Monday, 1 December 2003

Bye Bye Tooth

So I’ve survived the extraction of my wisdom tooth. The procedure itself wasn’t that bad. The surgeon put a sterile cloth on my face with a hole where my mouth was. At first I thought it’s a bit odd but in the end it was pretty cool. I didn’t have to look at all the butcher tools he used on my mouth (although at times I wished I could) and was instead lying there listening to my favorite radio station with my mobile phone.

The tooth was quite a bitch to remove, as promised. He had to cut it in three pieces to remove it. And the pieces themselves didn’t really want to let go of my jaw. It took quite some heavy lever action to get them out. Once it felt like the surgeon was about to dilsodge my jaw because he was pushing so hard against one of the pieces. So I gurgled a little (really the only sound I could make), he noticed he was going at it a little too rough and allowed me to close my mouth a bit further. That helped. From time to time there was a nasty crushing sound that I hope I’ll never have to hear again. It didn’t take too long to get the sucker out. Maybe 20 minutes tops.

Then they sold me a laser treatment that was “scientifically proven to reduce swelling and accelerate the healing process”. Only catch was that it isn’t covered by health insurance. But hey, if it works I’ll gladly pay 15 Euro for it, I thought. And I think it did help. At least I have the feeling that swallowing isn’t as much of a problem as it was when I had my last wisdom tooth pulled.

Still it hurt quite a bit. Fortunately I got a prescription for some good pain medication. It didn’t take away all the pain but at least I didn’t lie in bed crying because of the pain like I did last time. It hurt enough though that I couldn’t really do anything except lying on the sofa watching TV or sleeping all weekend. Since the procedure was a pretty invasive one and hard on my jaw I also have to take an antibiotic and use a special antibacterial mouthwash twice a day.

But I’m happy I’m finally rid of the little sucker. I’ll also be happy when I don’t look like I’m carrying an egg or something in my right cheek anymore. And I’ll be ecstatic once I can eat solid food again. I’m kind of sick of mushy stuff by now. This morning I managed to eat some bread. I cut the crust off and cut the rest of the bread in tiny pieces that I slowly munched on. It took me like half an hour for two slices of bread but it felt so gooood.

  Posted by Edda at 11:53 CET