2 root wisdom
May 26, 2007
About a month back, I paid my dentist a visit for a routine clean and to decide if i needed to extract my left wisdom tooth. I was getting pulses of pain, and he said if it wasn’t extracted, the pain will only intensify with every episode.
So the verdict was… pull it out. My first ever extraction, and it wasn’t pleasant.
I’ve changed my appointment 3 times, and i’ve run out of excuses.
I’m now icing a swollen cheek with a cooler box ice block wrapped in a towel. My cheeks and lips are numb, and i’m drooling out of the side of my mouth (when i tried to eat some porridge lunch).
Warning! Graphic pictures below!
Was a pretty huge tooth.
Check out all that blood and bits of gum attached! Gross!
Want to know how its done? Keep reading, its more for my reference and fyi.
Before removing a wisdom tooth, your dentist will give you a local anesthetic to numb the area where the tooth will be removed.
To remove the wisdom tooth, your dentist will open up the gum tissue over the tooth and take out any bone that is covering the tooth. He or she will separate the tissue connecting the tooth to the bone and then remove the tooth. Sometimes the dentist will cut the tooth into smaller pieces to make it easier to remove.
After the tooth is removed, you may need stitches. Some stitches dissolve over time and some have to be removed after a few days. Your dentist will tell you whether your stitches need to be removed. A folded cotton gauze pad placed over the wound will help stop the bleeding.
What To Expect After Surgery
In most cases, the recovery period lasts only a few days. Take painkillers as prescribed by your dentist or oral surgeon. The following tips will help speed your recovery.Bite gently on the gauze pad periodically, and change pads as they become soaked with blood. Call your dentist or oral surgeon if you still have bleeding 24 hours after your surgery. While your mouth is numb, be careful not to bite the inside of your cheek or lip, or your tongue. Do not lie flat. This may prolong bleeding. Prop up your head with pillows. Try using an ice pack on the outside of your cheek for the first 24 hours. You can use moist heat-such as a washcloth soaked in warm water and wrung out-for the following 2 or 3 days. Relax after surgery. Physical activity may increase bleeding. Eat soft foods, such as gelatin, pudding, or a thin soup. Gradually add solid foods to your diet as healing progresses. Do not use a straw for the first few days. Sucking on a straw can loosen the blood clot and delay healing. After the first day, gently rinse your mouth with warm salt water several times a day to reduce swelling and relieve pain. Avoid rubbing the area with your tongue or touching it with your fingers. Continue to brush your teeth and tongue carefully. -Courtesy of WebMD-
Now it’s really
Bye bye third molar!!
posted in Random |
Hey hey, welcome to the club!!!
You’ve got a big molar! Mine’s smaller.
I forgot to mention in my post - When you return for a review, your doc will prob give you a syringe with a blunt head needle. There’ll be an empty socket where your tooth used to be. Takes abt 3 month to cover up.
Meanwhile you’ll be needing the syringe to flush out food particles trap in the socket.
It’s really annoying for me when I having food going m.i.a in the socket. Your salad shrimps or nuggets will go hide there!!!
I love to syringe cos it make my mouth clean!
Comment by Chloe — May 26, 2007 @ 4:35 pm
*shudder*
Comment by Priscilla — May 26, 2007 @ 5:20 pm
I’ve one that’s gotta come out sooner or later and it’s fully grown, pointing inwards. Damn! Btw, how’s the services at your dentist. I’m still looking for a good one, and since your tooth wasn’t straight, I thought I’d give it a try as well. Cheers
Comment by Wilfred — May 26, 2007 @ 6:07 pm
Honey, Im sure mine was way more serious than yrs mine was impacted!! It was sooooo bad my right cheek swelled up .. and so swelled up, I bit my tongue during my sleep~ aiyo, plus Ive to wait a few days cus the infection caused pus too! How gross right and so darn pain~ hehehe I extracted 2 out! and now its all good! For yr normal extraction, u will be fine tomorrow. =)
Comment by michie — May 26, 2007 @ 7:58 pm
chloe: i have to see him next week to take out the stitches.. he didnt give me no syringe though….hmmmm
priscilla: yup… not pleasant at all……
wilfred & michie: my doc is Aaron seow dental. he has a few branches around singapore. Actually, the one i took out was growing out u straight, but it was touching the bone and nerves at the end.
in 3 months time, i have to do the other one, which is impacted. sideways, i saw the x ray… very strange. anyway that will be more complicated.
Comment by Angela — May 26, 2007 @ 10:30 pm
U’ll prob get the syringe after removing stitches.
So why 3 months later for the impacted one?
Comment by Chloe — May 26, 2007 @ 10:58 pm
I haven’t had mine pulled out!!! But i dun feel anything!
Comment by Kuen — May 26, 2007 @ 11:00 pm
Darling, impacted one is the scary one. It will bleed quite a few hours …. but its fine with injections, just that when teh dentist tried to sew my gum, its really intimidating~ but dun wait for the pain to arrive .. 3 mths will be good, let it grow a bit more first.
Comment by michie — May 27, 2007 @ 12:29 am
chloe: apparently it takes about 3 months to heal, so he said one at a time.
kuen: if it doesn’t bother you, dont pull it out….
michie:
oh oh….sigh… 3 months to prepare myself mentally.
