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A few months ago, I was told that I needed to have my wisdom teeth removed. I had braces for two and a half years, and the dentist said having the teeth come in would shift all of my other teeth out of order, so they had to go. Also, the wisdom teeth on the bottom of the jaw were facing backwards, and would erupt into the jawline instead of the gums. So basically, I had to have my wisdom teeth out or else. Here is the play by play. Day 1: (Now would be a good time to mention, I have a huge fear of dentists and needles, and its alot worse when they mix) I was told at my inital consultation that the surgery would take from an hour to and hour and a half to complete, and I was given a choice of anethesia. Well, I didnt want to know what they were going to do in my mouth. I could of had local anethesia (they numb you up with lidocaine), IV sedation (your awake, but your not really aware of much), or general anethesia (they knock your butt completely out). I choose the latter. I was told not to eat or drink anything after 12pm, and since my appointment was at 10am, it was a bit difficult. I arrived at the office that day, my mother and my little brother with me. My little brother wasnt the most helpful person that morning, to say the least. But he wanted to see what sissy looked like all dopped up on drugs, so mother allowed him to come into the room with them. Usually at this office, we wait an hour or so to see the dentist. And for the first time, I didnt have to wait long...only 5 minutes. The nurses brought me back to the same room I had originally had my consultation in, except now it was full of a bunch of equitment...needles included. So, I basically covered my eyes and sat quietly waiting for the doctor, while listening to my brother tell me how awful this dental surgery would be. My mother starts talking about my best friend though, and that cheers me up a bit. Enough to where I can open my eyes, and then accidently see the needle in the tray next to me. My eyes are then shut again. The oral surgeron comes in, and he is a very nice guy. Alot nicer than my regular dentist anyway. He knows Im needle shy, and generally nervous cause well...Im not even looking at him. He starts asking me alot of questions while the nurses start too hook me up to some machines. They put these sticky pads on my chest for a heart monitor, a pulse thingy on my finger, blood pressure cuff, and an oxygen tube thing that went in my nose and around my ears. I didnt care for that last one. And then the fun began. With my little brother snickering in the background, the dentist asked if I had ever had an IV in before, and I told him I had and it wasnt the best experience because they had to try to get a vein a few times. He wrapped my forearm with a rubberband and took some cold spray and sprayed my arm with it and put the needle in, viola. That has to be the easiest IV/needle Ive ever gotten. Didnt hurt much at all, and that was what I was afraid of for the past week. I didnt look at him or anything as he did this though. I wasnt that brave. He set up the rest of the IV and fixed everything else in the room. (Including me nearly falling off the chair because he wanted my head to be at the very top of the chair) It was then I noticed about 10 more needles in the little tray next to me. At least I wasnt going to get sticked 10 more times. He said he was going to give me something to relax and to tell him when I felt it working. The last thing I can remember was 'I dont think its working...well, maybe a bit...' The first thing I remember when waking up was my father carrying me to bed. I stayed in bed for about half an hour, and magically, the medicine had worn off. I went downstairs and played on the computer, and then decided that throbbing in my jaw was only going to get worse, and so I took some of the pain medicine I had been prescribed. The pain medicine was called Hydrocodene (Loratab), and I have to admit, its very good. But it has some bad side effects. I was out of it the rest of the day with the exception of having to change the gauze in my mouth every so often. I have a problem with blood clotting and it took forever for my mouth to get a blood clot. People usually get them a few hours at most after surgery, I didnt get a complete one until the next day. Day 2: Side effects of the medicine are not to good. It makes me very queasy, dizzy, and itchy. But it does get rid of the pain. I have to say the second day has been the worst of the days overall. My mouth was very swollen, so much that I couldnt bite my teeth down. I figured I had 10-12 stiches in my mouth, because they kept poking my gums a bit. I kept taking the pain medicine because I still needed it. I was up and down that whole day. I was awake for maybe an hour or two, then would go back to sleep for another 4 or 5 hours. I couldnt eat much. I tried to eat soup and pudding. I ended up throwing up what little soup I ate. The medicine had made me sick to my stomach. Day 3: This day was a whole lot better. The dentist said that the 3rd day is usually the worst. It has been the best for me so far. My mouth was still swollen, but not nearly as bad as the 2nd day. I still couldnt chew, but I could bite down. I was trying to not take as much of the pain medicine, so I could try to eat more that day. I went from about 5 doses of the medicine to about 3 (in a 24 hour period). I was up much longer during the day, and trying to sleep though the night. One week post-op: Everything seems to finally get in its place. I went to the dentist to have my stiches removed. Some of them had already fallen out, but some still needed a little help coming out. I was a bit swollen still, and bruised. The oral surgeon cleaned out my mouth with salt water, which caused it to bleed. I only had one complication with the wisdom teeth coming out, and that is that one of the sockets where I had a tooth removed refuses to clot. It bleeds almost every night. Beside that, its getting alot better. I can chew now! I cant open my mouth as wide as I could before, but hopefully that goes away. Besides that Im feeling good and healing up. Random things: The pain medicine was really cool. It didnt quite put me to sleep but it made the pain go away. I could still think, but my body was asleep...if that makes any sense. It was also funny because I somehow dont remember: waking up at the dentists, being wheeled out to the car in a wheelchair, the 15 minute ride home, or getting out of the car. I liked whatever they gave me to put me to sleep! |