Dental extraction ordeal
Discussion
Not sure if there are any dentists still on the forum, but wondered what people thought to this.
I needed a lower molar out because it had decayed at the bottom near the arch and was close to splitting in two.
The dentist decided to take the approach of cutting through the crown and into two pieces because of the damage, thinking it would be the easiest way.
We did the first bit quite easily then the old crown came off which I think was semi expected.
That’s where the fun started, because it then took a solid 2 hours to get the roots out. Constant cycles of drilling then levering, drilling then levering, drilling then pliers with a lot of force every time. I had about 15 injections as it still hurt with every step.
Apparently the tooth had bonded to the bone so it was very difficult to seperate all the way down.
When we finished, she recommended to inject some fake bone to make a future implant easier. We did this which then required stitches.
All in all, 3 hours, nearly £900 because of the bone grafts, severely beaten up face and in a lot of pain.
Do I blame the dentist for this or was it the nature of the break and the fact it had molded to the bone? We’re the bone grafts due to an extraction gone wrong or good sense to prepare for the implant? Should we have gone the route where they open up the gum to avoid such a lengthy and brutal extraction?
I read over 100 forum posts before this where everyone said an extraction was a doddle and laughed at some of the myths. Trust me, they ain’t all easy to get out and I can well believe some of the stories of knees on chests and multiple dentists being wheeled in because this was a bugger to get out.
Next up, 2 implants to look forward to. Can’t be worse than this though!
I needed a lower molar out because it had decayed at the bottom near the arch and was close to splitting in two.
The dentist decided to take the approach of cutting through the crown and into two pieces because of the damage, thinking it would be the easiest way.
We did the first bit quite easily then the old crown came off which I think was semi expected.
That’s where the fun started, because it then took a solid 2 hours to get the roots out. Constant cycles of drilling then levering, drilling then levering, drilling then pliers with a lot of force every time. I had about 15 injections as it still hurt with every step.
Apparently the tooth had bonded to the bone so it was very difficult to seperate all the way down.
When we finished, she recommended to inject some fake bone to make a future implant easier. We did this which then required stitches.
All in all, 3 hours, nearly £900 because of the bone grafts, severely beaten up face and in a lot of pain.
Do I blame the dentist for this or was it the nature of the break and the fact it had molded to the bone? We’re the bone grafts due to an extraction gone wrong or good sense to prepare for the implant? Should we have gone the route where they open up the gum to avoid such a lengthy and brutal extraction?
I read over 100 forum posts before this where everyone said an extraction was a doddle and laughed at some of the myths. Trust me, they ain’t all easy to get out and I can well believe some of the stories of knees on chests and multiple dentists being wheeled in because this was a bugger to get out.
Next up, 2 implants to look forward to. Can’t be worse than this though!
That does sound pretty horrendous. I had a lower molar out & it wasn't a piece of cake as he had to split the tooth in half but even so it was only 15-20 minutes to take the tooth out. He did the bone augmentation & implant placement at the same time & the whole appointment was less than 90 minutes. £900 sounds quite painful as well.
Mr Pointy said:
That does sound pretty horrendous. I had a lower molar out & it wasn't a piece of cake as he had to split the tooth in half but even so it was only 15-20 minutes to take the tooth out. He did the bone augmentation & implant placement at the same time & the whole appointment was less than 90 minutes. £900 sounds quite painful as well.
The fact you had the bone grafts at least gives me confidence that it wasn’t because of a bodge. Think that alone cost £500I wonder why they didn’t discuss doing the implant at the same time with me as that would have saved a future ordeal!
Sounds unpleasant OP. I have found through first hand experience that dental procedures can become complicated. I had a wisdom tooth out under GA a couple of years ago, but problems persisted. An X-ray revealed bits of bone left floating around in my gum behind my back tooth. "We'll just pop you through another surgery and clean the bone out..." they said. Two months later I'd lost 1.5 stone and it took nearly a year to heal. 
dmahon said:
Mr Pointy said:
That does sound pretty horrendous. I had a lower molar out & it wasn't a piece of cake as he had to split the tooth in half but even so it was only 15-20 minutes to take the tooth out. He did the bone augmentation & implant placement at the same time & the whole appointment was less than 90 minutes. £900 sounds quite painful as well.
The fact you had the bone grafts at least gives me confidence that it wasn’t because of a bodge. Think that alone cost £500I wonder why they didn’t discuss doing the implant at the same time with me as that would have saved a future ordeal!
I had a rotten lower rear tooth that had broken and the dentist was supposed to extract it. The remainder of the tooth broke off as expected. Then he started forcefully levering and pushing side to side to loosen it. Started getting painful so few more injections. This continued for a couple of hours. Then he said he’d cut the root in half to get it out. More shoving and levering he’s an ex rugby player so a bit of a unit. Probably 8 injections in total. Was there 2.75 hours didn’t leave until 7:45pm (his nurse had to leave before 7 as she had a Covid jab appointment). Needed a sweet drink near the end as I was really weary and am diabetic. The root is still in there!
He reckons my body will reject it and it will slowly work it’s way out. A few weeks later I got a needle like sliver of root in my mouth. 3 months on it’s still in there. The day after the attempted extraction I was in agony, normally 30/500 Cocodamols knock down my pain but they didn’t touch it, I was actually crying out with the pain. Subsided over the next couple of days but felt bruised and beaten up frankly for a couple of weeks afterwards. Luckily I didn’t get an infection so my plan is to leave the root where it is!
