That smarts! (removed 6/26/02 written 7/9/02)

Well I mentioned it on the front page a while back... so I thought I would put something in about my wisdom teeth removal.

I had been putting off getting my teeth out for a long time. I never did trust the rational for removing them. They never bothered me, so what's the point. Anyhow, I recently went to a new dentist and he said that it's a good idea to get them out soon if I want. His lack of pressuring led me to decide that I wanted to give it a shot. We set up an appointment for the next week. I was excited about it and planned not to get knocked out for it. I have always done well with tolerating medical type pain, so I thought I would at least stay awake and watch since I was going to have to pay all that money.

I went in was all excited to go, and they gave me gas... which I asked them to stop. They said it would relax me, but the thing they give it to you through, makes it hard to breath. They just turned it to oxygen, and gave me shots and numbed up my mouth... That stung a bit, but not much. Then we waited for my mouth to get all numbed up. Once that happened I got them all out. 1 2 3 a quick break through to get the 4th and that was it. Took no more than 15 minutes in all with the numbing and stuff. I asked them to take the little oxygen thing off at one point. I couldn't breath at all. I swear someone was stepping on the hose or something.

I got my instructions and asked for my teeth but they had been thrown away :( I got my prescription for pain meds, went home, and put frozen peas on my face. It must have done the trick cause I was doing fine. Not a bit of swelling. The only thing that hurt was the gauze that I had to put on my gums to keep the bleeding down. It made me a little achy. I took a pain pill for that, but it didn't do anything noticeable so I didn't ever take any more. I did a day of spitting out gross gauze and be the end of that day I was eating lots of pudding and apple sauce and rinsing out with warm salt water (which I actually found very pleasant).

Day two I thought I would wake up to chipmunk cheeks. But nothing. I think it was because I was awake and started taking care of myself. Even the impacted tooth came out smooth. 3 of the teeth were completely through before they were pulled, so that made it easy too. If I had gotten them pulled when I was younger, they would have had to break through for all of them. That 4th would have been a tough dig too. Two days later I was eating wings and washing it back with a $2 Guinness at Hokie House. Two days, that's it! I had a lot of grumpy friends, since I got off so easy with this. Oh well. I suppose my stubbornness would come in handy one of these days.

I still have to wash out my mouth lots with salt water, just to keep the sockets clean .. But like I said... I like it

Have a wisdom teeth story you would like to share? send it to me

Here's one I got in the mail:

Hello as I went on reading your story...let me tell you how jealous I was....I had all 4 of my wisdom teeth taken out about 3 weeks ago..Day 1 was also fine for me I actually stopped bleeding like an hour aftre the operation.But then I decided to take a nap and when I woke up ..I felt the pain OUCH>>>>>>is all I have to say I was crying and telling my mother that I would rather have another baby anyday then have the pain I was having...I am serious as I say this for real I would rather go through the pain of having a child then that.But as the days went on I took the pain meds and felt alright I looked like a chipmunk as of day two also.But the right side of my mouth all the way down to my chin is still numb not a nice thing let me tell you.Well anyways it was great to hear your story.

Have A Good ONe~~~~

Sara
In Toronto Canada