Dentists actually use pliers
In my teens I developed minor hearing difficulties in my left ear and being in denial, I refused to admit that it was due to listening to my walkman at excessively loud levels. Come to think of it, I'm sure standing next to the speaker at World Dance for over 6 hours had nothing to do with it either.

Having consulted the only book in the house on medical issues (you have to remember this was pre the interwebs)I decided an impacted wisdom tooth was the cause of the problem.

This is where the story gets a little scary.

I book an appointment with the dentist, and somehow, amazingly he concurs with my prognosis and decides that the offender should be removed immediately. The nurse administers a local anaesthetic and prepares for the extraction. At this point, I'm ever so slightly alarmed that I'm not being booked in for surgery. The point I really lose my composure however is when the dentist brings his instrument of choice into view. It's a pair of pliers - I shit you not.

His next words will stay with me forever "You might feel a little pressure around your face".

He gets a good grip of my tooth and pulls, and pulls, and pulls. Nothing doing, but my face feels very wrong. He adjusts his grip, and pulls so hard that my entire body lifts out of the chair. At this point I'm crying because the sensation is too much to bear. The dentist looks flustered, as if he thinks it should be a lot easier than this.

I think he's going to give up, and I sense a glimmer of hope. Instead, he asks the nurse to straddle the chair and hold me down while he tries again. The nurse is pushing my chest and the dentist pulling my tooth, when finally there is an almighty "crack" as my wisdom tooth is finally withdrawn.

Pain? Well the real pain was from the pliers pushing against the other teeth in my mouth as the dentist tried to get better leverage. I also have bruises on my chest from the nurse who must have weighed north of 12 stone.

And of course, there was absolutely no improvement in my hearing. Amazing amounts of blood though...
(BinDipper, Mon 2 Aug 2010, 10:28, 11 replies)

i always wince
at the words "wisdom teeth"
(Monkeystrumpet monkey. Monkey, MONKEY!!!, Mon 2 Aug 2010, 10:50, closed)

So do I
Damn glad I had all mine removed under general anaesthetic (something to do with the bottom two being too close to the nerve....who am I to argue?!?)
(ninja chinchilla, Wed 4 Aug 2010, 23:22, closed)

I had mine done the same way, under local
Didn't feel a thing - until the anaesthetic wore off....
(lolwhites, Mon 2 Aug 2010, 10:52, closed)

I had to have a couple out for braces a few years back
needed multiple top-ups of anaesthetic and the dentist needed to stop several times to have a rest. That was a fun afternoon
( kappynitty doubled your entendre on, Mon 2 Aug 2010, 16:03, closed)

You big girls
I had all 4 of mine taken out under local - no pain, but certainly discomfort. And that nasty cracking sound which seems to be coming from right inside your brain is not nice.

3 were pulled out by a big hairy dentist who specialises in that kind of thing. The first one was pulled by my normal dentist who is about 5 foot nothing and weighs as much as a sparrow's fart. I swear she was kneeling on my chest and pulling at the tooth with both hands to get it out. Or perhaps that's just how I remembered it afterwards.

And my son recently had all 4 out in one go under local. He didn't speak for 24 hours and looked like a hamster who's just lost a boxing match, but didn't complain once.
(Smale is stuffed, Mon 2 Aug 2010, 11:04, closed)

I think they use something more like "mole grips"?
I had a similar experience having a normal tooth removed by a petite girl who was in dental school.
I'm still not sure if she really did kneel on my chest or if it was just my brain trying to comfort me after having half of the anesthetic squirted down my throat instead of into my lymph node.
(Me, I'm not... in any way intoxicated, Mon 2 Aug 2010, 17:54, closed)

the worst bit
is when they have to cut the tooth into 2 or 3 bits to get it out.

And then when you go back for a checkup you ask why there are extra stitches in your gum, but nowhere near the ex-bewisdomtoothed area:

"Ah, that was my fault. I dropped an instrument."

Bastard.
( admiral crunch holds the newsreader's nose squarely, Mon 2 Aug 2010, 13:31, closed)

An instrument?
A euphonium perhaps?
( K2k6 has a proper job these days, Mon 2 Aug 2010, 13:47, closed)

I'm still finding bits in my mouth..
Every now and then, the occasional shard just appears from nowhere, it's like my gums are shedding splinters..
(danniekavanagh did nothing constructive on, Mon 2 Aug 2010, 16:42, closed)

I recall catching a glimpse of what looked like a
bottle opener (you know, the ones with the t-shaped handles...)

And getting very worried.

It was when he sawed the tooth into two and pushed this instrument of tortue into the gap and twisted. Hard. Cue one shattered tooth and the guy trying to reassemble it fragment by tiny fragment on my chest.

Then he had the audacity to charge me over £100, and this was some years back. Had the cheek to call himself a surgeon, too...
(dxg, Mon 2 Aug 2010, 17:51, closed)

it's when they chisel the fuckers in half
and then plier each half out, that's when it really hurts. that wasn't even a wisdom tooth :(
( Smash Monkey lowering the tone of the whole internet, Mon 2 Aug 2010, 23:16, closed)