Awake during surgery? It happens!

Psi*

Tech Monkey
I am no Spartan nor into pain in any weird way, but I have had teeth drilled for cavities and surgery performed on my hands while "mostly conscious" & could give feed back to the surgeon. Sponge Bob, as he was known, did tell me not to tell jokes as that was distracting the surgeon (him). Probably like telling dentist jokes before the exam.

But, mostly concious does mean planned, intended, and coordinated with the surgeon which is quite different that the expectation (presumably) by all that I would be totally under & completely unaware ... which I have had also. There were the nurses that came by during recovery the day after that introduced themselves to me. Lets just say that they are not all fat and nasty.:D

I, for one, do not consider surgery as a necessary evil. In a way I would opt for it versus "drugs" for an alternative & often 1st treatment. As usual there is an optimum and every case is different.

To the point, waking during a major surgery & not being able to move is not really waking, I think is not completely a bad thing. Maybe the squeamish would not be crazy about scraping of bone via the vibration, but other than that, there is no other sensation as pain other than there is some poking around a "there".
 

slugbug

Coastermaker
The worst I've ever been through is when I had two wisdom teeth pulled in my teens. The Dentist gave me Novacaine and said to raise my hand if I began experiencing too much pain. I was in the chair for 2 hrs and had 4 shots of Novacaine. Two dentists and their assistants all trying to get their hands in my mouth at once. It felt like they were trying to pull my head off. I'm pretty sure power tools were involved.

When it was all over the entire side of my face was so numb that it felt like my lip was dragging on the floor. The assistant gave me a glass of water and told me to rinse and spit. Yeah right, it just ran down the front of my shirt :)
 

Optix

Basket Chassis
Staff member
I have been put under to have my tonsils out when I was 6 or 7 and then to have my wisdom teeth pulled three years ago. While I don't remember much of the first time (obviously) I do remember the wisdom teeth but they were all the way through so it was pop, pop, pop, pop. 30 minutes and I was waking up in a small room in my wife's arms. I remember eating spaghetti and playing Fable about 4 hours later.

Sorry, slugbug.

2/1000 still seem like good odds for me to stay asleep though.
 

looisboo

Obliviot
The worst I've ever been through is when I had two wisdom teeth pulled in my teens. The Dentist gave me Novacaine and said to raise my hand if I began experiencing too much pain. I was in the chair for 2 hrs and had 4 shots of Novacaine. Two dentists and their assistants all trying to get their hands in my mouth at once. It felt like they were trying to pull my head off. I'm pretty sure power tools were involved.

When it was all over the entire side of my face was so numb that it felt like my lip was dragging on the floor. The assistant gave me a glass of water and told me to rinse and spit. Yeah right, it just ran down the front of my shirt :)


Ohh man i remember my dentist nightmare. I went to that ass***** when i was 8 years old and he took my tooth out and man that was so painfull i still remember that :mad: but when i went 2nd time to take out my 2nd tooth it was a new dentist and a good 1 i barly felt any pain :)
 

Doomsday

Tech Junkie
The worst I've ever been through is when I had two wisdom teeth pulled in my teens. The Dentist gave me Novacaine and said to raise my hand if I began experiencing too much pain. I was in the chair for 2 hrs and had 4 shots of Novacaine. Two dentists and their assistants all trying to get their hands in my mouth at once. It felt like they were trying to pull my head off. I'm pretty sure power tools were involved.

When it was all over the entire side of my face was so numb that it felt like my lip was dragging on the floor. The assistant gave me a glass of water and told me to rinse and spit. Yeah right, it just ran down the front of my shirt :)

i will be going through that in the near future! my not so wise teeth are coming out diagonally instead of straight up! :eek:
 

Kougar

Techgage Staff
Staff member
Well, not sure about in Pakistan, but the good dentists here will be the first to tell you an oral surgeon is best for removing wisdom teeth, they perform this all the time and the experienced ones have it down to a science.

I unfortunately had to get all four of my wisdom teeth removed. Saw a recommended oral surgeon... went with the local anesthetics option, and from the moment he started to the moment he finished he had all four teeth removed in just over 30 minutes. I could feel the intense pressure and the sound of the cracking was certainly disturbing, but it was relatively painless and absurdly fast.

According to him it depends on the type of roots the wisdom teeth have... some are straight, but some people have wisdom teeth where the roots develop in a J fashion, like a hook. If you're lucky enough to have straight roots then it should be a simple, quick procedure!
 

Doomsday

Tech Junkie
well, the doc here said he'll do it exactly like that, as u have prescribed. Hopefully it might not be that bad! :D
 
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