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PaperclipPerfector  5d ago (text post)   2149 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for December 21, 2025

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

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What's the verdict on prophylactic wisdom tooth excraction?

My dentist told me that he thought I should leave them alone until they start bothering me. Like @FiveHourMarathon, they were intermittently painful for small periods of time, so I eventually decided to get them out. Other than a couple days of pain, I don't miss them or anything. Weirdly, only 3 came in. The two on the bottom were in there good and they have to be broken up with a drill, and they were quite painful afterwards. The one on the top left side was a clean yank. They probably could have left that one in just fine. Unlike other people I've talked to, the dentist gave me a choice between laughing gas and just novocaine; I chose the latter, so I had the unique experience of being awake during the operation.

so I had the unique experience of being awake during the operation.

Wait what? How is that unique? Over here the only way you'd get sedated is if they have to operate on your entire jaw or something. Even tooth surgery is just good painkillers combined with local anesthetic, so you're lucid during the operation. Basic wisdom tooth removal that doesn't require surgery is just local anesthetic.

Idk man literally everyone I talked to about my wisdom teeth told me they got knocked out for it. I don't know why I got a choice and they didn't.

I was given three choices: novocaine, laughing gas, and general anesthesia. When I tell foreigners this they usually make some remark about Americans being a bunch of wimps who need to be knocked out to have their teeth pulled. I assume this is downstream of the more widespread overuse of painkillers by doctors at that time.

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