1 week, post dentist

It's been a week since I got two teeth out at the dentist. I never told you that story. But don't worry there's no gory details, except to say that beforehand i was quite anxious, or maybe just nervous about it. I hadn't had a tooth out since I was a child, many moons ago, and I wasn't sure what to expect. Add to this the fact that I'd saw Les Miserables last Sunday and there was a scene where Fantine was in a ghetto, had just had her hair cut off and then had a tooth pulled out by some vagabond for money to send to her sweet Cosette. That looked painful. I didn't want my experience to be like that!

I arrived five minutes early for my appointment, took my seat in the waiting room then a receptionist came through to say that my dentist was running half an hour late and did I want to wait or come back? I waited. I read some blogs to take my mind off it.

Twenty minutes later the dentist called me. He explained what he'd be doing then gave me the jags to numb my gums. One in the front of my gums on upper left and right and then another larger needle on the upper left and right palette area. Ouch, that was sore as he pushed the stinky numbing liquid in. About five minutes later I felt it go numb and realised my mouth was becoming twisted. Also my palette seemed swollen. I asked how long it would take to get each tooth out 'how long is a piece of string?' he quipped. There's no time for silly jokes I thought. Breathe. Here we go...

He gave me safety specs and I shut my eyes as tight as I could. First of all he was in with some sort of implement pushing at the first tooth. Front and back. Pushing. Manoeuvring. Lightly at first and then harder. There was no pain. Once he was satisfied with the he changed implement. I could tell it was some type of pliers. Eek!

I could feel them gripping the tooth. Still no pain though. He was twisting, and twisting, and twisting. One direction, then the other. He gave a big twist and I put my hand up for him to stop (we'd agreed hand signals beforehand). He gasped 'can you feel pain?'. No I replied, but it feels like your about to twist the lid off a tight jam jar and I just don't want to feel that pain when it pops. You won't feel pain but you may hear it! Gah.

In he went again, and with on final twist the tooth eased and out it came. No pain but yes, a faint weird crunch noise. Phew. That wasn't too bad. Yay I'm brave.

Now it was onto the left hand side. This was a biggie. A molar with four healthy roots and a huge filling. He warned me that this one would be harder to get out, and with it being heavily filled it may break up too. Yikes. In he went again with stick to loosen it. Then again with the pliers. He was tugging good style with this tooth and it wasn't for budging. Then it went, and this time I heard a huge crunch and out it came. I definitely thought it had disintegrated but when i eventually sat up it was still intact except the filling had fallen out. I was taking deep breaths through my nose all the way through and I think that helped me.

After a rinse (there wasn't too much blood) I lay back down on the chair and he inserted a couple of bits of gauze into the wounds for me to bite on. He explained I should take two paracetamol when I got home with a sip of water. I should wait an hour to drink, preferably just water. No hot drinks or spicy/hot food today, and if it continued to bleed I should call them. He sent me on my way with two bits of clean gauze and my two teeth in a tooth fairy envelope.

tooth fairy

When I got home it was just passed 1pm so all in all I must have only been in his chair for fifteen minutes. Not bad at all. I still wasn't having any pain but my mouth was really twisted. My palette still felt weird and swollen. My tongue was doing weird things all by itself. I sipped on some water through a straw and relaxed.

excuse me and my wonky numb post dental appointment mouth

It took me a couple of hours to look in the mirror. I pictured a huge gappy smile but actually, unless I smile really unnaturally wide then you can't really tell where the teeth were. I was satisfied with that. It wasn't until about 7pm that I took two painkillers and that was as a precaution.

As the days have passed I got used to having the gaps in my mouth. It does feel weird though as you don't realise where your tongue goes in your mouth with a full set of teeth. The upper right gum and palette is still a bit sensitive and I can't really use it to bite anything so eating is still a bit difficult.

A week on and I'm glad I went through with it. A few to go until my orthodontist appointment to have the brace fitted and there's no turning back now. Have any of you had braces?

Angela x