Sorry I'm a bit late in updating the thread. I went to my appointment on Monday and... I paid the Pain Toll. I got local.
First, I'll tell you how the procedure itself went. I think I had 4 injections in total. Two regular ones on the outer gum, one through the palate (which is as painful as everyone says it is!) and then a fourth on the outer because when she tested, it wasn't fully numb.
After 15 mins or so, I was ready. Then she grabbed the pliers and started pulling. Oddly, it felt like she was pushing up. Less than 10 seconds later, I heard a quiet sound in my head, that sounded like someone crushing rice krispies in their hand. And then it was out! Quickest dental procedure ever! When I looked at the tooth, its roots were curved tighly over, like little hooks. Looked really bizarre, but apparently it's not that unusual.
BUT she only took 1 tooth out! In retrospect, I greatly appreciate her advice, because recovery has been absolutely AWFUL and I don't know how I would've survived with both sides of my mouth out of action.
She took out the broken wisdom tooth, which is on the side of my mouth where all the teeth sort of bend inwards, getting in the way of my tongue. This unfortunate dental configuration meant that I found it virtually impossible to swallow anything - even saliva - for the first two days. I also couldn't sleep because I was having to awkwardly swallow whatever was leaking from the socket every few seconds. I got 1 hour sleep on Monday, and 3 hours sleep on Tuesday. Oh, and it took 6 hours to stop bleeding when I got home... almost took a trip to A&E, and it was only the last ditch attempt to get it to clot with a folded piece of cloth that saved me from the visit to MRSAville.
Every swallow felt like it was sucking the socket, and I was paranoid about getting "dry socket". I became very dehydrated from drooling instead of swallowing my spit, and also starved because food was almost totally out of the question. I managed to choke down some lukewarm soup and half a bottle of water... and a small amount of ice cream, out of sheer desperation. And that was it for the first 48 hours.
On the morning of the third day, I woke up - dry and famished - and tried drinking some fruit smoothie. Fifteen minutes later I fell utterly ill, vomited quite violently (thankfully didn't lose the clot!) and spent the rest of the day shiverring, sweating, and bed-ridden out of exhaustion and weakness.
While trying to recover, I was able to nibble some ginger biscuits. Ginger apparently helps settle stomach upsets. I didn't even finish one, but it helped. Gradually my appetite returned, and instead of sick, I once again started to feel (extremely) hungry. Gradually I started to eat and drink more, and that night I slept a good 5 or 6 hours without waking. I felt MUCH better this morning, and have been eating mostly mashed potato & baked beans, some soft homemade cake-like biscuits and finely minced meat. Swallowing is much, much easier now. Whereas before, the swollen socket was pretty much positioned right behind my tongue near where my throat muscles do their 'swallow' motion, now the swelling has gone away and the socket has moved to a less obstructive position. I'm also far less paranoid about dry socket, as the clot is undoubtedly well established at this point and unlikely to dislodge.
Rough recovery, eh? I don't know exactly why I got ill. It could've been dehydration, or the icecream I ate (it was an old tub covered in frost), or perhaps even the smoothie (the taste was vile). To be honest, I've had this happen to me before-- an unexplainable illness that causes vomiting, high temperature, shiverring, and lasts only 1 day. So maybe it was just bad timing.
And I still have 1 more tooth to go! Wooo! xD (Though that tooth is not angled inwards, so it shouldn't cause such a problem next time!)
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Topic: Wisdom teeth removal under GA - Curious about something... (Read 9378 times)