An Update on All Thats Happened

So a lot has happened since my last update. Last Wednesday I had four teeth extracted, my two bottom wisdom teeth and my first two upper premolars. I got there early and since the office was so busy ended up waiting for more than a half an hour. Normally I don't mind a wait but I was so nervous about being put to sleep that waiting all that time made me feel sick to my stomach.

Eventually they came and got me and brought me back in to the office. Everyone was really nice to me the whole time. The dental assistant who worked with me talked me through the whole process and answered all of my questions. She was very nice and helpful. The first thing the did was hook me up to the nitrous oxide, or better known as laughing gas. This was very simple all they had me do was lay down in a chair and they put a small mask over my nose that was hooked to a tube on each side. They had me breath deeply in and out through my nose and the gas took effect within the first 10 minutes.

I’ve got to admit the gas was the best part. It makes your whole body feel tingly and then virtually weightless. It almost feels like floating. It also really does make you laugh. I was cracking up over absolutely nothing the whole time. Basically it feels like a really good buzz that makes you numb all over. After the gas kicked in the attached a blood pressure cuff to my arm and a heart monitor clamp to my finger. They also placed an iv in my arm. Now at this point I was pretty numb all over and the iv didn’t hurt at all. In fact I barely felt it.

They covered me and made sure I was comfortable until my oral surgeon got there. Once he came in he asked me how I was feeling and if I was comfortable. He then told me he was going to give me the general anesthesia which he injected into my iv. The funny thing is as he injected it he told me

"now you should feel this right away, it’ll put you to sleep in about thirty second"

My first thought was no way and then of course I fell right asleep. It literally took under thirty seconds and I was out!

Since I was asleep I don’t remember anything about the procedure so my grandma filled me. I was only out for about a half an hour and overall it went well. My premolars came out with no problems so I didn’t have to have stitches there. My wisdom teeth were a different story however. My surgeon had anticipated they’d be the easiest part because they were already partially erupted. Turns out my wisdom teeth were huge and were curved at the roots. He said they looked like little hook! Anyways the surgeon had to instead smash them into four parts in my mouth and take them out piece by piece. I did end up getting stitches for them, but it was all done while I was asleep.

When I woke up I wasn’t in any pain but I was very groggy. My entire face was extremely numb! My doctor prescribed me vicodin for the pain and moxilen as an antibiotic. I went home and took the vicodin every three hours and the moxilen ever eight. This is were I really went wrong and I can’t offer enough caution on what I’m about to tell.

I’ve never used vicodin before, or any narcotic for that matter. I thought I’d be smart and take it ever three hours as prescribed to stay ahead of the pain

Well needless to say the vicodin did not agree with my system. I threw up all day the day afterwards. I had taken five pills by then and couldn’t keep a single thing down, not even water. It was absolutely miserable, I’ve never been so sick in my life. So here’s my advice to you always, always be careful with new medicines, especially narcotics. You never know how you’re going to react to something and it’s much better to air on the side of caution and feel a little bit of pain, than to end up like I did!

So after the vicodin worked it’s way out of my system I took regular ibuprofen instead which worked just as well. Even without any pain medication the pain wasn’t bad. I’m sensitive but I’d only put that pain at a four on the pain scale. It was basically just like an all over tenderness in my bottom jaw. The top jaw didn’t hurt at all.

Now I’m on my way to recovery four days later and minus the vicodin it’s not so bad. The only part that really sucks now are the stitches. I can feel them and food gets caught in them. Food has also been kind of a pain, I can’t eat much except mushy soft food. It’s getting better though and I’m looking forward to the braces. I get spacers in five days and braces in ten. I’ll keep you updated!