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Choice 1
Should I use anesthesia (put to sleep) and have it removed? The anesthesia alone will cost me around $400, not including the procedure.
Choice 2
Or should I just have the area numbed and then removed? No extra cost. They will give me pain killers and antibiotics.
I've had wisdom teeth removed both ways.
Mine were taken out a few decades ago, so it may be different now. The ones that were taken out without being put to sleep entailed novacaine needles in the roof of my mouth.
About a decade ago our son had some dental work & the dentist used a kind of "device" for anesthesia to the roof of his mouth that was painless. The dentist mentioned that it used to be a very painful thing to administer that novacaine, but now was painless with this new device.
If the novacaine administration is not bad than I'd stay awake. Ask the dentist for the particulars to help in your decision.
They will use novocaine even if you get IV sedation, you will need pain killers and antibiotics afterward either way. I have had some nasty extractions done and never got the IV sedation because I drove myself to the oral surgeon.
I didn't have insurance and let three get severely impacted while I saved up money. When the fourth started to come in, I was lucky (and grateful!) to find a dentist who put me under and took out all four for 1/2 down and then he hired me as a temporary office cleaner (he owned the whole building), so I worked some of the rest of the bill off, as well as paying on it. (He really needed a male because there was shoveling and heavy outside work but I filled in most of fall.)
While getting them all out at once was painful (this was before today's new drugs) it was good to have them all out!
Today, there are better pain drugs, so you could probably tolerate having one out, but more than one, I'd pay to be under.
Does using painkillers get addictive? Meaning, does it turn one into a drug user?
Opioid painkillers can be addictive if used for long enough and not weaned off. Your term "drug user" is a loaded term with social connotations and may reflect a poor understanding. I have taken the same blood pressure drugs for years so I guess this makes me a "drug user". If you use any drug for reasons other than a medically therapeutic benefit, then yes I suppose you are a "drug user".
I had all mine removed, one at a time, with local anesthetic. It was uncomfortable but not agonizing.
For me most of the discomfort was having someone working so far back in my mouth and all the manipulation it took to get them out was a bit of a psychological strain. If you are good at closing your eyes and meditating on something else, it helps.
For healthy use of the painkillers use them exactly as prescribed and don't mix them with any other mood-altering chemicals. If you are like me you may find that after the first twenty-four hours an extra strength over-the-counter is sufficient.
Lodestar, out of curiosity......if you had to do it again, would you rather have 4 surgeries or just 1 surgery?
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