Can You Still Hear When Unconscious? General Anesthesia

[Anthony C]

Hi,
I need to get my wisdom teeth removed which are impacted. They need to cut my tooth into four parts to remove it. Im concerned about what the drill noise will have on my Tinnitus.
They have given me the option of putting me unconscious (General Anesthesia) or just novacaine (local anesthesia).
Im trying to pick the lesser of two evils.
If Im completely knocked out then I wont hear the drilling.
I was wondering if the sound of drilling is just as bad to the unconscious ear as to the conscious ? Which is worse for Tinnitus. I know that the ear has a reflex when it detects sound. Is that reflex turned off if unconscious?
Any information or shared experience is appreciated.
A

 

[Dana]

I know that the ear has a reflex when it detects sound. Is that reflex turned off if unconscious?

IMO the eardrum will continue to vibrate because it is a membrane with such properties, to vibrate with the vibration of air (sound). It is not a reflex from the brain that can be turned off when unconscious.
IMO the outer, middle and middle ear and nerve etc will go through the same process as while conscious, only that the consciousness, turned off, will not hear the sound.
Plugging your years is another story. Of course the bone conduction will take place, but it's not the same.

 

[Nick Pyzik]

Hi,
I need to get my wisdom teeth removed which are impacted. They need to cut my tooth into four parts to remove it. Im concerned about what the drill noise will have on my Tinnitus.
They have given me the option of putting me unconscious (General Anesthesia) or just novacaine (local anesthesia).
Im trying to pick the lesser of two evils.
If Im completely knocked out then I wont hear the drilling.
I was wondering if the sound of drilling is just as bad to the unconscious ear as to the conscious ? Which is worse for Tinnitus. I know that the ear has a reflex when it detects sound. Is that reflex turned off if unconscious?
Any information or shared experience is appreciated.
A

Yes, our brain still picks up sounds although our consciousness and the emotional regions of the brain are basically shut off while we are in the state of dreaming or deep slumber. Could our hearing, with the way it works, theoretically cause one to feel more refreshed and rejuvenated in the morning from the sound waves that go on during the night? Music playing in the background, white noise, sounds coming from outside. Broad theory but it's a possibility since our hearing is still fully functioning while our brain is in sleep mode.

 

[Cheza]

Im trying to pick the lesser of two evils.

Your ears will still function in their usual manner, and your brain will get the noise signal of the drill. However, having been through removal of wisdom teeth myself, I would recommend general anesthesia. You never know what they'll encounter once they get going, and it can get extremely distressful. For the sake of keeping your stress and anxiety as low as possible, choose general.

 

[PaulBe]

You don't perceive the sound, but the mechanics that produce it don't stop working.

 

[snow86]

Your ears will still function in their usual manner, and your brain will get the noise signal of the drill. However, having been through removal of wisdom teeth myself, I would recommend general anesthesia. You never know what they'll encounter once they get going, and it can get extremely distressful. For the sake of keeping your stress and anxiety as low as possible, choose general.

Wish the doctor would have recommended that to me. My extreme T started 3 days after having my wisdom teeth removed. It was a normal dentist who decided to pull them out with local anest. It was extremly painful/stressful and took an eternity. He had to add injections all the time. So many factors that could have given me this - stress, pain, overdose of anesthesia (ear nerves are not far from the teeth), the force of pulling at an angle which can damage bone structures. My new dentist told me that he always refers such patients to a surgeon.

Guess bad doctors can ruin your life...Same with psychiatrists, who decide to give shitty ADs which make T worse.

Well...old news. Thats more than 2 years ago and no amount of orthodontist examinations, nightguards and other expensive jaw stuff have helped.
But maybe it was all a coincidence and the T just started at that point. Or it was everything together.

Good luck, Anthony

 

[Cheza]

But maybe it was all a coincidence and the T just started at that point.

Others may disagree, but IMHO it was no coincidence. That dentist had no business pulling out your wisdom teeth. That's a job for an oral surgeon. I had an excellent dentist when my wisdom teeth needed to be removed, and he set up an appointment for me with a specialist. (The oral surgeon told me later that it was a good thing I opted for general, because one tooth was extremely difficult to remove.)

I'm thinking the trauma done to your nerves is what started the tinnitus, rather than the excess anesthesia. In addition to what the dentist was doing, you may well have been holding a lot of tension in your jaw during the procedure which added to the trauma, also. People who brace themselves in an accident are more injured than those who remain relaxed, which is why drunk drivers often have less severe injuries than people in the other vehicle.

Have you tried audio notch therapy? I've been diligently using it for almost a week, about 6 to 8 hours a day. Yesterday my tinnitus was horrid by nightfall, but otherwise it seems to be improving a bit. I'm using violet noise during the day, and nothing while sleeping, but may switch to pink noise while sleeping because research seems to indicate that pink noise improves sleep. My quality of sleep used to be great, but since tinnitus it's been poor.

