The Wisdom Teeth Extraction

Well, today was the day! I was super nervous going into the dentist’s, but he was really nice which made things easier. I think that the folks at Aspen Dental should list themselves under the “Gentle and Understanding” category when they do a website directory submission, LOL! Since I only have two wisdom teeth (the bottom ones), and they weren’t impacted or abscessed or anything like that I opted to just go with a local anesthetic. (Not to mention I didn’t want to pay to be put under and the idea freaked me out a little). I have a pretty high pain tolerance, so I figured it couldn’t be that bad. And really, it wasn’t.

He started on the left side of my mouth and was having a heck of a time getting a good grip on my stubborn tooth. The rocking of the tooth back and forth was a little disturbing, but I just felt pressure. It certainly was no worse than any of my c-sections! The tooth finally came out and the roots were really long plus this one had a hook on one of the roots. Apparently the dentist hadn’t noticed this on the X-ray and said that he was impressed it didn’t break off. Yikes! The right side went faster. I felt a little bit of pain because I don’t think the Novcaine totally numbed on that side, but it was barely noticable.

The worst part of the whole thing, for me, was over four hours of having my my mouth, cheeks, and lips numb! That has finally worn off, thankfully. I got a prescription for Vicodin (as well as an antibiotic), but since I started to feel pain before Drew got back with it I took a few Advil and that has worked well so far. I’ve only had water and some Jell-O and I am starving. Can’t wait to eat a little something. My dentist told me to stick to soft foods — dairy is fine. I specifically asked since I’d read contradicting things. Tomorrow I am to start a salt water rinse 4-5 times a day. And that’s pretty much it. It was nowhere near as bad for me as is seems to be for other people. Hopefully the rest of the recovery will go so well 🙂