Extracted
I finally had my molar extracted today after having problems with it for the past month and a half. I had hoped to keep it until after the baby is born, but things didn't work out that way. Over Christmas, it was one of two teeth that started to hurt BADLY, and the dentist found that it had a crack on the back of it that was difficult to see from the front. Though I scheduled an appointment to have it removed then (it HUUUUUUURT!!!!!) I caught a cold and had to cancel. Then, over the period of a few days, the pain subsided and I decided to try to keep it for a while longer.
A couple of weeks ago, I was eating a crouton in a salad and heard an awful cracking sound, then felt bits of something hard in my mouth. Oops…. It hurt again like crazy, but again, the pain subsided in a few days. Not completely, but enough that I could tolerate it. I couldn't chew on that side of my mouth but was already used to that, so it was tolerable. It kept feeling really weird, though -- not quite intense pain, but just…. strange. Then, last week, I was eating something else (lettuce, I think?) and I felt an intense pang -- Ouch! When I examined it more closely, I found that I could wiggle it around in the socket pretty freely. This was not okay.
So, I made yet another appointment to have it extracted, and caught yet another cold and had to cancel. I was afraid all weekend that I was going to accidentally bite down on something and the thing would fall apart and come out, which while it might have been okay, it might have also been hideously painful. This morning I FINALLY made it to the oral surgeon's office and had the thing removed. He said that about a third of the tooth had totally cracked, and that part came right out with no problem. The rest had to be tugged on and drilled into pieces, but it was really not a big deal -- I didn't even need stitches.
Now I have a mouth packed with gauze and I'm hoping that the bleeding stops soon. (It's been about three hours so far.) I have a prescription for Tylenol with hydrocodone which seems to be helping, though I am still having some pretty sharp pain shooting up into the right side of my face, though really this is nothing compared to the pain I was in over Christmas. I feel a little woozy and a whole lot hungry, but I really don't want to put anything in my mouth until after the bleeding stops, so maybe I'll just take a nap. I had fantasies about doing homework this afternoon, but I feel woozy enough that I am finding it hard to concentrate for very long. I just hope I'm alert enough to drive to class tonight in rush hour traffic -- wish me luck!
A couple of weeks ago, I was eating a crouton in a salad and heard an awful cracking sound, then felt bits of something hard in my mouth. Oops…. It hurt again like crazy, but again, the pain subsided in a few days. Not completely, but enough that I could tolerate it. I couldn't chew on that side of my mouth but was already used to that, so it was tolerable. It kept feeling really weird, though -- not quite intense pain, but just…. strange. Then, last week, I was eating something else (lettuce, I think?) and I felt an intense pang -- Ouch! When I examined it more closely, I found that I could wiggle it around in the socket pretty freely. This was not okay.
So, I made yet another appointment to have it extracted, and caught yet another cold and had to cancel. I was afraid all weekend that I was going to accidentally bite down on something and the thing would fall apart and come out, which while it might have been okay, it might have also been hideously painful. This morning I FINALLY made it to the oral surgeon's office and had the thing removed. He said that about a third of the tooth had totally cracked, and that part came right out with no problem. The rest had to be tugged on and drilled into pieces, but it was really not a big deal -- I didn't even need stitches.
Now I have a mouth packed with gauze and I'm hoping that the bleeding stops soon. (It's been about three hours so far.) I have a prescription for Tylenol with hydrocodone which seems to be helping, though I am still having some pretty sharp pain shooting up into the right side of my face, though really this is nothing compared to the pain I was in over Christmas. I feel a little woozy and a whole lot hungry, but I really don't want to put anything in my mouth until after the bleeding stops, so maybe I'll just take a nap. I had fantasies about doing homework this afternoon, but I feel woozy enough that I am finding it hard to concentrate for very long. I just hope I'm alert enough to drive to class tonight in rush hour traffic -- wish me luck!