 

[Anthony C]

Thank you for all your input. Its so depressing. I saw the oral surgeon today and he said that it was very likely that I would experience a numb jaw after the procedure. He is almost certain. The wisdom tooth is impacted right on the nerve. So not only do I have to worry about increased T I also have to look forward to a numb face for perhaps the rest of my life.
Im holding out getting this done as long as I can. I may get laughing gas instead of going under. He said my wife could be in the room and I told her to have him make many pauses during the procedure if Im unable to communicate.
Its like some evil spirit has just said checkmate to me. This terrible year of having T Ive worked so hard to avoid noise but I cant seem to find a way out of this.
I will be 50 in a few months. Thankful I had that many years of quiet. Wish I appreciated them more.
Sorry for the pity party.

 

[Cheza]

I saw the oral surgeon today and he said that it was very likely that I would experience a numb jaw after the procedure. He is almost certain. The wisdom tooth is impacted right on the nerve.

Anthony, I'm glad I rechecked this thread. Didn't realize you had written more because you didn't quote anyone or use the "at" symbol to alert them, like @Anthony C.

That sounds like a bad situation about getting a numb jaw. Have you considered getting a second opinion? Maybe the oral surgeon isn't experienced with cases like yours that have the wisdom tooth so precariously situated. I'm not knocking him or his skill; just saying that sometimes it requires someone with specialized expertise to handle a case like yours.

 

[Anthony C]

Anthony, I'm glad I rechecked this thread. Didn't realize you had written more because you didn't quote anyone or use the "at" symbol to alert them, like @Anthony C.

That sounds like a bad situation about getting a numb jaw. Have you considered getting a second opinion? Maybe the oral surgeon isn't experienced with cases like yours that have the wisdom tooth so precariously situated. I'm not knocking him or his skill; just saying that sometimes it requires someone with specialized expertise to handle a case like yours.

I thought the same thing and will be seeing another oral surgeon to see what they say. Im in Thailand so there is a language problem as well. Nobody seems to know what Tinnitus is. Ive read that those in the dental industry have a great risk of getting it because they are exposed to the noise day in and day out. They should really teach them the perils of their profession.
I will post again when I know more.
Thank you for your empathy. So hard for people without T to understand because its not a visible problem.
I hope youre all doing well.
A

 

[Cheza]

Im in Thailand so there is a language problem as well.

Start a thread and ask if anyone knows about a good oral surgeon in Thailand.

If you have the funds, you might want to travel to another country where you can find an oral surgeon in whom you have complete confidence. I know from personal experience that something like that isn't always possible due to financial constraints or other work and life factors.

I'm doing okay today, thanks for mentioning it. Just need to find a way out of this recent development of waking up every 2 hours at night. Been going on for 2 weeks.

 

[Anthony C]

Start a thread and ask if anyone knows about a good oral surgeon in Thailand.

If you have the funds, you might want to travel to another country where you can find an oral surgeon in whom you have complete confidence. I know from personal experience that something like that isn't always possible due to financial constraints or other work and life factors.

I'm doing okay today, thanks for mentioning it. Just need to find a way out of this recent development of waking up every 2 hours at night. Been going on for 2 weeks.

Hi Cheza
I took your advice and posted a thread about finding an oral surgeon in Thailand.
I hope your sleep has improved. I only sleep when Im dead tired. My schedule is off and I go to sleep at 6 in the morning. Im self employed so I can do that. When I wake up in the afternoon I have maybe 3 or 4 hours of sunlight before it gets dark again.
Not the best situation.
Best wishes,,
A

 

[Cheza]

I have maybe 3 or 4 hours of sunlight before it gets dark again.

I hope you find a qualified oral surgeon who has experience with tinnitus. Are you able to travel at all? I mean you would need funds for that, and being in an airplane might be troublesome. If you can travel, it might be worthwhile to go to another country. Do you have copies of your x-rays? Maybe someone in another country could look at them and advise you. You could check with a teaching hospital for oral surgeons. Teaching hospitals usually have experts as chief of staff.

I'm glad you're getting some sleep. Over here it's Daylight Saving Time again and so I'll be off by an hour for the next six months. My body never adjusts to it.

I'm still waking up twice a night but going back to sleep a little bit easier since listening to the CR neuromodulation audio made by Steve. of Tinnitus Talk. Because I'm here by myself, I just turn it on in the morning and listen to it pretty much all day long. It's a different type of sound therapy than audio notch. My tinnitus is also a bit milder. CR neuromodulation is a three-month long therapy, so hopefully by the end of three months it will have reduced to the point where I can go back to work as an audio transcriptionist without exacerbating whatever level of tinnitus I have at the time.

Here's the audio from Steve. The info explains his reasoning behind it. Supposedly CR neuromodulation works better for tonal tinnitus, but mine is definitely not tonal and it's helping. I have mentioned this video several time in the TT forum because I think it really is of value.



Keep me posted.

 

[noisebox]

I had surgery last January, not teeth, before I went in I had stable T and no H. Afterwards H started to creep in and then following another medical blunder T an H were full blown and still are.
As a nurse years ago we were taught not to talk over a patient coming around from surgery as hearing always came back first