h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I was knocked out totally to have my wisdom teeth out, and they let me keep them! It was a good job they knocked me out, because there was a considerable slice of my jawbone still attached to the root of my tooth.

I think the fact its in the under-guide spells the nonfactual nature of the article

Still a good article though...

i didn't deny that

Just because it's in the underguide doesn't make it non-factual.

RF

There's really a foot shaped bruise in your chest?

I had all 4 out, while conscious. They gave me local anaestetic and I was breathing nitrous oxide the entire time, though. It was unpleasant, but I've had extensive orthodontia as well, and I'm fairly used to people doing rather painful things to my teeth.

Really, the worst part for me was putting up with the gauze in my mouth afterwards. It was a massive relief to get that stuff out of my mouth after having my jaw propped open for hours...

I had all four out in one go, under general anaesthetic. When I came round, the dentist hadn't quite finished, which was somewhat distressing.

The top two came out cleanly; the bottom two, which were impacted,* had to be broken *in situ* and the pieces removed. The resultant holes were then stitched.

I kept the top two in a little bottle of formaldehyde for several years. But, as I had no real desire to make them into a necklace or similar, I eventually threw them away in a periodic cleaning-out session.

After a week of looking like a hamster and living on scrambled egg, soup, and porridge, I returned to the dentist to have the stitches removed. There was a little bleeding, which quickly stopped. My face ached all through that week, and I didn't speak much (insert humorous comment here).

RF

*growing out sideways

Last time I went to a dentist he recommended I pay about $1800(NZ) for the 'pleasure' of having all my wisdom teeth removed at once. I wasn't convinced then, and I'm even less convinced now.
Although my wisdom teeth are all growing sideways - the tops of the teeth pointing to the front of my mouth, all four of them - and they really should be removed, I've also had my jaw broken between then and now. My jaw is still tender at the best of times, and my memories of not being able to eat, yawn, or talk properly for two weeks aren't at all pleasant ones.
Even ignoring the fact that the broken jaw destroyed three years worth of orthodontic work; I think on the whole I'll just put up with my teeth as they are now.
My sympathy goes out to anyone who has endured The Pain.

You should all consider your selves lucky! Mine were removed by a "dentist" while I was in the service, and let me tell you, they're not spending those billions on this department. "Lets just do all 4 just to save time" says he. One, yes one, shot of Novicain per tooth and never mind waiting for it to work. Then start in reverse order, pulling the tooth numbed last and ending with the tooth numbed first. Oh, I forgot to mention, Novicain only has limited effect on me {family trait}. When done, this johnny slaps me on the back, hands me a dozen Ibuprofen, then sends me back to duty. To this day, I ask every dentist I sit for where they received their training, and if they say military, I say goodbye.