My Wisdom Teeth Extractions

So this morning something happened that I’ve been putting off for a long time. I had my wisdom teeth removed! It’s one of those things I probably should have done years ago. As it is they ruined some of my orthodontic work when they came in. My once strait teeth aren’t as strait as they used to be.

When I had my teeth cleaned a few months ago the dentist recommended I get the teeth out. He said that my gums around them were angry. It’s one of those things. They didn’t really bother me for the most part. Sometimes the gums would get sore but overall I didn’t mind them. But this time I decided that if I was going to get them out I’d rather do it sooner rather than later.

When I went in for my consult I was given two choices.

1) General anaesthesia (or general anesthesia) is a state of unconsciousness and loss of protective reflexes resulting from the administration of one or more general anesthetic agents.

2) Local anesthesia - Local anesthesia is any technique to induce the absence of sensation in part of the body, generally for the aim of inducing local analgesia, that is, local insensitivity to pain , although other local senses may be affected as well. It allows patients to undergo surgical and dental procedures with reduced pain and distress.

I told the oral surgeon that I was leaning toward local anesthesia and he said, “Great! I will take good care of you!” as did the receptionist when I made my appointment.

I was told I would be able to drive myself but took Mom up on her offer to take me. So this morning she picked me up and off we went…

Oral And Facial Surgery

 

Dr. Gary Koterwas

(who has lost a lot of weight since this picture was taken)

My appointment was at 9:15am and they took me back to the room right on time. The nurse rubbed my gums with numbing jelly and then went to get the Dr. I could feel the jelly making my tongue all numb. Then the Dr came in and as promised proceeded to give me 8 shots. It wasn’t really that painful, the worst were the ones in the roof of my mouth and even those weren’t that bad.

Once the shots were over the nurse and Dr. both left the room. I could hear them talking to patients in other rooms and it seemed like forever until they came back. While I was sitting there I was thinking at least this is giving the Novocain plenty of time to kick in… Although I was noticing that the left side of my mouth/chin felt really numb but the right side only felt a little numb. I didn’t think to much of it though.

Finally, at least 30 minutes later(probably more) they came back and got things started. The first tooth was the top right. Dr. Koterwas had told me during my consultation that with the Novocain I would feel pressure but no pain. It didn’t hurt when he pulled it but the root of the tooth didn’t completely come out so it took a little extra time while he worked on getting it out. This tooth ended up being the only one that he had to put a stitch in the gum. Then he started on my lower right tooth. As soon as he started pulling I thought “uh oh!” because I could feel it and it HURT! Mom said I should have said something but I just made a little noise and then grabbed a hold of the arms of the chairs and gripped them as hard as I could. While he was pulling he was reassuring me that I was such a good patient, and I think that did actually help me. After it was out he asked if it hurt. I said yes and he applied some kind of medicine to it. Then he gave me a short break and told me to take some deep breaths. Overall I was fine. I just wasn’t expecting the pain. So once again I was told that I was a good patient and he moved on to the left side. With a little bit of wiggling he had both of those teeth out without any problems or pain.

And that was that. It was over. We took my pain pill prescription to Giant and then came home. Of course when Mom went to pick up the pills they told her my insurance wasn’t active(and it is) so we just ended up paying out of pocket. I’m glad it didn’t cost to much…

I’ve pretty much just hung out on the couch all day. I did take a couple small naps. And I’ll admit I’ve had a little trouble sitting still. Mom stayed with me all day and help by bringing me food when I needed it. Food = yogurt, applesauce, pudding, more applesauce and then a friend dropped of tomato soup for supper(thanks Melissa!). I’m feeling good. The stitch is rather annoying but I can live with it. Since I’ve been home I’ve had hardly any pain up until this point. Just a little throbbing in my gums when the first pain pill wore out. I’m hoping tomorrow goes well to and then I’m going to try to go back to work on Friday.

Thanks for everyone that was praying for me!!

A current picture of me this evening. I’m still expecting to be all swollen tomorrow… Time will tell!