Wisdom Teeth Extraction for Type 1s? Were you put out?

I have 3 wisdom teeth that I desperately need out. I went to see an oral surgeon a few days ago to talk about surgery options. Apparently I need to have them out before my 25th birthday to avoid “complications” so he scheduled me for a surgery in a few weeks to have them all out at once. He told me that they would be “putting me out” without any further explanation, even when I told him I was nervous about that. I had 1 wisdom tooth out a few years ago and that surgeon told me I COULD NOT under any circumstances have anesthesia…I told the oral surgeon this and his response was “well I had a 14 year old diabetic this morning in and we put her out to have her wisdom teeth out no problem.”


I feel really nervous about this situation. He did not put me at ease when I asked him this question and rushed me out of the office as soon as he had scheduled the surgery. I can't really find anything online about whether other Type 1s have been put out for this kind of surgery, or if there's anything else special that has to go on (like having someone check my blood sugar??). I'm nervous because I used to have a lot of lows (though not much at all for the last year), and I'm terrified of being asleep without being able to wake up if I feel low (and without having my boyfriend there to check on me occasionally at night).

Those of you who have had your wisdom teeth out....how did it go? Were you put out? Did your surgeon do anything special? Do you think my surgeon was not attentive to my needs enough? I really need these teeth out soon so part of me doesn't want to look for another surgeon (also I'm sure there will be more costs associated with this since I'll have to get more x-rays/consults done etc)....but part of me is worried that this doctor isn't doing a good job.

Thank you for the reassurance. Makes me feel a little bit better! I’ve never had more than a bit of novocaine, so I was a little nervous!!

I’ll make sure to keep my teeth and put them under my pillow then :wink:

I had all 4 of my wisdom teeth removed and 2 other surgeries that required anesthesia and everything went fine. type 1’s can absolutely go under safely and come back out just fine. It sounds like your previous surgeon was very uncomfortable with diabetes. Just check your sugar prior to surgery, maybe even trend a little high ( definitely below 200, so maybe around 140). Also ask your surgeon to have one of his nurses/ aids to check your blood sugar during surgery. All of my surgeries also had D50 ready to go incase my blood sugar dropped during surgery.
Call the office back, even if you do not speak directly to the doctor (although that would be best) you should discuss the details of the procedure and your wishes to have them check your sugar at least once during and before they send you home. Typically this procedure take about 45 minutes and they do not put you under “full” anesthesia, just partial. It makes waking you up and getting you out of there go faster.

I had to have all 4 of my wisdom teeth removed within 2 months of being diagnosed with Type 2. I was partially because of my rotten teeth that I found out I was diabetic. I was at the highest BS levels and uncontrolled at the time. I went to a oral surgeon that was fantastic. I was put under anesthesia and with in 30 minutes I was coming too. Since that time I had a few medical procedures which required anesthesia including a surgery. I didn’t have any problems.

It is the initial fear of being under anesthesia that was my problem and not so much the blood sugars. I am sure you will do fine.

You’ll be fine! If yours are impacted, get an Rx for pain meds for afterwards. I’m glad I was out cold when mine were extracted.

I was out cold and did fine. my parents asked the dentist to listen out for my CGM beeps and also to check my sugar if I displayed any symptoms. even when you are out from the meds if you are low you can still get sweaty and pale so they can look for those things.

I would not decide for full anesthesia just to get the wisdom teeth removed. I also dislike routine talk: at least for T1 diabetics on NPH insulin there might be a risk associated with the combination of specific drugs. I think it is the counter injection to neutralize the anesthesia that will not work as expected. For me one local and harmless anesthesia went very wrong and I experienced this serious problem myself. On the other hand I received two full anesthetics under NPH that went fine. So I would suggest to take one tooth at a time. Or to take out only the lower jaw and then the upper jaw. It might be that all of these problems disappeared with the newer drugs. But I have learned my lesson and even after switching to Levemir I remain very skeptical when it comes to anesthesia.

Kelly,
Have you checked out your oral surgeon with the State Board? If he is in good standing, believe him.
Oral surgeons are not in the mouth very long. It’s an in and out job.
Checking your blood sugar during the procedure would lengthen the procedure and would require his assistant to be doing something other than what he/she should be doing, eg, handling the tube that sucks out blood and keeps the operative field easy to see. This is a fact.
It is your job to ensure you aren’t trending low. If your basal keeps you about 110, you’re perfect.
It would be nice for oral surgeons to be nicer/people friendly. The State Board won’t be able to tell you one that is, however.
Expect your blood sugars to be high later due to trauma. Ensure you have an antibiotic. It’s usually taken ahead as well as later.
And cheer up! Think of all the problems you’ll avoid by having them out!

Seems that antibiotics are eaten like smarties in the states. Did you know that 90% of the antibiotics are peed out by the human metabolism. This way all bacteria in our water ways are nicely trained for antibiotics. MRSA is the very first stage of an unpleasant development that began with the massive overuse of antibiotics. So please use antibiotics for inflammatory processes only - not as a precaution.

