I turned 25 this year and celebrated by taking my wisdom tooth out. What a way to celebrate.
Growing up, I thought that I would be lucky enough to avoid wisdom tooth extraction. My dentist had repeatedly told me that although I had all four wisdom teeth, none of them had come in and they were too far down to take out safely. He said that maybe "someday" they'd come in but that they weren't concerning nor causing issues at the time.
I'd spent my teenage years and the better part of my early twenties believing this, until I came to Korea, turned 25, and was faced the reality that this was not entirely true.
During this past summer, I started having some gum pain on my lower left side. I'm used to having occasional bouts of sore gums, whether it be from accidentally chewing and scraping my gum or yes, the dreaded occasional soreness of my bottom wisdom teeth pushing their way up. But this usually would dissipate within a few days.
However this time, the pain did not go away and was pretty intense. I went to the dentist a few days later and found out that my lower left wisdom tooth was emerging and pushing up on my gums. What's worse is that the wisdom tooth was pushing on my second molar, creating a space between both of the teeth. Lucky me, my wisdom tooth was infected and this was the cause of my tooth pain. The dentist informed me that I'd need to take some antibiotics to clear up the infection and then would need to get my wisdom tooth removed in order to prevent further infections from happening.
This was back in July. Silly me thought that this wouldn't happen again and I could just take the antibiotics and worry about this wisdom tooth later.
Until, I got another wisdom tooth infection in September.
At this point, I knew it needed to be taken out. Since the first infection, it continued to push up on my gum and caused me pain when I'd chew on that side of my mouth. But because of my teaching job at an academy (and their unwillingness to give me any time off to recover after my procedure...) I knew I couldn't do it while I was working. I'd heard many stories from friends about how miserable they'd been for a few days following the surgery; their faces sore and swollen. With blood leaking out from freshly stitched wounds, they told me they were hungry but yet had no desire to eat. Yeah there was no way this was happening.
Additionally, since my wisdom tooth was slightly impacted and very close to a nerve in my jaw, my dentist didn't feel confident in taking it out and referred me to an oral surgeon. I was able to find an oral surgeon that specializes in performing wisdom tooth extractions (the name of the clinic even includes 'wisdom teeth' in the name).
I decided promptly after my contract at my academy job ended and I'd no longer be working, I would get my wisdom tooth out then. This meant putting up with my slight discomfort until December. Once deciding on the date, I called and scheduled an appointment and began my wait.
Finally, December rolled around and the day of my appointment came. Despite my boyfriend trying to reassure me that it wouldn't be a big deal, I was pretty nervous.
We went to the office together and sat down to wait. I was called in a few minutes after that to take an X-ray and a CT scan. Once that was done, I was ushered into the dentist chair and met with the dentist briefly. He explained to me the whole procedure along with the risks. I would be getting the wisdom tooth under local anesthetic. (There are dentists in Korea that will do it under general anesthetic if you prefer that, but you'll have to go to a big hospital.)
Although I had wanted to get both of my bottom wisdom teeth out, he told me that it would be too much to recover from and told me that I'd only be getting my lower left one out that day. After signing a few documents, it was go time. He numbed me up and then left me with the nurse for 10 minutes for the numbing to set in. During that time, she brought in a pamphlet and explained to me all the aftercare and precautions I should be mindful of. She also gave me a cute plush elephant to hold onto during the procedure, which definitely made me feel better.
Finally, the moment came. The dentist came back in, put a cover over my face and began the procedure. I won't get into the graphic details, but since my tooth was impacted, I was worried he would have to take it out in sections to avoid damaging my nerve; leading to a longer procedure. But to my surprise, after a few snips, drilling, and some yanking, he pulled out my whole wisdom tooth in less than five minutes. I was shocked. He then stitched me up, shoved some gauze into my gum, and told me to bite down tightly for 2 hours. Then it was time to go.
I headed back out to my boyfriend in the waiting area and met with the receptionist briefly. She told me I would need to come back the next day for them to check on the wound and to do some disinfection and cleaning. She then handed me my prescription paper and I paid. My total with insurance was about 107 dollars. A pretty good price!
Recovery overall was rough, but better than I expected. For about 2 hours after surgery, I was pretty numb. Once the numbing wore off, I was in pain for about 2 days. My jaw was also very tight and tense, which made eating difficult. The swelling became apparent about 2 days after the procedure and I had light bruising on my jaw line. On day 4, I started to feel better. The swelling had started to go down, along with the pain and jaw tightness. A week after the extraction, I got my stitches out and was told to still make sure to keep the area clean as I could.
It's been just over a week after the procedure and I'm still a bit sore in my jaw and chewing isn't quite back to normal yet. But I'm feeling miles better than I did last week and I'm sure this will continue over the next few weeks. Overall though, my experience was good. The facilities were clean and modern, the staff were polite, and the doctor was super thorough and kind. I spoke in Korean to him but at times he used English so if needed, I believe he'd be able to communicate in English with clients who need it. For those who are looking to get their wisdom teeth out in Seoul (whether impacted or not), I recommend this place:
Info in Korean
서울 송파구 백제고분로 386 동서남북빌딩 3층
02-6412-2875
Info in English
Jamsil Forest Wisdom Tooth Clinic
Seoul Songpa-gu, Baekjegobun-ro 386, Dongseonambuk Building, 3rd Floor
02-6412-2875
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