Don’t read this if you dislike the dentist already and/or a bit squeamish
So today I went and had some lower wisdom teeth removed, I actually only had one taken out (more on that later). I was actually early for the appointment, 30 minutes in fact, when I arrived I was told they were running a bit behind. After waiting nearly 30 minutes after my appointment time I was finally taken to be X-Rayed. I was feeling pretty nervous as it was, and the delay certainly wasn’t helping, after a further 15 minutes I was called through to the surgeon. This was it!
I walked into the room and fans of Dexter will understand what I mean when I say the chair and surrounding surfaces looked like a ‘Kill Room’. Fucking Great. He immediately told me I would only be having one tooth out today, my lower left, rear Wisdom tooth, I was kind of gutted I’d have to go through all this again! Se explained he was going to give me an injection to make my mouth numb, and he also said something about in rare cases there is a nerve that runs under the teeth and if damaged can cause numbness / paralysis in the side of the mouth and tongue. This obviously didn’t make me feel calmer.
He then injected my gums quickly, all over the area where the offending tooth was, the injections did sting, but slowly stopped hurting. A few more jabs and he left it to take effect, by this point I was feeling very odd, I could feel my face drooping, and I felt very nervous. I was then told I’d feel ‘some pressure’ as he removed the tooth. He was straight into my mouth, I wondered what exactly he was doing, he was essentially pulling my tooth out. The thought of him yanking away at it sent me into a panic. I gripped hard onto the chair and shut my eyes, there were several horrific ‘CRACK’ sounds, and the pressure stopped.
I felt relief the ordeal was over, I was expecting to have the blood sucked out of my mouth and for me to be on my merry way. He then peered into my mouth and mentioned about a root still being in there and how it needed to come out. He asked me to open wide and he delved in. I’ve no idea what he was doing to get the root out, but the feeling of pressure in my mouth was immense, he was furiously going at my gums. He seemed to give up, and pause for a moment, coming back armed with the drill. The drill screeched around my mouth and all manner of crap came flying out, the surgeon still seemed to furiously be doing something. The drill stopped and the ‘picking’ continued. It was obviously stuck deep inside the gums, My hands were squeezing the handles of the chair tightly, I started to feel a bit woozy..
‘DONE!’ exclaimed the surgeon.
‘Well.. I think so, I think the root went up the suction, we need another X-Ray to check’
I really hoped the root had gone, I couldn’t do that again. I was lead to the X-Ray and had it done, the mirror infront of my showed a wonky, swollen version of me, with blood in my mouth. After the X-Ray they let me sit in reception for five minutes. Mum was amazed it was so ‘quick’.
‘It didn’t feel fucking quick for me’ I mumbled back at her.
The nurse called me back and the surgeon was looking at my X-Ray – he said the root was all out and showed me the empty space where it once was. He also pointed out the right hand tooth that would come out next time under a ‘surgical procedure’ (Hoping that means they have to knock me out!). I left the surgery not feeling any pain as such, just very swollen and orally violated.
When I got home Loz took a picture of my stupid swollen cheek..
It’s been 5 hours now since it all happened, the numbness is going and there is a dull ache in the corner of my mouth. I’ve had some coldish Noodles and a lukewarm brew as I needed to take the two sets of antibiotics with food, I also had some paracetamol to stem the achiness. The procedure itself, as many of you have said, was pretty painless, it was the ordeal of hearing the ‘cracking’ and him wrestling the root out that really got me.
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