Adventures in Tooth Extraction
posted on february 3, 2004, tag: me
Yesterday I had a dentist appointment. It's a complete coincidence that while waiting to board a train to New Jersey in Penn Station, I suddenly had a very sharp pain in my face that was followed by more sharp pains and then just constant pain that wouldn't fucking stop.
We got to the dentist as soon as we could and Katia spoke for me, telling them that my upper-left wisdom tooth was fucking killing me, and please help me now oh please god. They said it needed to come out. I said that seemed like a painful idea. They said yes, it would be, and that didn't chance the fact that it needed to come out. My mother suggested I go to her oral surgeon, because he's "really great." I don't know how great any kind of dentist is, because I hate them all, but I agreed that I would rather go to a specialist who could get it out in 10 minutes with a nice bit of Verset on the side than have Katia's dentist get it out "any way it is necessary to do I will do... how tools I use doesn't matter, that's my job, you will just take pain killer and I'll dig it out." He's Russian, old school, and could get the job done. I'm American, a pussy, and I wanted someone to almost knock me out and then pop the sucker right out of my mouth. And so.
Now I'm sitting here, at home in Brooklyn, my face sore and my gums bleeding. I have a big gaping hole in my mouth, and it's weird. The dentist told me I need to have the other three out as well, because they're crap and they're also pushing around my other teeth, but when he does that he's going to give me even more sedation (which is a very good thing).
So if you've been wondering where I was or what I was doing, now you know. I was having a tooth ripped out of my head and now I'm sitting here bleeding and waiting until I can take my next Vicodin ES (one and a half hours and counting...).
Comments
There are 10 comments, comments are closed
Ian on 02/03/2004:
Had a similar experience but they ended up taking out all four at once. The actual procedure was fine - thanks to a good friend named Valium - afterwards was a different story though. Couldn't eat normal food for weeks but after that it was much better than the pain of the teeth being in my mouth.
Hope all goes well.
Phil on 02/04/2004:
Ae, I am headed in the same direction soon. Too bad I have no insurance. Sedation sounds wonderful right now.
Garrett on 02/04/2004:
Phil—I know what you mean. This is the first time I've had dental insurance in about 10 years. I know the feeling of not having it—that's why I'm in this rotting teeth mess in the first place—and I feel your pain (quite literally, at times).
All I can say is—make a deal with your dentist. The guy I went to doesn't fully participate with insurance (I'm not even sure if I can get anything covered from it), but I got him to give me a good deal on the removal... so it wasn't terrible price-wise. Good luck.
Mark on 05/05/2004:
I was sedated when i had seven of my teeth out and this brought back painful memories. However, i was sedated, and can honestly say it was fine. I am glad i dont remember bugger all about it. I am English and also a pussy. Aside from a few days of discomfort it was surprsingly okay and surprisingly cheap :)
paddyf on 05/19/2004:
i just had mine out, and with minimal sedation and pain relief ... what a bitch. i got a gum injection which numbed half of my face for about two hours, but when that started wearing off, i was in a world of agony ( you see, i had an inflamed, infected gum when he was taking it out. it was infected when i first went to him, then i made an appointment, and it got infected again by that stage). how i would have loved to have been dosed up on valium or sedated - when he was drilling my teeth i could smell the burning from the friction of the drill/saw, while simultaneously tasting the blood ! then the pliers and having my jaw and head physically jerked around trying to pull out the tooth didnt help. i felt so manically distressed that i started to find it absurdly funny and satisfying that all this rage was getting taken out on the troublesome tooth
this process had to be repeated three times unfortunately, and having never gotten a filling or the like before, i now truly understand why dentists are such feared people !
i completely empathise with you guys, this feeling is awful, and the dentist only gave me crap anti inflammatory painkillers which dont do anything. the pain is starting to subside, partly because i applied an ice pack to my face for a while, and got some codeine/nurofen from the chemist ( which is vastly superior to useless anti inflammatories)
to escape this pain i'm gonna self medicate in the most irish way possible - a few large shots of whiskey :) some site here says no smoking or drinking ( to avoid dry socket ), but f**k sake, if ive ever needed a stiff drink and a spliff, dear god that time is now
compuwhiz7 on 07/30/2004:
It's an old entry, I know, but I think my sister has the worst wisdom teeth story in the history of wisdom teeth.
When she got them out, everything was fine. Then, ten days later, she got infected. She went back to the surgeon, and he cleaned it out.
Ten days later, she got infected again.
And on and on and on it went, for almost six or eight weeks, until she was washing with Listerine and every kind of oral nuke imaginable, until it stopped.
Each time, of course, she had to get some mini-surgery done, to clear out the space.
Ouch.
1whitealero on 08/16/2004:
im getting one taken out next week and is infected and inflamed is what the dentist said
porkandbeans on 08/20/2004:
I had my 4 wisdom teeth out 6 weeks ago - developed the dreaded "dry socket" for about 3 weeks of intense pain, and I am now down to a mild ache in my right lower jaw. Mostly because of my age (47). Have them out when you're young! (Advil works great - especially when I was taking 4 every 4 hours!)
james on 09/09/2004:
I had 2 of the suckers taken out a few days ago and after a few hours felt so fine that I started drinking and eating — big mistake. Now one side of my jaw is puffed up like I've been several rounds with a kickboxer. I can taste something putrid. Just did some research and yeah, it seems to be it's dry socket. Reading the above from porkandbeans doesn't deliver confidence. Dreaded is right. Nurofen helps, but I'd rather be unconscious. I found this site be searching for 'medicate dry socket', as in by myself...onwards with that mission.
morgan on 09/20/2004:
I hade ni insurance and never got my teeth taken care of as well as ignored them pritty much my self. well I got two teeth removed the other day. the dentist started by injecting my upper gum three times and Man the needle hurt when he was pushing in the what ever that stuff is it felt as though my nose was filling up and the sides of my cheaks but when he got to the inner part of my gum inside the mouth WOW that was the killer. I had Tears running soakng the back of my head and to make it even worse there were no arms on the chair for me to grab and grip with all my might to try to easy my suffering. then he was handed a pair of what looked to me to be a regular pair of wire cutters, just chromed.(all metal). and he sticks these in my mouth gripps a tooth and I can hear Cracking and poping almost the sound of a wall nut cracking it's that crack-pop sound. as I was comparing the sound in my thoughts he was already on to the next tooth right next to it. and as soon as I realised he was on to the next tooth it was all over. man I though that was fast. but now 4 days later I did not read the care instructions about how to care for the open wound in my mouth I made the mistake of smoking (because I really needed a smoke at this point) and I am in such pain now that it feels as though I had the teeth removed three hours ago. this hurts so fucking bad . he prescribed Pennacillin I have an apointment tomorrow I guess I have the dry socket thing. I am taking 3 Motrins every 3 to 4 hours. and now on top of the morrins am taking the Pennicillin tabs to.. I just wanted to tell all about my mistake with not reading the damn instructions and smoking to soon. it said to waite 24 hours but I thought that was way to long soI waited 30 mins.... Ha Ha I guess I am paying for it now... that shoot of whiski sounds great right now..