Quite the contrary, I knew it ALL along.
So, before marriage I went to the dentist twice a year like every good little girl should. After marriage... maybe three times in the 4.5 years? All times when I visited home and my mom offered to pay for the appointment. Yes, I'm cheap and we didn't have dental insurance. Thankfully, I kept my teeth clean and flossed and never had a cavity.
Until this last appointment. There was a slight cavity from where food had gotten lodged between my last tooth and my wisdom tooth. Say what now? Wisdom tooth? Yes, I knew I had four. Yes, I thought I should get them out. Every appointment throughout high school and college I asked the dentist about them. "Won't cause you any problems!" was the standard answer. Well, guess what? Problems!
While my parents (and subsequently, I) still go to the same practice, we have a new dentist. How does this work? Our old dentist moved out of state. So we work with the same receptionist and hygienist, but different dentist. This past time we were looking at my x-rays and he asked why I hadn't had my wisdom teeth removed years ago? Yup, I'm wondering the same thing, Doc. Plus, it sure would've been nice to have them removed when my parents were still financially responsible for me. At least now we have dental insurance!
So, I had the cavity filled and hope to never have a cavity again in my life. Yesterday, I went to the oral surgeon and had all four teeth removed. Yowzas. This is the story.
Get to the office, go over the paperwork, sign sign sign, in the chair. IV sedation: one minute talking about my upcoming trip to see my husband graduate from US Army OCS... next thing I remember, I'm waking up. Never realized I was falling asleep. No counting backwards from ten. Nothing. Kinda nice actually. I had never been put out for anything before in my life so I was a little uneasy with the whole idea. As my father is a surgeon, though, I trust doctors for the most part.
So, I'm waking up and I remember hearing the doctor and assistants talking. I freak out a little internally and begin to wonder if I am supposed to be awake and if I'm going to feel them yanking out one of my teeth! I don't know if I was moving or if I opened my eyes, but one of the assistants began talking to me. I don't remember what she said, but she led me to the recovery room. She held my arm as I was more confident than I should have been on my feet. I could walk on my own, but had to take it slowly. I lay down on a cot and was given an ice pack to put on my cheeks and a gauze strip to hold in my elbow where the IV had been taken out. The assistant went to get my dad who was my driver and I remember either looking at the gauze or maybe touching it and it falling. I freaked out like I was going to be in trouble and put it back. Of course, the assistant didn't care in the least. She gave me instructions for the next couple days and said, "You're nodding your head but you won't remember much of this so I'm telling your dad too." I do remember the room and situation, but I don't remember details of what she said besides things I had read online before hand or things we discussed in the consultation appointment. The doctor came in and said everything went well and it was a very quick procedure. My dad commented afterwards that he was surprised when they came to get him because it was only around 20 minutes or so.
We went to Wendy's to get a frosty after it was suggested as a favorite for post-op patients. We dropped my Rx for Vicodin off in case I needed it, but I've managed alternating Motrin and Tylenol for the pain. I wanted to be able to nurse my baby who doesn't care for bottles. That first day I was super tired. I took about three naps and my mom helped watch the baby and twice he napped with me. I was alert enough to nurse him whenever he needed and played with him some. He likes to be held and is getting into everything now so I would have to pick him up a lot and carry him back to his play area. With the exertion my bleeding didn't stop as quickly as some, but it was manageable. Mostly my jaws began to hurt from clamping down on the gauze they had given me for the bleeding. One time my son flipped the keyboard bench over on top of himself. Thankfully it is lightweight and didn't hurt him, but he was a little startled and couldn't get out from under it on his own. I ran to his rescue and was glad that my maternal instincts were stronger than my drowsiness.
I iced my cheek and rested that first day. I was really hungry as I was limited to cold, liquid items for food. Right before bed I carefully ate a leftover salad I had and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I only chewed with my front teeth and swallowed straight back to keep food from the healing areas. It definitely satisfied my hunger.
Only the left upper tooth has been causing me a lot of pain. That is the only tooth that hadn't pushed through the gums prior to the surgery, so it makes sense that it is more painful while healing. My cheeks haven't swollen too much, but it is noticeable if you know what I normally look like. It is going down but when you run your fingers over the area you can feel the swell. Definitely not an experience I would want again. Thankfully, I will never need wisdom teeth removed again! Hopefully I won't need any other teeth pulled either.
Today has been a little less comfortable actually. I'm not sure why, but I have continued to ice my cheek just for pain management. I ate some more substantial foods, but kept it pretty simple still. I ate mango sorbet which helped with the pain. I continued with the Motrin/Tylenol medication. The most difficult part is not being able to play with my son as much as normal. He will often bang into me on accident or toss a toy and it will hit me. He doesn't do anything to hurt people on purpose, but he is 10 months old and learning a lot of things. So I had to let him play by himself a lot today to avoid getting bonked in the cheek. He was not happy, I was not happy. I am so thankful for my mom and dad's help during this healing process. If I got my teeth removed after we moved on post with my husband and it was just me at home with Jack... I have a feeling there might be a lot more crying on both our parts.
Here's hoping that tomorrow will be a step towards further healing and that the pain will be less than today. Jack and I (and my Mom as a Mentor Mom) have MOPS in the morning and then we need to run some errands to prepare for our trip to see DaDa in a week and a half. Here's hoping Jack cooperates with everything and that I don't feel too tired or sore.
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