The aftermath

Ugh. Well I survived the extraction but things didn't exactly go as planned. My appointment was scheduled for 3:10pm, I got there 15 minutes early hoping to get in and get out quickly. That didn't happen. It was almost 4:15 before I even got into the dentist's chair. First came the numbing cream, then the many shots of Novocaine. At that point I was still in good spirits with only a slightly elevated heart rate. Once things were good and numb the pulling began. The Dr. pulled and pulled on the top tooth, then on the bottom, then back to the top. I thought at one point she was going to break my face...seriously...I could feel my facial bones directly under and around my nose bending and straining. Not pleasant. I requested more numbing a few times in between the tug-o-war sessions she was having with my face. Finally the sucker came out and I began to bleed. And bleed. And bleed some more. She shoved some gauze in my mouth and told me to bite down on it to help stop the bleeding then she left for a bit and came back. Still bleeding. More gauze. Still bleeding so she put in some sort of artificial clotting thing that my body will eventually absorb this slowed the bleeding a bit and work began on the lower tooth. Another tug-o-war session. This time I could feel things a little more than I wanted to and requested more Novocaine. I get the numbing agent and while she let it do its thing she decided to suture the top hole because it's still weeping a bit...no pain, no problem. Then she starts pulling again and I can still feel it. It was never intense pain just intense localized pressure and far more sensation than with the first tooth. At that point I had already been given the maximum amount of Novocaine they could legally give me and the decision was made to stop everything and try again in a few weeks. I was a-ok with that decision because by that time I was so exhausted and relieved both mentally and physically that I began to shake and cry uncontrollably. I felt like a complete idiot, but she was very understanding. [Which reminds me...I'm over 5 years post-partum and I still cry way too easily and I can't take pain like I could before. When will my hormones return to normal or am I stuck this way?] I walked out of the office a little after 5:30pm with 3 prescriptions and a wad of gauze soaking up the still oozing hole. Quite the lovely mess.

Apparently I am a medical oddity in the world of dentistry. My mouth is small, my jaw narrow, my teeth crowded, misshapen, and with what look like fused roots. Awesome. The tooth that gave so much trouble is in a weird location and sitting right against the curve of the jaw bone making it a beast to work with. Again...awesome. You can sort of see what I mean about fused roots in the next pictures. Instead of a normal tooth that has 3-4 prongs coming down mine has one gigantic one. It's been soaking in bleach since the dentists assistant handed me the cup it came home in. I have no idea what the white stuff on the root end is so don't ask. I hope the flower makes it look a little less gross. Personally, I find gross things very interesting. I still have some of my gallstones in a cup...perhaps I'll share them in a future post?

At this point I'm a little over 48 hours post-extraction and I feel just fine. One prescription I got was for vicodin, the other for nausea, and the other for motrin. I've taken the motrin during the day mostly because it lasts longer and I don't want to be too dopey to care for Geof. I took the vicodin the first night and it kept me awake {weird, right?} and then when I did get to sleep I had bizarre dreams and woke up constantly making me cranky the next day. I took it again last night and the same thing happened. I'll stick to the motrin, it lasts longer anyway. My only discomfort is from the half-pulled bottom tooth, it's not exactly in the same place it used to be but it isn't loose and doesn't interfere with chewing, just sore. Right now I feel like I'm teething, my gums sort of itch and I would love to gnaw on something hard...like a stick. I guess that means things are healing.

It may not sound like it from this post but I really like my dentist and her assistant. They were both very quick to stop everything when I would wince or squeak and very calming and patient.