Hooray! I've finally removed ALL 4 of my wisdom teeth! Soooo proud of myself *grin*
It was such a difficult process that I just had to rant about it so bear with me.
It all started with my visit to my periodontitist. As my dentist looked at the x-ray of my teeth, he told me that I needed to remove my 2 bottom wisdom teeth as they're growing horizontally (instead of vertically) and are thus trapping food which may eventually cause an infection. And since I'm taking out the 2 problematic bottom teeth, I might as get rid of the 2 top ones as well.
I decided that I might as well get rid of all of them before they caused me even greater pain in future. So after seeing a dental surgeon, who explained to me my options and the risks involved, I decided to remove 2 at a time under local anaesthesia (LA).
When the day came for me to remove the 2 wisdom teeth on my left side, I was understandably very nervous. I put my stuff in the locker, don the gown and proceeded to speak with the surgeon. As usual, the surgeon was all "Any drug allergies? Do you know there's a 5% chance of permanent numbness? Blah, blah, blah.. Please sign here."
As he spoke, I got more and more nervous. And then it was time. As I lay on the chair, I whispered a million more prayers in my head and then opened my mouth for the anaesthesia injections.
The thing about LA is, you won't feel the pain but you will feel the drilling, the tugging and everything else! They covered my face (except for the mouth of course!) and my upper body so that I wouldn't get splashed with blood or get scared.
As my bottom wisdom tooth is hidden underneath my gums, the surgeon had to cut open my gums and drill the tooth into 3 before removing it. That took approximately 15 minutes but felt like forever! When he was finally done, he said, "ok now I'm taking out the top one" and literally it was like tug, tug, crack and it was out. In just 1 minute. Why can't it be the same for both teeth? *sigh*
.jpg) |
| After removal of my left wisdom teeth |
I went home and suffered immense pain and swelling in lower gums because 1) I talked too much and 2) my body did not respond at all to the pain medications that I was given.
But it was well worth it because now it is so much easier to clean my set of teeth, especially the back. So although I'm really not looking forward to it, I set up an appointment to remove the other 2.
The second time around, my surgeon was female who was straight to the point and told me point-blank that the right bottom tooth is located very near the nerve so I will definitely experience numbness at my lower lip. "It would be a miracle if you didn't" she said. Obviously I became extremely nervous but decided to trust the Lord and go ahead with the surgery.
As she was drilling my tooth, I pictured my girl saying "I love you mama" over and over again in my mind so that I won't be scared. "I'm doing this for you baby girl," I thought to myself.
Apparently everyone is very interested to see what the nerve looks like so all the nurses and students gathered round excitedly. "There it is, that is the nerve!" my surgeon announced after extracting my bottom tooth after what seemed like forever.
And just like that, it was done.
.jpg) |
| After removal of my right wisdom teeth |
This time I made sure that I got even stronger pain medication from the doctor and didn't talk so much. The swelling wasn't as bad as the previous time and when the anaesthesia faded, I touched my lower lip and there was no numbness! It was a miracle! =)
I'm truly glad that it's all over! Thank you Jesus for your grace and for an uneventful recovery =)
Linking Up With:
