I had surgery this morning at 9am to remove all 4 of my wisdom teeth. So I've decided to document the recovery/surgery so that people undergoing this procedure can have an idea of what their in for.
For starters only one of my teeth had actually broken the surface of my gums, it was the bottom right one. The other three were "ready" to come out but hadn't yet pushed through my gums, I believe they said it was because my mouth was too small..(that's a new one).
I was having alot of teething pain on the bottom right side the night before so I was actually relieved to know it would soon be over....Sortof.
I was the first patient that day. I brushed my teeth and we went to leave the house, I asked my mom if she had all the right papers and ofcourse she said yes...when we got there we realized that she brought my car insurance papers instead...O.o so that was lovely, but we were early so they let her drive back to get them. First the nurse came in and went over a sheet of paper with what to expect after the surgery and gave me tips on foods to try and showed us how to change and roll the gauze. Then the oral surgeon came in and he went over the prescription I would be given, Percocets because tylonal three upsets my stomach and I metabolize the codeine too quickly for the pain relief to be effective. Then I asked him how I would be able to tell the difference between the numbing of my mouth or nerve damage, He said that you can't tell until 8 hours after the surgery but that it's rare and wouldn't happen to me.
I was nervous but So tired from waking up at 4am due to anxiety so I just kept telling them that I was excited to sleep. The anesthesiologist came in, told me about general anesthesia and reassured me that he would make sure that I wouldn't be nearly as nauseous as I had been after my tonsillectomy. Then my mom went to the waiting room and I was led into a room that had a dental chair in the middle. I sat up on it, they told me to uncross my legs because once I'm asleep I wouldn't be able to and it could affect circulation. Then the anesthesiologist asked me about my college, I wasn't nervous at that point because I knew soon it would be fine. He put the IV in and told me that it might sting, and I said he did a great job because the people at the hospital when I had my tonsillectomy had to try twice, He laughed and called them hacks then joked and said that was just the alcohol, and I told him "well now it looks like you've used too much". Then they put the oxygen mask on me and said "you probably already know what this is from your tonsillectomy", I told them that actually I wasn't given it before going under and the anesthesiologist said something about them being hacks again, I focused on breathing deeply. There was only a nurse and the anesthesiologist in the room, He told me he was about to inject the anesthesia into my IV. I stared up at the ceiling thinking about how many people have stared at the ceiling, the moment the fluid entered my veins I felt coldness but no pain and then heavyness, all of my muscles relaxed and then my vision went blue...not sure why, I just remember seeing blue :) But it was calming.
I woke up staring at the ceiling, my whole lower face was numb, not including my nose, but my ears were numb and tingly. My mouth tasted like dandelions and because of the gauze it was dry, I asked the nurse for water and she said I could drink when I got home. The taste bothered me more then the pain. The nurse was the only one in the room, She told me that in ten minutes she would get me up. She changed my gauze, I felt sleepy and I could barley keep my eyes open but the pain was maybe a 3, she kept checking her watch and I said "you're so good at your job, you're such a good nurse" I'm not even sure why...I just felt like complimenting everyone. I asked her how long it had been and she said "just under an hour". She helped me get up and walked me to my mom in the waiting room. There were 3 other people in the waiting room all my age (19) and they were all having the same surgery. I stopped at the door of the waiting room to feel my lips and make sure my mouth was closed, the nurse said I looked normal but it felt like I'd had multiple botched lip injections and that my lips probably looked like a folded innertube in the middle of two stuffed chipmunk cheeks. Though, in reality it did look completely normal except of the fact that the only facial expression I could do was pout...I could sort of talk but It didn't sound like me. I walked into the waiting room and all I thought was how scared everyone looked and that I should reassure them...I'm sure everyone else was nervous and I was the first person They'd seen. From the back room I could hear the second patient getting drilled, my mom later told me that they didn't need to use the drill on me. While we were still in the waiting room my mom asked how it went, I said fine and gave a thumb up, she asked how I felt and I said fine, all eyes were on me so I tried to smile and act like it wasn't too bad in hopes that it would make them feel better. As we were leaving I said loud enough for everyone to hear that "it wasn't that bad at all".
Then we got to the car, 10 minute drive home...I changed my gauze the moment I got home. I had to keep changing it every ten minutes because the bottom right side (where the tooth was already come through the gums) was bleeding. It wasn't terrible...I rolled up the gauze and shoved it as far back as I could. It kept triggering my gag reflex because I didn't like the feeling of the cotton fabric in my throat, it felt like a mouth full of cotton balls which really grossed me out. After 3 hours of constant gauze changing my mom dipped two tea bags in warm water and tried to put them back there but they were too big so we decided to just use one on the side with the bleeding. (tennin in tea is supposed to constrict blood vessels and slow bleeding) I was worried it might break so we wrapped it once in gauze. I tied to sit with it like that for half an hour but I think I only lasted ten minutes because the concentrated taste of the tea mixed with the taste of gauze and my own blood was making me queasy and gag. I took the tea bag out, put gauze in and went to lay down...or lay up because I didn't want to get bruising from sleeping on my cheek. I slept upright with two ice packs for my face. (the kind that are little fabric bags with a lid and you just fill them with ice cubes, those worked the best..but there are also some that are made of jell beads and they don't freeze fully and those help too) I took a gravol, pain pill and an antibiotic. I had to push them back on my tongue and swallow them with some water because my mouth was numb so the water kept spilling everywhere. The bleeding lessened but my stomach hurt from lack of food, water and swallowing my own blood. I napped for alittle while but mostly just sat in the dark with my cats. At 8 pm I started to worry because my lower lip and chin were still completely numb. Online it said that that probably meant I had some nerve damage. I got worried, we called the "on call" oral surgeon and he never called us back. I took the gauze out to try to move my jaw a bit to maybe help get the numbness out of my jaw, I think it helped. I didnt eat until 10pm and I had half a cup on soft serve, I haven't drank much.Earlier today (8pm) The numbness was the majority of the discomfort I felt but now its seeming to slowly wear off so it is starting to hurt quite a bit. maybe a 5-6. not horrible though...just feel like I got in a fight and that its bruised and stiff...I refuse to look back there unless I have to. I plan to not heat anything that requires chewing because I don't want food getting stuck.
I will update this tomorrow. Also if you have any questions feel free to comment or contact me.
If you Repost/Share this please cite with the link ;
http://footstepsintheforest.weebly.com/balloons-or-anchors/post-wisdom-teeth-extraction
Thankyou.
For starters only one of my teeth had actually broken the surface of my gums, it was the bottom right one. The other three were "ready" to come out but hadn't yet pushed through my gums, I believe they said it was because my mouth was too small..(that's a new one).
I was having alot of teething pain on the bottom right side the night before so I was actually relieved to know it would soon be over....Sortof.
I was the first patient that day. I brushed my teeth and we went to leave the house, I asked my mom if she had all the right papers and ofcourse she said yes...when we got there we realized that she brought my car insurance papers instead...O.o so that was lovely, but we were early so they let her drive back to get them. First the nurse came in and went over a sheet of paper with what to expect after the surgery and gave me tips on foods to try and showed us how to change and roll the gauze. Then the oral surgeon came in and he went over the prescription I would be given, Percocets because tylonal three upsets my stomach and I metabolize the codeine too quickly for the pain relief to be effective. Then I asked him how I would be able to tell the difference between the numbing of my mouth or nerve damage, He said that you can't tell until 8 hours after the surgery but that it's rare and wouldn't happen to me.
I was nervous but So tired from waking up at 4am due to anxiety so I just kept telling them that I was excited to sleep. The anesthesiologist came in, told me about general anesthesia and reassured me that he would make sure that I wouldn't be nearly as nauseous as I had been after my tonsillectomy. Then my mom went to the waiting room and I was led into a room that had a dental chair in the middle. I sat up on it, they told me to uncross my legs because once I'm asleep I wouldn't be able to and it could affect circulation. Then the anesthesiologist asked me about my college, I wasn't nervous at that point because I knew soon it would be fine. He put the IV in and told me that it might sting, and I said he did a great job because the people at the hospital when I had my tonsillectomy had to try twice, He laughed and called them hacks then joked and said that was just the alcohol, and I told him "well now it looks like you've used too much". Then they put the oxygen mask on me and said "you probably already know what this is from your tonsillectomy", I told them that actually I wasn't given it before going under and the anesthesiologist said something about them being hacks again, I focused on breathing deeply. There was only a nurse and the anesthesiologist in the room, He told me he was about to inject the anesthesia into my IV. I stared up at the ceiling thinking about how many people have stared at the ceiling, the moment the fluid entered my veins I felt coldness but no pain and then heavyness, all of my muscles relaxed and then my vision went blue...not sure why, I just remember seeing blue :) But it was calming.
I woke up staring at the ceiling, my whole lower face was numb, not including my nose, but my ears were numb and tingly. My mouth tasted like dandelions and because of the gauze it was dry, I asked the nurse for water and she said I could drink when I got home. The taste bothered me more then the pain. The nurse was the only one in the room, She told me that in ten minutes she would get me up. She changed my gauze, I felt sleepy and I could barley keep my eyes open but the pain was maybe a 3, she kept checking her watch and I said "you're so good at your job, you're such a good nurse" I'm not even sure why...I just felt like complimenting everyone. I asked her how long it had been and she said "just under an hour". She helped me get up and walked me to my mom in the waiting room. There were 3 other people in the waiting room all my age (19) and they were all having the same surgery. I stopped at the door of the waiting room to feel my lips and make sure my mouth was closed, the nurse said I looked normal but it felt like I'd had multiple botched lip injections and that my lips probably looked like a folded innertube in the middle of two stuffed chipmunk cheeks. Though, in reality it did look completely normal except of the fact that the only facial expression I could do was pout...I could sort of talk but It didn't sound like me. I walked into the waiting room and all I thought was how scared everyone looked and that I should reassure them...I'm sure everyone else was nervous and I was the first person They'd seen. From the back room I could hear the second patient getting drilled, my mom later told me that they didn't need to use the drill on me. While we were still in the waiting room my mom asked how it went, I said fine and gave a thumb up, she asked how I felt and I said fine, all eyes were on me so I tried to smile and act like it wasn't too bad in hopes that it would make them feel better. As we were leaving I said loud enough for everyone to hear that "it wasn't that bad at all".
Then we got to the car, 10 minute drive home...I changed my gauze the moment I got home. I had to keep changing it every ten minutes because the bottom right side (where the tooth was already come through the gums) was bleeding. It wasn't terrible...I rolled up the gauze and shoved it as far back as I could. It kept triggering my gag reflex because I didn't like the feeling of the cotton fabric in my throat, it felt like a mouth full of cotton balls which really grossed me out. After 3 hours of constant gauze changing my mom dipped two tea bags in warm water and tried to put them back there but they were too big so we decided to just use one on the side with the bleeding. (tennin in tea is supposed to constrict blood vessels and slow bleeding) I was worried it might break so we wrapped it once in gauze. I tied to sit with it like that for half an hour but I think I only lasted ten minutes because the concentrated taste of the tea mixed with the taste of gauze and my own blood was making me queasy and gag. I took the tea bag out, put gauze in and went to lay down...or lay up because I didn't want to get bruising from sleeping on my cheek. I slept upright with two ice packs for my face. (the kind that are little fabric bags with a lid and you just fill them with ice cubes, those worked the best..but there are also some that are made of jell beads and they don't freeze fully and those help too) I took a gravol, pain pill and an antibiotic. I had to push them back on my tongue and swallow them with some water because my mouth was numb so the water kept spilling everywhere. The bleeding lessened but my stomach hurt from lack of food, water and swallowing my own blood. I napped for alittle while but mostly just sat in the dark with my cats. At 8 pm I started to worry because my lower lip and chin were still completely numb. Online it said that that probably meant I had some nerve damage. I got worried, we called the "on call" oral surgeon and he never called us back. I took the gauze out to try to move my jaw a bit to maybe help get the numbness out of my jaw, I think it helped. I didnt eat until 10pm and I had half a cup on soft serve, I haven't drank much.Earlier today (8pm) The numbness was the majority of the discomfort I felt but now its seeming to slowly wear off so it is starting to hurt quite a bit. maybe a 5-6. not horrible though...just feel like I got in a fight and that its bruised and stiff...I refuse to look back there unless I have to. I plan to not heat anything that requires chewing because I don't want food getting stuck.
I will update this tomorrow. Also if you have any questions feel free to comment or contact me.
If you Repost/Share this please cite with the link ;
http://footstepsintheforest.weebly.com/balloons-or-anchors/post-wisdom-teeth-extraction
Thankyou.