...
Teeth. Oh...my teeth.
To make an incredibly long story short, and to keep from having to retell it a million times...I'll write about it here.
I've put off having my wisdom teeth pulled for a very long time. Unfortunately, 2 wks ago or so, it became absolutely necessary that they leave my mouth. I'm talkin' relentless pain of the "Christ! This is getting into my brain, and it's going to drive me mad!" variety. So, I scheduled an appointment with a dentistry place that caters to non-insured folk...such as myself. I went. They said I need all four out (sans surgury). They prescribed me Amoxicillan and Vicodin, and rescheduled me for a week and a half later.
I talked to a bunch of people about being awake for this pulling business, and everyone said "Eh, its really not that bad. Slight discomfort, weird pressure, but not any real pain...and you heal fast." Me- "Sweet. I can deal with that!"
Skip to today.
I'm not excited to be there or anything, but it's gotta be done. I can handle this.
I got back into the room, he gives me the shots to numb me (OW!!), and leaves me alone for a while so they can take effect. Comes back....
Enter the pain.
Holy Shit, Fuck, Damn, &^%@(*@#&^%@!!!
The top two teeth aren't that bad, but the bottom two..... *sigh*
It was completely and utterly traumatic, this experience. I don't think I have EVER felt pain like this. MAYBE my back problems have come close...but just imagine a dentist pulling your teeth without any numbing stuff. That's the only description that comes close. Let's paint a picture!
Me in chair, his hands in my mouth. He tries to pull the tooth. My feet banging repeatedly on the chair while I moan loudly "UNH-UNH!" (as in No! Stop!). I'm crying, I'm shaking, I'm sweating, I'm panicking. He keeps stopping to shoot more numb stuff, and to let me breath and calm down some. I think I had a total of about 15+ shots in my mouth to stop the pain. A quote from the lovely doc- "Honestly, Amy...I don't think I've EVER seen anybody's metabolism break down the anesthetic as fast as you do."
Great. Three cheers for rampant drug-use in college to give my system a tolerance to meds!
*Let me offer a quick side note- I'm making this dentist sound like a beast, but honestly...he and the assistant were genuinely nice and did their DAMNEDEST to comfort me. The assistant kept rubbing my shoulder and wiping my tears (when she could). I REALLY liked them.
We talked about just saying "Fuck it," and getting an anesthesiologist in there, but it would take like another couple of weeks for scheduling, and another $1000 that I DO NOT have. So I say, "Ok. I CANNOT do that. I cannot wait another few weeks for this to get done. Let's do this. I'm going to deal."
SOoOOoooo....He ended up drilling holes in my bottom teeth (fuckingOOWWshit! And the SMELL! THE SMELL!) and then poking a shot down there to numb the tooth at the roots. This helped *a little*, but overall....not much.
There were more tears, and more clenching of the fist on the chair...but we got it done. When I sat up, my hair was completely soaked with tears that had run back, not to mention sweat. But thank god it was over. I didn't stop shaking until I got halfway home though.
I'm not trying to scare anyone that has to get this done, but I had to write about it. Besides having a complete nervous breakdown, I think I've been irreparably traumatized.
To make an incredibly long story short, and to keep from having to retell it a million times...I'll write about it here.
I've put off having my wisdom teeth pulled for a very long time. Unfortunately, 2 wks ago or so, it became absolutely necessary that they leave my mouth. I'm talkin' relentless pain of the "Christ! This is getting into my brain, and it's going to drive me mad!" variety. So, I scheduled an appointment with a dentistry place that caters to non-insured folk...such as myself. I went. They said I need all four out (sans surgury). They prescribed me Amoxicillan and Vicodin, and rescheduled me for a week and a half later.
I talked to a bunch of people about being awake for this pulling business, and everyone said "Eh, its really not that bad. Slight discomfort, weird pressure, but not any real pain...and you heal fast." Me- "Sweet. I can deal with that!"
Skip to today.
I'm not excited to be there or anything, but it's gotta be done. I can handle this.
I got back into the room, he gives me the shots to numb me (OW!!), and leaves me alone for a while so they can take effect. Comes back....
Enter the pain.
Holy Shit, Fuck, Damn, &^%@(*@#&^%@!!!
The top two teeth aren't that bad, but the bottom two..... *sigh*
It was completely and utterly traumatic, this experience. I don't think I have EVER felt pain like this. MAYBE my back problems have come close...but just imagine a dentist pulling your teeth without any numbing stuff. That's the only description that comes close. Let's paint a picture!
Me in chair, his hands in my mouth. He tries to pull the tooth. My feet banging repeatedly on the chair while I moan loudly "UNH-UNH!" (as in No! Stop!). I'm crying, I'm shaking, I'm sweating, I'm panicking. He keeps stopping to shoot more numb stuff, and to let me breath and calm down some. I think I had a total of about 15+ shots in my mouth to stop the pain. A quote from the lovely doc- "Honestly, Amy...I don't think I've EVER seen anybody's metabolism break down the anesthetic as fast as you do."
Great. Three cheers for rampant drug-use in college to give my system a tolerance to meds!
*Let me offer a quick side note- I'm making this dentist sound like a beast, but honestly...he and the assistant were genuinely nice and did their DAMNEDEST to comfort me. The assistant kept rubbing my shoulder and wiping my tears (when she could). I REALLY liked them.
We talked about just saying "Fuck it," and getting an anesthesiologist in there, but it would take like another couple of weeks for scheduling, and another $1000 that I DO NOT have. So I say, "Ok. I CANNOT do that. I cannot wait another few weeks for this to get done. Let's do this. I'm going to deal."
SOoOOoooo....He ended up drilling holes in my bottom teeth (fuckingOOWWshit! And the SMELL! THE SMELL!) and then poking a shot down there to numb the tooth at the roots. This helped *a little*, but overall....not much.
There were more tears, and more clenching of the fist on the chair...but we got it done. When I sat up, my hair was completely soaked with tears that had run back, not to mention sweat. But thank god it was over. I didn't stop shaking until I got halfway home though.
I'm not trying to scare anyone that has to get this done, but I had to write about it. Besides having a complete nervous breakdown, I think I've been irreparably traumatized.