way you go. And there is no guarantee that going local will prevent any risk. You have to go with individual history and lowest risk, but you also have to know that there are still risks.

 

[not_my_kids]

I just thought I'd pipe in here again. I know that there are very few dentists around here that will even use general anesthesia. There are times when a patient will need most or all of their teeth taken at once, and if that happens, they will send them to the hospital for the extractions.

In some cases, the numbing shots don't work on me, either. Usually (as my dentist explained it) that's because I have an infection already, and the gum is so full of infection, and the nerves are so surrounded by it, that there is literally no room for the numbing stuff to work. It just gets pushed right back out of the gum.

Sorry for that, I have really bad teeth, so I've run the gamut with infections, some that have been caught early, some that were ignored and started burrowing into the bone...and yes, that hurts worse than childbirth.

 

[shana]

fwiw: Many years ago, I learned to ask for novocaine withOUT adrenaline.

 

[gngr~snap]

I think your daughter is the future, Fairy1. Does she have an appendix?

I have no wisdom teeth AND no appendix. (This was discovered during a
Barium Enema when I was 18) ~ I know! TMI The Gastroenterologist insisted I'd had it removed at some point. He even looked for a scar! No appendix and no scar.
I've heard about not getting wisdom teeth. Is no appendix really related?
very interesting!

Thank GOD my kids have already had their wisdom teeth removed! It's a scary thing IMO.

 

[legalmania]

I have no wisdom teeth AND no appendix. (This was discovered during a
Barium Enema when I was 18) ~ I know! TMI The Gastroenterologist insisted I'd had it removed at some point. He even looked for a scar! No appendix and no scar.
I've heard about not getting wisdom teeth. Is no appendix really related?
very interesting!

Thank GOD my kids have already had their wisdom teeth removed! It's a scary thing IMO.

I found an article that about 1 in 100,000 people are born without an appendix. Your kinda of lucky because my niece was 7 when she began burning up with fever, and her appendix burst. She could have died if she didn't get to the hospital and in surgery right away.

Approximately 1 in 100, 000 people are born without an appendix

Read more: http://www.answers.com/topic/appendix#ixzz1h90QqqCM
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