Tooth Extraction - Experience?

[GuyK]

Hi everyone,

I have been a lurker over the last few years, it seems like you have a great community here. I am 31 now and I was diagnosed with epilepsy 5 years ago after having a tonic-clonic sezire. This prompted an EEG that produced abnormal results. Since then I have been on 2x 500mg of Divalporex Sodium (Depakote) daily, and thankfully have not had another seizure. I was lucky that I didn't have many side effects from the Depakote aside from weight gain, which just forced me to clean up my diet and exercise regularly :woot:

Now comes my question with a bit of back story. I have a wisdom tooth that needs to be pulled since it is impacted and causing a lot of discomfort. They are actually recommending that my other 2 be pulled as well, but I am going to ask for better reasoning behind that since those two have been out for years and not caused my problems. The tooth in question has already broken through the gum so this should make for easier removal. I have been referred to a oral surgeon for extraction sometime next week. My dentist told me I will have the option of freezing, sedation or general anesthesia. I think I have read enough about general anesthesia to scare me away from that. I have read that Depakote can interact with some local anesthetics and sedatives as well, which has me concerned. Of course I'm also worried about this procedure triggering another seizure, since there seems to be plenty of that reported online. I guess this is why you don't Google things...
It probably doesn't help that I've never been a fan of dentists in general, I get freaked out whenever I have to visit one.

Has anyone here gone through a tooth extraction while taking Depakote? If so what did you opt for and how did it go?

Thanks for taking the time to go through my rambling above

 

[masterjen]

Hi, and welcome to the forums fellow Canadian
I have had local anesthetic while on Valproic Acid (Depakote) as well as other anti-seizure medications with no problems. What may cause a seizure, however, is your anxiety about seeing a dentist and having the procedure performed, and this is understandable. I would ask your dentist what local anesthetic he plans to use and any sedatives, then speak to both your pharmacist and neurologist to get their input regarding possible interactions. And if there are potential interactions, your dentist can then use an alternative.

 

[valeriedl]

I am on Depakote along with some other meds and had my wisdom teeth pulled they had broken through the gums. I don't think I had any wisdom teeth on the other side of my mouth but I know I only had two teeth pulled. I also had some type of surgery for receding gum lines done by my dentist. The side effects of one of the meds that I'm on, I'm sorry I can't remember which one. I had a root canal too. I was put under local anesthetic during all of these and had no problems.

I've had a few major surgeries that I've been completely sedated for, one was even on my spine. I was worried that I would have a seizure during these operations, especially the one on my spine. All of the drs told me that it's very rare that you will have a seizure while being sedated (in any way) because your body is so relaxed. The drs did let me know that there is a possibility of having a seizure while being under. The dr who did the surgery on my spine told me this several times, just to cover his butt incase I were to have a seizure during the operation I think. I had no problems during any of these either.

Make sure you let the dentist know what meds you are on, epilepsy related and not, so he knows. Talk to your neuro too and make sure he thinks it will be ok.

 

[MAB]

Hi everyone,

I have been a lurker over the last few years, it seems like you have a great community here. I am 31 now and I was diagnosed with epilepsy 5 years ago after having a tonic-clonic sezire. This prompted an EEG that produced abnormal results. Since then I have been on 2x 500mg of Divalporex Sodium (Depakote) daily, and thankfully have not had another seizure. I was lucky that I didn't have many side effects from the Depakote aside from weight gain, which just forced me to clean up my diet and exercise regularly :woot:

Now comes my question with a bit of back story. I have a wisdom tooth that needs to be pulled since it is impacted and causing a lot of discomfort. They are actually recommending that my other 2 be pulled as well, but I am going to ask for better reasoning behind that since those two have been out for years and not caused my problems. The tooth in question has already broken through the gum so this should make for easier removal. I have been referred to a oral surgeon for extraction sometime next week. My dentist told me I will have the option of freezing, sedation or general anesthesia. I think I have read enough about general anesthesia to scare me away from that. I have read that Depakote can interact with some local anesthetics and sedatives as well, which has me concerned. Of course I'm also worried about this procedure triggering another seizure, since there seems to be plenty of that reported online. I guess this is why you don't Google things...
It probably doesn't help that I've never been a fan of dentists in general, I get freaked out whenever I have to visit one.

Has anyone here gone through a tooth extraction while taking Depakote? If so what did you opt for and how did it go?

Thanks for taking the time to go through my rambling above

I had a 16 hour back surgery with no seizures. I needed the surgery so badly, thankfully I didn't realize at the time that I had been having seizures for a year. The anesthesiologist was already concerned about a stroke one year earlier and some breathing problems I have.