One wisdom less

19th January.

Today I scheduled myself for the removal of one of my wisdom teeth early next week. 

And I'm freaking out.

So a couple of years ago, all four wisdom teeth erupted. Three emerged perfectly, but one hasn't - half of it is out of the gum, but the other half has still been under the gum for a few years now. It hasn't caused any pain; it's just there. Though all these years I've avoided eating with that side of my mouth so that food doesn't get stuck between the tooth that's half out and the gum. A dentist looked at that tooth two years ago and told me that some time in the future, it will be a problem... because there's clearly no space in the jaw for that tooth to completely erupt, so it will need to be removed. She also advised me to extract it while I'm still young, because the older you get, the more complicated the surgery might be. And also, at some point in the future, it might impact the tooth beside it and the pain will be unbearable, so it's been to get it over with now than to wait for that pain. 

But I decided to prolong the agony...until recently when I took a panoramic X-ray because it was required for some thing. My new dentist said the same thing, that sometime in the future I'll need to extract it. It still doesn't hurt, but one day...some day it will be a problem. So I finally gathered the courage to get this over and done with! 

But still... I'm freaking out!

I asked my dentist a lot of questions today, to get her to explain everything. It didn't help that I heard words like slice open the gum, cut some bone, maybe cut the tooth in half, two hours procedure! After that,
I told a few friends about it and lo and behold, some of these friends have experienced this before! One of my friends had two taken out in one sitting! It helped a lot that they said you won't feel the process at all, and healing only took a few days. 

I looked up online forums where before shared their wisdom tooth extraction stories, and everything sounded good! But still... not enough to keep me from feeling nervous about this. Wish me luck!

25th January. 

So! I had the tooth extracted a few days ago (January 23rd). I went in at 11:30am, but didn't really start until 12pm because my dentist had to inject anaesthesia and wait for it to set/take effect. I brought a blindfold/sleep mask with me to cover my eyes from the light, but really my main reason was so I wouldn't be tempted to look at every equipment she puts into my mouth. Before we started, I saw her test what looked like a saw! It turned out to be a drill. I asked a lot of questions and I remember cringing each time. To relax, I kept telling myself "A lot of people go through this all the time. They survive. You will survive!" And so it began. 

I didn't feel a thing! Well only towards the end, I felt pressure as she was pushing something into the tooth to push it out. The anaesthesia helped because I had no idea what was really going on. I heard suction and drilling sounds but I didn't feel anything so I couldn't really imagine what was going on. Her assistant made me laugh a bit. One time the assistant said "This is what I saw on the videos on youtube." Then I thought to myself, why didn't I think of looking up videos before this? 

Instead of describing to you what exactly she did, here's a video. My case is the first example, except that it wasn't simply just pulled out. The dentist had to drill some bone because part of the tooth was still inside the bone (pretty much like example two):

I didn't feel when the tooth was taken out. I knew it because the assistant kept saying "Oh it's moving/shaking already!" and she was so excited saying this. I imagined that the dentist drilled, but the tooth was still hard, then she had to drill again until the tooth became wobbly. When it was taken out, the assistant said "it's out now! wow that's very deep!" I asked the dentist if I could keep the tooth, so after the assistant cleaned it to give it to me, she said, "it's cute."

*the tooth is still here beside my computer. I really don't know what to do with it. The reason I asked to keep it was to remind myself of a fear I recently conquered!*

The last part was stitching the gum, and I have to go back in a few days to have the stitches taken out. The whole process took only an hour! When I got home, I met my brother and he laughed at how funny my voice sounded. I couldn't talk properly because half my mouth was still numb and had cotton to stop the blood. It took two hours before the numbness went away. 

Later in the evening, in between replacing the cotton/gauze, I decided to look at the tooth in the mirror. I suddenly saw a little blood flow and I felt really dizzy. A little trivia about me - I get very weak at the sight of blood. I started sweating, so I sat on the floor (because I was worried I might fall off the chair. #truestory haha). Then I went to the kitchen to get some water, and while standing, I felt my vision was going black. I felt so weak, my heart was beating really sat and my forehead started sweating. Good thing my Mom was there, she helped me to the chair and I sat down until it all went away. It wasn't such a big deal; we laughed it out, because this was all due to my stubbornness. I went to bed without having to take pain relievers the dentist recommended because I didn't feel any pain. Oh and before sleeping I also placed a block of ice (wrapped in a cloth) beside my cheek, to help with the swelling. 

Yesterday and today have been the same, though the bleeding has stopped! I was told to rinse with warm water and salt after the first 24 hours, and I did just that. My dentist said I could also brush, so I've been brushing lightly - twice a day and with very little tooth paste. She actually told me to brush the tooth beside the stitches but this has been really hard to do. I can't get the bristles of my toothbrush to go to that end without worrying I might hit the stitches. The dentist said I can chew on the other side of my mouth, but I've been reluctant. So I've been living off soft foods that I just swallow: a Filipino rice porridge (lugaw), chocolate oat meal, mushroom soup with bits of white bread soaked in it, banana milk shakes and tonight some amazing cheesy mashed potato. I was just told to keep off carbonated drinks, hot food (I wait for my food to cool down before I have them) and fish. 

I've been taking pain relievers just once a day. The pain is very bearable. I only feel discomfort in my jaw when I lie down. I normally never sleep with a pillow, but the last two nights I've placed two pillows under my head because I read somewhere that it helps with the blood flow. 

To be honest, everything has been great! I now look back and wonder why I even panicked in the first place. It was a very easy process. It will still take a few days before everything is back to normal. I can't open my mouth as wide as I can and I get tired easily when I talk (that must be a huge relief to my family haha) and you can't imagine how my stomach grumbles at the simple thought of chicken or pizza! 😩