have my wisdom teeth removed

I was supposed to go to an oral surgeon on Monday for an initial exam and to set up my surgery, but they had to move me to Thursday!!! ARGGGGGG, I just want to get it over with!

I have a SERIOUS phobia of having this procedure done, so I’ve been putting it off for years. I almost got away with it, except I have one tooth that is impacted. Even then I was willing to ignore it, but on my last dental visit my dentist discovered a small cavity on that tooth. He said, “I don’t see the point in putting in an expensive filling when you’re just going to have it removed . . . right?” So now I have a ticking time-bomb in my mouth. :( I realized I was ready to go through with it when I started having trouble with my gallbladder. The pain and nausea was enough to make me completely willing to have the surgery to have a major ORGAN removed, and I realized if I could psyche myself into wanting THAT I could psyche myself into having my wisdom teeth out.

I’m planning on scheduling it for early June – hopefully allowing me a summer of recovery before I go off to graduate school!

oh dear god, they messed it up too. huge bruise at the iv point on my arm and all over my jaw. I look like i got into a barroom brawl.

My jaw/entire mouth hurt so much.

I can’t open my mouth more than a few inches, certainly not to its enireity.

But whatever. They would have had to come out eventually…right?

SO glad I got it over with.

I had them out this morning in what they call “twilight sleep”. They put in the IV. I fell asleep te next thing I knew they were waking me up. I was disoriented and groggy and needed to be walked to the car by the nurse. Now at home it hurts. I had three out and they apparently had trouble with one. That one hurts. The other two don’t at all. They’re giving me advil and vicodin. mmmmmm
But it’s still very painful. i think they had to break it out a bit. But I’m soooooo happy. They have been impacted for over 15 years. 15 years of off and on pain. Ahhhh the pain will soon be over.

Plus my mom is at the ice cream store buying me anything I like. Woot!

I made it through the night taking only advil for pain. I think I’m having a reaction to the pain pills. I’m having cold sweats and blured vision. I only took 8 of the 10 pills and spread those over 4 days, but I do tend to get used to medications easily. That’s why I stay off most addictive substances (caffeine being the exception). I’m a little worried about driving but I’ve missed three days of work already. :(

This is going pretty well. I had the surgery on Friday morning. This morning, Monday, I still woke up with pain and I’m still having to eat soft foods because I can’t open my mouth more than an inch, but there’s no infection. There’s no blood (I’m taking that as a sign that there was no damage to the sinus wall).

All in all I think it is going really well.

The experience itself is blurry. They gave me an intervenous anesthetic. The only pain I felt were the two shots they gave me (the local anesthetic). Otherwise I did feel some tugging, but that was it. I must have fallen asleep during the procedure itself. I woke up (came to) once and the doctor said they were done with the first tooth and going on to the second. Then the next time I woke up, it was over.

I had gauze in my mouth (had to change it every 30 minutes so sleep was in fits) and couldn’t speak for hours. Now that was painful! :)

I’ve been having tons of dreams probably due to the pain pills. And my diet is limited to rice baby cereal, mashed (whipped) potatoes, yogurt. I’ve moved up to macaroni (over cooked) and cheese, ground beef (spiced but crumbly) and tuna fish with mayo. Oh! and chocolate ice cream, and milk shakes. That is the bright side. :) I’ll worry about my diet when this is over.

Tomorrow is the day I’ll be having my upper wisdom teeth removed. I’m a bit concerned (to say the least) but it’s important. I’ve heard the top wisdom teeth are not as painful during the recovery. I hope so, because the bottom ones were extremely painful.

that I’ve done! My wisdom teeth didn’t start to erupt until I was in my early 20’s. I’d have pain and swelling for a week or two, then it would go away. then a month or two later it would come back. Sometimes it would be 6 months between spells. I was 29 when I finally decided to have them removed. I really don’t know why I waited so long!!