He reckons my body will reject it and it will slowly work it’s way out. A few weeks later I got a needle like sliver of root in my mouth. 3 months on it’s still in there. The day after the attempted extraction I was in agony, normally 30/500 Cocodamols knock down my pain but they didn’t touch it, I was actually crying out with the pain. Subsided over the next couple of days but felt bruised and beaten up frankly for a couple of weeks afterwards. Luckily I didn’t get an infection so my plan is to leave the root where it is!
I had a rear molar out due to an impacted wisdom tooth, sedation is the way to go even if just a bit of insurance if the operation turns a bit tricky.
Apparently there was a cheer when the last bit came out, still have a small piece left over trying to come out of the gum causing problems.
Definitely wouldn't want to be awake for any of it.
Apparently there was a cheer when the last bit came out, still have a small piece left over trying to come out of the gum causing problems.
Definitely wouldn't want to be awake for any of it.
I had a lower molar extracted a couple of months ago. It came out in several pieces and involved about an hour in the chair with lots of pulling, levering, injections etc. I certainly wasn't expecting it to be such a big job, nor was I expecting to be in such pain for the following three weeks. I have an appointment in a couple of weeks to discuss the next step forward (an implant) - please someone reassure me that the worse part is behind me! 
I recently had a similar experience. I cracked a rear molar (that had a filling 30 years ago), and as it was below the gumline, it had to come out. The proposed approach was extract and insert a Ti peg, 3 months later attach something to the Ti peg, then full crown on top.
Sounded fine. Dentist is highly qualified, he's the bloke who is called upon to fix things in hospital when it all goes wrong. He didn't like my x-rays though - perfect for implants, huge amounts of bone, but the roots were similarly large and curved.
Anyway, session booked. Tooth cut into quadrants to preserve the central bone in the socket for the Ti pin. Then there was a 2.5 hour battle to get the b
d out. Apparently my jaw is not only deep, but ridiculously hard. I should have been a boxer. The central bone ended up having to be removed. All stitched up, now having the Ti implant in 6 weeks time.
Didn't hurt at all though. Clearly there was the sensation of someone going at your mouth with a black and decker, but it was fine. All healed up a week later.
Sounded fine. Dentist is highly qualified, he's the bloke who is called upon to fix things in hospital when it all goes wrong. He didn't like my x-rays though - perfect for implants, huge amounts of bone, but the roots were similarly large and curved.
Anyway, session booked. Tooth cut into quadrants to preserve the central bone in the socket for the Ti pin. Then there was a 2.5 hour battle to get the b
d out. Apparently my jaw is not only deep, but ridiculously hard. I should have been a boxer. The central bone ended up having to be removed. All stitched up, now having the Ti implant in 6 weeks time.Didn't hurt at all though. Clearly there was the sensation of someone going at your mouth with a black and decker, but it was fine. All healed up a week later.
elanfan said:
I had a rotten lower rear tooth that had broken and the dentist was supposed to extract it. The remainder of the tooth broke off as expected. Then he started forcefully levering and pushing side to side to loosen it. Started getting painful so few more injections. This continued for a couple of hours. Then he said he’d cut the root in half to get it out. More shoving and levering he’s an ex rugby player so a bit of a unit. Probably 8 injections in total. Was there 2.75 hours didn’t leave until 7:45pm (his nurse had to leave before 7 as she had a Covid jab appointment). Needed a sweet drink near the end as I was really weary and am diabetic. The root is still in there!
He reckons my body will reject it and it will slowly work it’s way out. A few weeks later I got a needle like sliver of root in my mouth. 3 months on it’s still in there. The day after the attempted extraction I was in agony, normally 30/500 Cocodamols knock down my pain but they didn’t touch it, I was actually crying out with the pain. Subsided over the next couple of days but felt bruised and beaten up frankly for a couple of weeks afterwards. Luckily I didn’t get an infection so my plan is to leave the root where it is!
Sounds very similar to my experience in that case. I feel like for both of us they should have recommended a surgical extraction as it’s a bugger to get the broken ones out via the normal route.He reckons my body will reject it and it will slowly work it’s way out. A few weeks later I got a needle like sliver of root in my mouth. 3 months on it’s still in there. The day after the attempted extraction I was in agony, normally 30/500 Cocodamols knock down my pain but they didn’t touch it, I was actually crying out with the pain. Subsided over the next couple of days but felt bruised and beaten up frankly for a couple of weeks afterwards. Luckily I didn’t get an infection so my plan is to leave the root where it is!
3 days in and still in quite a lot of pain here. If this goes on for weeks I’ll not be a happy bunny.
Edited by dmahon on Friday 7th May 16:48
Rh14n said:
I had a lower molar extracted a couple of months ago. It came out in several pieces and involved about an hour in the chair with lots of pulling, levering, injections etc. I certainly wasn't expecting it to be such a big job, nor was I expecting to be in such pain for the following three weeks. I have an appointment in a couple of weeks to discuss the next step forward (an implant) - please someone reassure me that the worse part is behind me!
I was terrified of the implants, but it feels like it will be a doddle compared to the brutal extraction. He says....Wish I didn’t eat quite so much sugar now as it’s painful and expensive dealing with the consequences.
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