Odontophilia II: The Extraction
Had another appointment with the dentist yesterday afternoon. The agenda was to fill another tooth and extract one of my top teeth that grew on the inside of my mouth instead of being in line with the rest. There wasn’t anything wrong with the tooth but it formed a triangle with the surrounding teeth, which made it more difficult to clean/floss/remove food, etc. I wasn’t as nervous this time around because I knew what to expect. And as soon as the lady put the gas mask over my nose, I started inhaling deep. During the first go ‘round, I felt like it took a long time for the nitrous oxide to kick in so I wanted to get that gas a moving as soon as possible. And I felt like it did. I don’t know if they cranked up the dosage because of the tooth removal or if it was because I was breathing deep or what but after a few breaths, that tingly sensation swam to my hands and toes. I closed my eyes and tried to center myself because, although I wasn’t nervous about the filling because I had just had that done a few weeks ago and it wasn’t bad at all, the idea of having a perfectly good, strong, solid tooth yanked out wasn’t something I was too excited about experiencing.
After a good while, the dentist came in and I told him about the tooth that I chipped the day after my last appointment. The first thing he did was smooth it out, which was no big deal at all. Then he began drilling into my lower tooth. Despite the gas and anesthetic, I felt it. I felt it down my jaw into my chin. At one point, I thought I felt that baby right down to my toenails. It wasn’t the worst kind of pain but it was definitely uncomfortable. It hurt a lot more than the last tooth he worked on. It seemed like he took longer to fill it as well. In fact, I thought maybe he had already started working on my upper tooth. It’s so weird because you hear metal clanking and teeth being scraped and drilled but you don’t exactly know where it’s coming from because you are so numbed up. I didn’t even know where my tongue was in my mouth. They could have pierced it and I wouldn’t have noticed. And earlier, the dentist asked me if I could feel when he touched the area around my top tooth and I didn’t feel anything, no pain, no tingling, not even him touching that area in the slightest. So, I thought maybe he gave me a stronger dose of the anesthetic and maybe he had already taken out that tooth. Wow, he took out the tooth and I didn’t even notice! How awesome is that? I tried to find my tongue and when the dentist and his assistant had their hands out of my mouth, I attempted to sweep it over the area of the tooth to see if it was in fact missing or still intact. I couldn’t tell.
Well, a few minutes later I could definitely tell that it was still there and holding strong!
The dentist said, “Okay, you’re going to feel a little pressure” as he clamped down on my tooth. I felt a whole lot more than a “little pressure.” In fact, it felt like he was trying to decapitate me. I felt my whole body give under the strength of his pull. I don’t want to say it was the kind of sharp pain like a stab or slice. It was definitely a pressure sensation but a painful pressure, if that makes any sense. Anyway, it was extremely uncomfortable, so much so that I felt it in my ear. The pain came in short bursts, I suppose as he pulled and then rested, pulled and then rested. I think he might have even partially tried to cut the tooth out ‘cause I heard some buzzing going on. And then the pain stretched into longer periods, as he really put some elbow grease into that tooth. Meanwhile, I’m lying in the chair, my hands sinking into the arm rests, my eyes closed, trying to concentrate on my breathing, trying to focus on music and poetry, all the while this girl on one side of me is sucking up the saliva from my mouth while the dentist on the other side of me removes my tooth, bit by bit. I heard it snap a few times and chipped tooth landed in my throat. This happened about two or three times and it worried me ‘cause I was thinking if he had chipped down my tooth to a stump, he won’t have anything to hold onto to be able to pull that sucker out.
And the smell was horrible, like a burned batch of Captain Crunch. I know that sounds really odd but that’s the closest comparison I could make. Or it was some kind of breakfast cereal but it was nauseating whatever it was. The pulling and sawing and the horrible smell all made my head pound like a jackhammer. I was coming close to reaching my limit. For a while there I was going to ask if we could take a break because I wasn’t sure how much more of that intense pressure I could take. It was getting pretty bad.
And then he told me it was over. I was shocked because I didn’t necessarily feel the tooth come out. I guess I had so many other sensations going on that the feeling of my tooth slowly tearing away was lost in the mix. I realized my knees had been tensed up the whole time so I finally let them relax and said a quick thank you to God. While it was incredibly unpleasant, I realized that it could have been a lot worse so I was thankful that it wasn’t. I mean, I could handle it. I wasn’t reduced to tears or girly screams, so I was happy about that. The dentist then stuck some gauze in my mouth to cover the hole where my tooth once was and asked me if I could hold it there with my tongue. I still couldn’t even feel my tongue so there was no way I was gonna be able to stick it there. He laughed at me and then the hygienist laughed at me and then I laughed at myself. Someone else came in and raised the chair. As I slowly came up, the dentist started throwing a lot of information my way. I was still a little unnerved by the procedure so I wasn’t hearing everything he was saying. All I gathered was that I wasn’t supposed to spit or smoke for a few days. No problem there. He also told me he wrote a prescription for pain meds and told me to change the gauze every forty-five minutes.
As I was paying for the appointment, I touched my face and was horrified. At first, I thought the gauze was hanging out of my mouth. Then, I realized it was just my lip. I felt lower and my whole chin was numb and puffy. It was totally creepy. I was also slurring my words like a seasoned alky. I then went to Rite-Aid to get my prescription filled and then went home. I rinsed my mouth out and before I put in fresh gauze, I felt the hole in my mouth with my tongue. It was so creepy. First of all, it felt huge because it was one of the larger back teeth. Secondly, it was pretty sensitive and still bleeding. The coppery taste of blood cascaded across my tongue and made me wince. Surprisingly, I wasn’t hurting that much. I guess it’s because I was still pretty numbed up and I went ahead and took some Oxycodone as a preventative measure, so the pain wouldn’t have a chance to kick in. Unfortunately, it made me feel really queasy and not very good. You know that sensation you get in your chest and butt when you feel nauseated? It’s that fuzzy fiery feeling and you feel like you need to vomit? Yeah, that’s how I was feeling. So, I took a nap and then took another pill before going to bed.
The gaping hole is still a little bit sore. It doesn’t necessarily hurt but it’s tender to food and drink. I’ve been eating soft foods and trying not to consume anything too hot or too cold. It’s already getting old chewing out of just one side of my mouth but I’ll get by. Hopefully I’ll be fully healed by the end of the week or sometime around there. I don’t think I’m going to take any more pills because they just make me feel sick. The dentist said I could just take some over the counter medicine if I’d rather so that’s what I did today.
The good thing is that I’m done with the dentist. No cavities and no extraneous teeth to deal with and hopefully if I don’t mysteriously chip any more teeth, I’m good to go for a while! Pretty excited about that. The next thing to tackle is braces but I just don’t know if I’ll ever be able to get them ‘cause I still haven’t found a job yet. I’m worried that I’ll finally be able to afford braces only when I get old and by the time I’m finished with them, my teeth will fall out and I’ll have to get dentures. But I suppose that’s a long way down the road and I shouldn’t worry about it now. Maybe I’ll get lucky and win the lottery. Or maybe I’ll just have to keep the teeth I have. At least they’re healthy.
Ouchies.
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