Comment by Angela — May 27, 2007 @ 8:35 am
*ouch*
That looks really painful. Well, I guess now’s the perfect excuse to eat ice cream 
Comment by Drea — May 27, 2007 @ 12:59 pm
When I had it extracted a few months back, it was swollen quite badly. I told my friends that I got hit on the cheek in a cat-fight one night at a club. They all believed me!
Comment by Sisilia — May 27, 2007 @ 1:34 pm
i rather not have wisdom.. OMG and i cant imagine brushing! reminder for me to take a trip down to the dentist..
Comment by ginA — May 27, 2007 @ 3:28 pm
drea: yesh!! and drink slurpees!!!
sisilia:HAHHAHAha i dont think ppl will believe me if i said that… luckily the swelling is gone.
ginA: i didn’t go back for a year…. so lazy!
Comment by Angela — May 27, 2007 @ 5:25 pm
OUCH!!! Owww hope the swelling has gone down. That is one nassttyyyy extraction.
Comment by jem — May 27, 2007 @ 6:30 pm
ouch! that look nasty! poor babe. hope it heals beautifully!
Comment by tiffany — May 27, 2007 @ 8:21 pm
Totally understand your anxiety. Took me a couple of yrs b4 i actually book an appt. I kept asking why am i doing this to myself. But after the surgery, i felt like a heavy load was lifted off me.
Be brave! Think Nike - JUST.DO.IT.
I walk out of the clinic alive
And now i’m drinking sluuuurpee!
Comment by Chloe — May 27, 2007 @ 9:17 pm
the only good thing that came out of me getting my widsom tooth pulled was that i lost weight coz i couldn’t eat properly for ages after that!
Comment by debbs — May 27, 2007 @ 10:29 pm
eeeeeeeeeeeeewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww
Comment by dru — May 28, 2007 @ 9:21 am
jem: I’m sure you’ve seen worse pics before, does you mum tell you patient horror stories?
tiffany: I hope so too, now its just stitched up with black thread..gross…
chloe: i wouldn’t mind a slurpee now… im getting a headache from the ache at the moment..
debbs: Hmmmm problem is, i still eat the same portion… just not solid food… i wish i could lose the weight though….
dru: knew you’d like that…hahahahaha
Comment by Angela — May 28, 2007 @ 2:08 pm
I lost weight too. Abt 2kilos. But u know what? Once the wound doesn’t hurt and with appetite back, the weight goes back. Prob eating to compensate n revenge. Hahaha! Back to square one
Comment by Chloe — May 28, 2007 @ 4:01 pm
Yeoch! That’s larger than my molar!
I had 2 on the left side removed at the same time. The lower molar was impacted. The dentist had to cut open my gums, split the molar into 4 pieces with a circular saw, remove them, and stitch up the entire thing. Fun. The good side of it? 9 days MC during BMT. Woohoo! I was almost tempted to ask, “Hey, Doc, when can I remove the other two?”
I lost 10 kg through the entire ordeal though. Could eat nothing but fruit cake back in camp (after the MC) for a week.
Comment by -ben — May 29, 2007 @ 2:01 pm
Chloe: i feel like i’m teething.. its so irritating!!!!
ben: fruitcake is fattening ! my gosh why 2 though?
Comment by Angela — May 29, 2007 @ 2:42 pm
The nurse had to hold my head while DR GIGGLES had to wrestle it out. Man..it was traumatic.
Comment by ril — May 29, 2007 @ 7:41 pm
So how many days mc you’ve got?
Seem like many pple had a horrible experience. Why I dun think mine is that bad? I actually start eating ok on day3. Like noodles, fish.
I recommend fish cos easy to chew. You know you are ok when you can eat burgers.
Comment by Chloe — May 29, 2007 @ 11:10 pm
can u imagine that my friend went through surgery for the extraction of 5 teeth! Her doctor actually recommended she removed all.. i could see her blue blacks on her cheeks for months! My god. And well, it feels scary reading the description… -shudders-
Hope your swelling has reduced =D
Comment by lpy — June 4, 2007 @ 10:51 am
ril: DR GIGGLES??!!
chloe: no MC
well i didn’t ask for one, coz i didn’t think it would hurt…. i mean.. i was pretty numb when i left the clinic. i should have asked for one
Ipy: ur right, i had a friend who went under General Anaesthetic as well, and came out bruised all over her cheeks…
Comment by Angela — June 4, 2007 @ 5:48 pm
What? Oh man, what a waste! Well remember to ask for it when you get the other one done. That way you get some TLC and homecooked food.
I heard pple usually get 5 working days.
Comment by Chloe — June 5, 2007 @ 4:19 pm
Chloe: i’m getting a bit paranoid of round 2 actually….
Comment by Angela — June 6, 2007 @ 2:47 pm
I just went to dental cos my wisdom tooth pain, but i did not remove it coz i don wish to remove until is time come.
but i like going to dental clinial to clean my tooth
Comment by jaime — July 2, 2007 @ 5:09 pm
my dr’s made me wait a year in agony before removing my winsdom tooth - they then said why have you waited so long to get it removed?? it was growing underneath the nearest tooth the pain after the numbing wears off is agony im on day two and wish i was asleep - to help you go sleep you will need sleeping tablets thank god i had them!!! i still wake with the pain whilst taking sleeping tablets!!!!!!!!!!! still 1 left but maybe abit close to my wedding to see.
Comment by tommy — July 18, 2008 @ 7:45 pm