dragonessie (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
dragonessie) wrote2010-06-02 03:56 pm
dragonessie) wrote2010-06-02 03:56 pm
Ode to that painful back molar
Groggy... sore throat... weird feeling in my gums...
Yeah, I got my tooth taken out yesterday. Still tasting the occasional tang of blood.
I didn't expect to be so tired afterward... I guess it actually was pretty taxing on my body even though I didn't feel a thing under local anesthetic.
It's been more difficult to talk normally, And I've had the gauze out since 4 p.m. yesterday! Just because there's this space in my mouth that no longer has a tooth, my tongue keeps making missteps on words that should cause me no problem.
The extraction itself went great. The dentist swabbed the area around the tooth with a cherry-flavored anesthetic to deal with the "pressure" when she put the heavy-duty anesthetic in my gums with a needle. She let that set for a minute while I signed a consent form, and then lowered the chair. A few minutes of turning my head to the best position so she could see, and prodding my tooth and gums with various tools to make sure I couldn't feel anything, I was almost set... she started pulling on the tooth and I felt a bit of pain, so she put in another anesthetic, which put a bitter taste in my mouth.
After another few minutes of getting my head in position, she started in earnest. I could feel how tense her hands were as she started pulling so hard I was worried the tooth would just come right out so fast my other teeth would get hurt... heh. But then I heard a lot of cracking sounds--apparently that was each root separating from the bone--i thought my tooth was cracking. And then a plethora of different tools were used and she brought out the little tube vacuum thing. On time she showed me a whole chunk of decayed tooth that came out... it was really dark and bloody, almost looked like raw ground beef.
And then after more wrenching things around and getting things in position, she started on the last lap... I could tell because, numb as I was, I could feel that it was loose and ready to come out. This time, instead of pulling down, she started twisting. She tried two or three times with no luck though... something in the tooth wanted to keep hanging on. Finally, though... I could feel something change, and I knew that last try would be successful. And the tooth came out without any pain!
That sucker was huge! And the reason it was so difficult? The roots were twisted in a different way than expected. And I got to see the damage... a whole big black area of decay, dab smack in the center. The tooth would need to be cleaned for me to examine it more, so I asked if I could have it, and she said yes...
So, she gave me the post-op care instructions for my new toothless socket, and put a wad of cotton gauze in that area of my mouth, to be left in for 30 minutes. And then we headed out so I could pay and set an appointment for the next time.
But I forgot to check when she was gonna give me my tooth! So by the time I asked someone else to ask her... a cleanup person had thrown the tooth away!
*sigh*
But hey... at least no more toothaches from now on!
Yeah, I got my tooth taken out yesterday. Still tasting the occasional tang of blood.
I didn't expect to be so tired afterward... I guess it actually was pretty taxing on my body even though I didn't feel a thing under local anesthetic.
It's been more difficult to talk normally, And I've had the gauze out since 4 p.m. yesterday! Just because there's this space in my mouth that no longer has a tooth, my tongue keeps making missteps on words that should cause me no problem.
The extraction itself went great. The dentist swabbed the area around the tooth with a cherry-flavored anesthetic to deal with the "pressure" when she put the heavy-duty anesthetic in my gums with a needle. She let that set for a minute while I signed a consent form, and then lowered the chair. A few minutes of turning my head to the best position so she could see, and prodding my tooth and gums with various tools to make sure I couldn't feel anything, I was almost set... she started pulling on the tooth and I felt a bit of pain, so she put in another anesthetic, which put a bitter taste in my mouth.
After another few minutes of getting my head in position, she started in earnest. I could feel how tense her hands were as she started pulling so hard I was worried the tooth would just come right out so fast my other teeth would get hurt... heh. But then I heard a lot of cracking sounds--apparently that was each root separating from the bone--i thought my tooth was cracking. And then a plethora of different tools were used and she brought out the little tube vacuum thing. On time she showed me a whole chunk of decayed tooth that came out... it was really dark and bloody, almost looked like raw ground beef.
And then after more wrenching things around and getting things in position, she started on the last lap... I could tell because, numb as I was, I could feel that it was loose and ready to come out. This time, instead of pulling down, she started twisting. She tried two or three times with no luck though... something in the tooth wanted to keep hanging on. Finally, though... I could feel something change, and I knew that last try would be successful. And the tooth came out without any pain!
That sucker was huge! And the reason it was so difficult? The roots were twisted in a different way than expected. And I got to see the damage... a whole big black area of decay, dab smack in the center. The tooth would need to be cleaned for me to examine it more, so I asked if I could have it, and she said yes...
So, she gave me the post-op care instructions for my new toothless socket, and put a wad of cotton gauze in that area of my mouth, to be left in for 30 minutes. And then we headed out so I could pay and set an appointment for the next time.
But I forgot to check when she was gonna give me my tooth! So by the time I asked someone else to ask her... a cleanup person had thrown the tooth away!
*sigh*
But hey... at least no more toothaches from now on!