Pregnant and need surgery to remove wisdom teeth...

[JennaJayen]

I asked a while ago about what was involved in having wisdom teeth removed via surgery under GA, but now I need some more advice.

I saw the oral surgeon today for my pre-surgery assessment and according to him they had only been planning on removing them in the chair using local anesthetic. Now I have a lot of trouble with local anesthetic when it's used in my jaw - it takes 40 minutes to start working with me, and by the time it starts working it's also starting to wear off. To top it off it only affects the surface layer and not the layers near the roots of my teeth where it's really needed (found this out the hard way when I was 15 and they were removing 4 baby molars and 2 adult molars, 16-30 local anesthetic injections for each tooth over 3 sessions isn't very nice, especially with each session taking over 2 hours).

The oral surgeon also told me flat out that they would not do surgery under GA because I was pregnant and that no anesthetist would do it at all - something that doesn't sit very well with me as I have just been placed on the waiting list at our local hospital for a gastroscopy(sp?) or endoscopy (I'm not sure exactly which one it is as IO'm so upset right now and can't think straight) where they stick a camera down your throat under GA to check out your throat and stomach for indigestion/reflux issues, and they are OK to do that while I'm pregnant as they will monitor the baby to make sure everything is ok.

At the moment the pain has been so bad that I am having to take 6+ panadeine forte and 6+ mersyndol throughout the day/night just to keep the pain at a dull ache so I can function and look after DS and DD, I know I can't keep taking them but the only other option is going without them and being in so much pain I can't move, can't eat, can't drink, can't sleep and can't look after my kids - so really it's not an option at all.


So I guess my question is what do I do now?


We can't afford to go private (it's at least $800 through our local private hospital to remove one wisdom tooth), and we live in the country so there's not many options, our local waiting list is 18 months long which is why I went through the Royal Dental Hospital of Melbourne instead of doing through a dentist down here.
The oral surgeon said that the only thing they can do until August next year is keep on replacing the temporary fillings - I'm on round number 2 of temporary fillings that have been in for almost 3 months now when they are only meant to last 1 month, DH works horrible hours and days as a chef and I don't drive and can't get anyone I trust to look after the kids so I can't just go up to melbourne whenever I have problems, and all our local hospital does is send me to the doctors to get a prescription for antibiotics and/or panadeine forte (I've been on amoxycillin 4 times in the last 5 months and another stronger antibiotic which I forget its name before I found out I was pregnant).

I don;t know what to do anymore If you've made it through this semi-rant/explanation/question then you deserve a medal.

[Olive]

My suggestion....get the infection under control and have them out in the chair. Often it's infection that doesn't allow the area to become numb, remember that feeling pressure is different to pain.

[peanutter]

Can you get a second opinion, or speak to the actual anaesthetist?

I haven't had an operation while pg (but have a friend who did, under GA) and I had an operation while still exclusively breastfeeding pumping. They did the anaesthetic by epidural and a non-narcotic anaesthetic (I think they called it a "twilight"). I was still completely under, but it wasn't as invasive as a normal GA. But they gave me three options - I could have what I had (which was the anaesthetist's recommendation) or a GA or just the epidural and be awake during the op.

So maybe there is another option for you which hasn't been discussed? Like the twilight with a local, or something?

Get another opinion, and find out all your options.

I hope it goes well and you get some good advice.

[Smoke Jaguar]

I had 8 wisdom teeth removed, all in a chair. One was hooked and I needed an extra needle - not bad going for four sessions in a chair! I don't even know if this guy is practising anymore, it's been years since I saw him last and he worked on the other side of town in Footscray (used to get me out of school for at least half a day when I had braces, but he was so worth it!).
Go the chair. Speaking as someone who not only had 8 wisdom teeth (practically unheard of and I had a dental journal come and take pics of one of the procedures that showed I had more behind the first lot!), but 6 of them were impacted - most people assume that would require surgery and GA, but I was much better off recovery-wise, for it
Ring around for a good one - worth saving up for, if you don't have insurance to cover it. Once it's done, you realise you'd pay good money for a job well-done.

[JennaJayen]

Thanks guys - I am going to call them again in the morning and have a go at them, I was expressing/breastfeeding when all the problems started and had to stop because of the high strength meds I was on (tramadol at night, panadeine forte and nurofen during the day).

Olive - the infection is currently under control, there is a lot of swelling in my jaw still but my GP has said there is no further sign of infection currently and the swelling is most likely from the pressure that the teeth are putting on everything.

peanutter - thank you for that information hun, all they mentioned was local or GA for having the teeth out, but today I have had a good look at the brochure about impacted wisdom teeth and it also mentions sedation and gas as alternatives which the surgeon never mentioned at all. He actually seemed like he was in a huge hurry to get me out of there, talking very quickly and rushing through all the explanations and information before getting me to sign a form and take another form outside to sign and hand to the people at the reception desk. I was in tears the entire time so that might be why he rushed, h may not have known what to do when dealing with a hormonal pregnant woman.

Mayaness - thank you for the info hun, my problem though is that local injected into my gums doesn't work well for me and I still feel all the pain, makes it very hard to have normal molars removed let alone wisdom teeth with deep roots, and if we could afford it I would definitely go privately instead of through the public system like I am, but we're only just managing to make it week by week at the moment financially since out car was torched a month ago, we only just bought a new one yesterday and even with the insurance payout it's going to be quite a while until a finances recover.
Oh and the surgeon also said that I can't get them out in the chair until the 2nd trimester (so at least another 6 weeks to wait) because it would take so long to have them removed and being pregnant with the whole "early-pregnancy-running-to-the-toilet-all-the-time" thing.

It seems like if it's not raining it's pouring here lately, one bad thing after another happening and it's getting hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel right now.