I had all 4 out at once. They put me out completely. I didn’t have any problems. I was 19 or 20 years old at the time.

i am 25, and just had this done last year. they did not even give me an option to be put out. he shot it up with novacaine and pried them out of my face one by one. it was a little brutal, but i wouldn’t want to be put out either.

Last year, I had all four teeth removed at the same time under local anesthesia. The teeth weren’t impacted, and the whole process was fairly smooth. Structurally, the teeth didn’t have to come out, but the consensus is that they were dragging down the overall health of my mouth, which could in turn affect my diabetes.

When I tested before going in, I was 90 – lower than I wanted for the procedure. I had some juice and was around 150-200 while the work was done.

I ate soup and yogurt over the next few days, and was back to normal within a week. The pain meds made me tired, but didn’t have much of an effect on my BG.

Overall, I think I was pretty lucky. I didn’t have any doubts about my surgeon (she was fabulous!), but if I did, I would have checked in with my regular dentist and/or my endocrinologist depending on the nature of my concerns.

Good luck!

I too was just told by my dentist to get all four of my wisdom teeth out so thanks so much for posting this question!! I am still going to put it off as long as possible because I feel like it is not a necessary procedure. I was worried about increased risk of infection and the surgery causing high blood sugars while healing but no one has mentioned either of these being a problem…

I was out for mine. They will want you to fast before the anesthesia, so it’s best to schedule it first thing in the morning. (I had mine at 8am. I was allowed juice if I had a low from midnight to 8am.) They do this so that your stomach is empty, because some people vomit as a reaction to the anesthesia. (This is usually true of ALL surgeries). Because I tend to dip into dehydration fast, I requested that I get IV fluids while my teeth were being taken out (I had mine done at a hospital so they could do this easily).



Check your BG pre-anesthesia. As long as you aren’t trending down you should be ok…you’ll be out for literally only a few minutes. Between prep, extraction, and recovery I was out 20 minutes total. My dad was in the room too so he technically could have been taking my BG for me if I’d felt it was necessary while I was out.

i was 18 and had all four taken out. i was put out and was great. they had me take 1/2 of my long acting, at the time it was lantus, the day before and scheduled me first thing in the morning with no breakfast and morning fast acting insulin. if i remember right i was around 180 when they put me under and about the same when i woke up. i didn’t take any lantus that day, just controlled my numbers with fast acting and tried to avoid lows because eating was difficult. i wasn’t even out for a full hour. they had me hooked up to several monitors and i was nervous but i trusted them. if you don’t feel comfortable with the dr you talked to, i’d find another you do, it’s very important!!

oh and they put me on antibiotics afterward just to ward off any possible infection.

Dismissing/patronizing a patient is NOT doing a good or professional job.

Get a new clown. Your oral surgeon was pompass. Dont suffer that

As others said, as long as you’re not low before the surgey, should not be a problem. Ask them to test you during it… absolutely no reason to be afraid. You’ll have antibiotics, and something for pain initially, but afterwards normal pain relief methods and healing.

Stuart

RUN!!! Reading your post I am curious as to why you are second guessing yourself. I think your surgeon was definitely not attentive to your needs. You feel nervous because you SHOULD be with someone like that. Your intuition is telling you that he is NOT right for you. Listen to yourself…don’t ignore that feeling. Especially because you had a prior experience that was very different.

I had one grow in around age 30 that my dentist suggested I get removed because it was impacted, about 3 years before T1D. But because of other medical issues, the oral surgeon said it was too risky to put me under. I appreciated that. Unfortunately, that meant I was awake and basically hearing the whole thing, even though I was numbed. (maybe how yours was?) It was NOT pleasant. Later, it got infected, and I ended up in the hospital multiple times that year due to complications with my blood disorder. Wish I would’ve just left it alone.

I question whether we really need our wisdom teeth out? The more I’ve read since my removal of one, I wish I never did. Sure, maybe it would’ve messed up my teeth cosmetically like the dentist scared me with. But now? I would’ve taken that chance. That wouldn’t harm me. Seems we all just accept this as fact/standard procedure, when maybe it’s not necessary?

I totally freaked out when I was told I had to get my wisdom teeth out. I stressed about it more than I should have. :slight_smile: They put me out and it would have gone completely smooth if I hadn’t taken steroids to reduce the swelling the day before the surgery. I would recommend using ice instead of steroids. My sugar went high immediately on those. Other than that, it was totally fine.

I have dangerous lows…I brought my husband with me (he needed to drive anyways). I reduced my basal rate in my pump. We checked it before and right after.

I was knocked out completely 10 years ago - all four of my wisdom teeth were impacted, which meant that they had to break them out instead of just pulling them out. Your doctor really should be giving you more information regarding the process and how it will be effecting your diabetes - I believe mine had when I had had the procedure done. It really isn’t as scary as the other other oral surgeon had made it out to be - that person more then likely just didn’t feel comfortable working on diabetics. You’ll get that from time to time.

As to anesthesia…outside of the wisdom tooth extraction I had been put under for a biopsy procedure. It isn’t a “no no” for diabetics. You just have to make sure your blood sugar is in order before the procedure, know how long it will be, how long you’ll be out, etc.