As I write this, it’s been more than two weeks since my lower wisdom teeth were extracted.
Let me narrate the experience.
So, Gim set my dentist’s appointment at Ospital ng Maynila at 8am. I was so nervous that I did not sleep the night before. I had come home late from work, around 2 or 3 in the morning, and couldn’t go to sleep right away. I watched videos, surfed the Internet, and at 6am, I took a bath. And waited for my boyfriend to wake up.
He woke up around 6:30am. And began to prepare a big breakfast for me. Not that I was hungry – in fact I had no appetite – I was too nervous. But the dentist had told him to ensure I was full right before the surgery – because I wouldn’t be able to eat a real meal for the next few days. So Gim made himself tocino and rice, and I got 2 pieces of sugar glazed fried chicken. He ended up eating one of the chicken pieces anyway, because it was too rubbery for me.
We got to the hospital around 8am. The dentist’s office was still closed, so Gim brought me to the ENT department so I could see where he worked. I think he wanted to impress me. He made me sit on his table and look at his things and all the medical equipment around. LOL.
Then he did something I made him PROMISE not to do! I told him I did not want to meet his fellow doctors! (I was feeling shy.) He said he wouldn’t.
He left me for a while on my own on the first floor. He wanted to leave me in the ENT department but I refused and so I just loitered in the hallways. Then it started to fill up with people and they all looked very unhealthy and unhygienic that I got up and left the hallway.
After a while Gim found me and then told me his colleagues wanted to see me. Argggh! Well, what could I do, he’d already told them I was there waiting downstairs. So up I went to the ENT doctors’ quarters and said hi to his friends and mingled for a bit, maybe 15 minutes, then thankfully Gim and I bid our goodbyes and went down.
If there is one thing I hate it is socializing. Making small talk is a skill I will never ever obtain and the pressure of having to think up interesting things to say to a stranger is the thing I dread the most. Even talking to people I care about is hard enough. What more strangers?
(Blogging is different. There is no pressure on me to keep my readers interested. It’s just a bonus if they are.)
So anyway. Around 8:30 I was finally seated on the dentist’s chair, my mouth opened and the dentist examining my rotting teeth. I was calm by this time because, really, what was the worst thing that could happen? Gim, on the other hand, kept peeking and pacing restlessly like a mother hen right outside the little room so I waved him away. He was making me nervous for him! Thankfully he was needed elsewhere.
The dentist injected my right gums with local anesthesia, and the truth is this was the only pain I felt during the entire exercise. Actually I can’t even call it pain because it didn’t really hurt at all, perhaps because I was used to it already given my multiple dental visits over the years. It feels just like a pinch, or an ant’s bite, then it’s over, and then your mouth starts to numb.
My dentist left me for maybe 5 minutes while the anesthesia worked its magic, then she started drilling on my gums. It felt like scraping, perhaps she was pulling back my gums to expose more of my teeth so she could have a better hold. I could feel it, the scraping, but there was no pain. And then after a bit there was pulling and suddenly my tooth was out! It was all very quick, 10 minutes tops. Then she began sewing me up and this was the part that took a long time, it was a very weird feeling getting sewed up.
And then afterwards, the dentist asked me if I wanted to remove the left wisdom tooth too. I wasn’t feeling any pain so I shrugged and said yes. And she went and worked on that too. She had a bit of trouble with that tooth, though. I think she had to cut up more of my gums and it bled a lot. Whereas my right gums got only 2 stitches, the left gums got around 4 stitches. It also bled a lot more, post-op and swelled bigger and longer, and I got a big black bruise on my left jaw a week later. Also right now there is still a hole where my left tooth was, while there isn’t a hole in my right, just an indentation.
And that’s it. The whole thing took around 30-45 minutes, the dentist was such a quick worker! She prescribed me Clindamycin (antibiotics) 4x a day for 7 days to prevent infection, Tranexamic acid 2x a day for clotting (I took it only for a day), and Celecoxib 2x a day to manage the pain (I took this for around 2-3 days then on and off for the rest of the week).
The first few days, the hardest part for me was not being able to eat anything solid, because my mouth was so swollen. I couldn’t even touch my upper and lower teeth, because my swollen cheeks would get in the way. And if I opened/closed my mouth too much my wounds would bleed. I went on the phone with Gim that first night for about 15 minutes and when I checked my mouth after, it was full of blood! I tried not to eat, but then my stomach would be in pain and I couldn’t sleep. So the first two to three days I mostly ate yogurt, lukewarm soup (arroz caldo), and drank a lot of water. Days 4-5 I was able to swallow scrambled eggs. The first week I really couldn’t chew at all, so I just kept swallowing – even hotdogs. I cut them up in little slivers and swallowed! I was really ravenous during this time – I guess I’ve never gone without protein in my life – I didn’t realize how hungry just eating carbs could be. I wanted to eat every 3 hours!!! But I slept a lot too, during this time. My body felt very weak and I just didn’t have strength to be up for long. I remember missing a lot of calls from friends and officemates, LOL.
So yeah, the pain I experienced wasn’t really related to the wisdom tooth extraction. It was hunger, plain and simple. LOL!
Exactly a week after my wisdom tooth extraction was my friend’s wedding day. And what do you know, God answered my prayers to be able to finally chew, that very day. Perhaps because I finally visited church for once! So I didn’t miss out on the yummy wedding food at all. 🙂 Hahahaha!
