The dentist...

This week I had to go and visit with an oral surgeon for a consultation on what to do with my teeth. Since having three babies in 4 years, my teeth have suffered and now I need a TON of dental work done. I saw my dentist last month and he gave me a treatment plan totalling about $25,000. Good times.

So the current debate is about my wisdom teeth and two of my molars. The wisdom teeth should come out, really, but I have been putting it off. The two molars have both been broken during pregnancies and left untreated because I wanted to wait until NOT pregnant!

At this point, my dentist is wondering if maybe we should just pull them out. He wants to do Invisalign to fix my bite, and because I apparently have a very small jaw, he thinks I might not even need to replace them once my teeth are all in alignment. Weird, huh? But if we do, he thinks an implant would be better.

So the oral surgeon thinks I should get the wisdom teeth pulled, is neutral on pulling the two molars, and thinks I should get one implant at least.

My big dilemma right now is about the procedure itself. I do NOT like being drugged up, it pretty much freaks me out. So the thought of IV sedation is making me nuts. I have a tough time imagining actually being able to relax or zone out during the procedure. All I can picture is feeling totally out of control and wanting to not feel that way! And then add having teeth pulled on top of that.

And the clock is ticking...I need to do SOMETHING very soon. I am on Vicodin this morning because my mouth hurt so bad when I woke up (I clench my jaw when I sleep and so with the damaged teeth this makes for a painful combination!). My other option is to do a root canal on the two molars. I guess I could put off the wisdom teeth for awhile but it needs to be done sometime. And I know we can't do anything like Invisalign until the wisdom teeth are gone. Sigh.

Any dental wisdom? IV Sedation stories (not that you'd really remember...)? Wisdom teeht experiences? Please share. Well, maybe not the horror stories. ;)