I look like a chipmunk today....!

I had to have all my wisdom teeth out in my early twenty (they were coming in sideways like the proverbial train at several platforms). It involved cutting the gums and sawing one of them, that was particularly awkward, in half. The actual procedures (one side dealt with and then the other side three months later; we moved from Sheffield to Edinburgh between times so it was two different dentists), even forty years ago, were not painful under local anaesthetic, though I did ache a bit after. Painkillers sorted that. I second the alternating paracetamol/ibuprofen thing, though actually I use aspirin and not ibu. If you can tolerate aspirin I think it's more effective than ibuprofen. My GP agrees.

Modern dentistry is fab and is one of the reasons I'm glad I've lived in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

I have had two broken teeth removed recently and the rest of the molars have been drilled and filled to oblivion since childhood. I have also suffered from sensitive teeth forever. Dentist tells me that at 64 my teeth will start crumbling...great! I really would like to have all my remaining molars removed and settle for partial dentures when i have saved some money