My Wisdom Tooth Extraction
Well as you can see, my wisdom tooth came out. I've had it in my mouth for probably about 2 years. I finally had enough of biting my cheek and went in.
First there was the consult, where I decided it would be a lot cheaper not to "go under" with anesthetics. Plus that really can cause some constipation. They said the Novocaine is free, but the nitrous to take the edge of costs a little more. I'm on a budget, skip the gas.
Today was the day of the procedure. I sat in the chair and signed a bunch of waivers that pretty much let the Doctor off the hook if anything happens. I swear the guy could have smacked me in the head with a parking meter and he would have been covered by the legal documents.
Next they swabbed my mouth in the area with a topical numbing cream. After I swallowed a bunch they said, "By the way don't swallow that, or your throat will go numb." Should have said that before I started salivating. And yes, my throat went numb.
Next came the Novocaine. The shots sting a bit, but I'm a big boy and can handle it. The doc waited a bit and then started pressing inside my mouth with some tools. Big tools. I seriously have chisels smaller than that stuff. He asked if I felt any pain. Honestly, I did feel quite a bit of pain. I told him, he put more Novocaine in and we waited another 10 minutes. Next he started drilling. I guess what they do is drill the tooth in half, then crack it apart and pull out the pieces. That's why in the picture it's in three pieces. Halfway thru drilling I felt incredible pain. He stopped, gave me more novocaine, and we waited again. It had been about a half an hour time elapse here, so I was started to feel bad. The doctor said I was one of those guys that is really hard to numb up. No kidding. The procedure went on, he finished drilling. I did feel a considerable amount of pain thru this but I just sucked it up so we could get over with it.
Next he had to crack the tooth apart. Or maybe he was just pulling the pieces. But I sure heard some LOUD cracking. Next thing you know, he got up and said, "let me know if you have any problems." That was it! The longest part was waiting for the Novocaine to work.
I did feel kind of stupid asking for my tooth, but I needed to show you. Maybe I'll get something from the tooth fairy.
Now I'm going to do my best to follow the long list of restrictions that follow this operation. No solid foods for a while, rinsing and gurgling salt water, no straws, no alcohol, no pop, blah blah blah. Wish me luck.