Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Wisdom Teeth

I had all four of my wisdom teeth removed a little over two weeks ago, on a Friday. I had noticed a hole in one of my wisdom teeth, so I went to the dentist who confirmed the hole and suggested I have my wisdom teeth removed. I decided to have them all done at once, to save on money.
Plus, the bottom ones were growing sideways.

So, I booked the dentist and anesthesiologist. I had to cancel a tattoo appointment and use the money for my teeth instead of a nice tattoo :(
We have public health care here in Australia, but decided not to go the public route because it take a long time to get looked at. I didn't know if the hole in my tooth would start hurting, so I got them done via the dentist, bypassing the public health system. I also have private health, which paid for $500 of my surgery.
I'm not a fan of the dentist, but luckily I found a nice female dentist that runs from a practice inside the Perth train station.

My sister, Kirsty, took some time off work to take me to the dentist and take me home after. What would I do without her!?
I wasn't really nervous, I started to get worried while I was in the chair but I knew I was in the hands of professionals. This was the first time I had ever been put under by IV sedation, or any sedation for that matter. Once the needle was in my hand the man told me I would start feeling sleepy, I thought to myself "oh man, I don't feel sleepy at all!"
THEN BOOM! I woke up an hour later.

I wasn't really groggy, it just felt like I had a nap. They told me the surgery went fine and I got put in a wheelchair to the waiting area to pay. I also got scripts for painkillers, anti-inflammatory, and antibiotics. This was the first time I've ever had antibiotics!
My sister was given a bunch of instructions, gauze for bleeding and my teeth (which I wanted to keep). Then off I went home.

My mouth was all numb, and I wanted to drink straight away which was hard because I couldn't feel anything. I was also really cold, so I got into warm clothes once I got home. I also attempted to eat a banana, because I had to fast for 6 hours before the surgery.

My mouth started to hurt really badly once the numbing wore off, but I took some painkillers and went to bed. Over the course of the healing there wasn't very much pain, I've had worse in my life. I had the surgery on Friday, so I had Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday to let the swelling go down (I got a doctors note for Monday and Tuesday, and took time off work).
The swelling was really bad on Saturday (the morning after) but it went down over the week. I have a little bit of bruising on my jaw too, but not too badly. I had to eat lots of soup, because I couldn't eat chewy things. Luckily, soup was on special for $1.50 from the grocery store (and I also like soup).

Last Friday I had my stitches removed, and the dentist said that I healed up quickly. I'm back to normal now, and I can eat interesting food again (I had pizza!).

Here's me with a numb mouth trying to drink out of a crazy straw.

My wisdom teeth. You can see the big hole on the top left tooth!
The other two teeth are in fragments because they have to cut through the teeth/jaw to remove them properly.

The morning after surgery, chipmunk face!!

7 comments:

Laura Morrigan said...

Wow, that sounds scary, cut through the jaw? Glad you are feeling good now and can eat again!

linnea-maria said...

Mine hasn't started to grow out yet and I'm 40! I'm glad that you could sleep through the surgery because I have one of my tooth removed awake and it was a awful experience. Take care and heal well.

Maria Alexander said...

wow, you´re so brave for doing all of them at once!!! I couldn´t imagine doing that!!! I had only 1 tooth removed to far, the worst part was the numbing actually, not feeling your own lips is the most disgusting thing I´ve ever felt!!! I had absolutely no pain afterwards.. so weird.
I am happy you healed fast, not it´s time for you to diy your teeth into something fabulous!

Unknown said...

I know what you mean. I had the same experience when I got my wisdom teeth removed. I was put under sedation and woke up about an hour or so after the surgery was done. I didn't feel a thing either. When the sedative started to wear off, I couldn't eat, much less talk for days until the swelling went down. I'm glad you're feeling a lot better. It will pass. Keep us posted :)

Silvia Ballard @ KelleherOrtho.com

Lucretia said...

I've known a few people that had the same issue, and chose the same solution. Smart woman! You probably saved yourself a LOT of extra pain and suffering by doing it now. Glad all went well, and hope you are feeling better by the minute! :-)

Anonymous said...

Congrats on the quick healing. You're so lucky that you got to keep your teeth! I asked for mine when I had my wisdom teeth removed (2 impacted, 2 erupted), and the office said no. Then they sent me a bill for the disposal!

Oriana Batd said...

Hope you have a speedy recover :)