Wisdom Teeth Surgery
Long time no see, LJ!
Just wanted to record down this "momentous occasion" in my life somewhere lah.
Why remove my wisdom teeth?
Ah ha, the reasons are sketchy at best. My main purpose in consulting the orthodontist was to get braces. X-rays showed 4 impacted wisdom teeth (the bottom two were completely horizontally-impacted), so the doc said I not only had to have 4 premolars removed for the braces, but had to remove the 4 wisdom teeth as well. Further scans showed that my bottom wisdom teeth were buried deep and near certain nerves but the surgeon said that it shouldn't be too much of a problem.
Day 1
They got an anesthetist in just so that I could be iv-sedated while they removed all 8 teeth. Could tell she was trying to distract me while putting the iv thingie into the back of my hand...it hurt lah and really reminded me of all the painful stuff from spinal surgery years ago. It all went by pretty fast, I felt another surge of pain (they said it was the drugs administered via the iv) through my arm, a nurse began to apply cream around my mouth area and bam...the next thing I know I was awake already with a mouth full of gauze.
REALLY COULD NOT HAVE DONE THIS WITHOUT IV SEDATION. I am told this is different from GA in that you are not completely unconscious, but the iv meds cause you to have partial or full amnesia. Awesome!
Anyway, one of the first things I heard after I 'woke up' was the surgeon telling my parents that one of the teeth was buried very deep.
Then my mind started to clear up and I was really bothered by the phlegm stuck in my throat and so the nurse took out the gauze in my mouth and let me have some water. After that they left me to lie down and rest...could not go back to sleep...just felt really uncomfortable. Might have cried a little after realising that it was finally done. lol.
Not long after, they said that I could go home. So they gave me a mask to put on...and my parents happily decided to have lunch at the mall. So after buying some icecream and smoothie, I had to wait for them to have lunch. Bad idea, my bloody drool started to accumulate and drip out of my mouth/mask...it happened while I was buying Green Tea milkshake from New Zealand Natural. 0_o
Went home and felt miserable for a few hours. Was terrified that the bleeding wouldn't stop. The gauze in my mouth kept on getting saturated with blood immediately and I was so afraid to change the gauze because my mom said that the nurse said not to change it "too frequently" if not the blood wouldn't clot. Anyway, the entire first day was nuts lah, because of the bleeding. Was confused over how long to let the gauze stay in, and when I could take out the gauze permanently. Worried about "dry socket" (the horrible possible complication that i'd read about online)...
Felt slightly better after I finally managed to drink half of the milkshake (tried earlier but could not even swallow my medication)....and then for dinner I had instant powdered soup (supposedly asparagus flavour but it was just....salty) and some bottled strawberry smoothie.
Oh forgot to say, the painkiller worked PERFECTLY. Did not feel pain at all the whole day.
Day 2
The swelling started!! For breakfast all I had was the remainder of the strawberrie smoothie. Lunch...tried to eat some laoban douhua but failed...the pieces kept on going everywhere in my mouth instead of down my throat. So I had porridge soup (without the rice) and soya sauce instead. Also had abit of bird's nest but was concerned with the small bits of ginseng in it. Sometime during the afternoon I had a cup of mangosteen sherbet and continued to fail with the laoban douhua. So I gave up on that, sigh. :(
For dinner I had crystal jade porridge! It was the really blended kind such that it was nearly paste. This tasted so good...
Finally showered and "brushed" & flossed my few remaining front teeth. And rinsed using the mouthwash the doc gave. Felt good. However, while flossing I realised that the numbness in my right chin was also present in my teeth/gums itself on the right side of my mouth. Really hope this goes away soon.
Day 3
Ah, the day the swelling was supposed to get worse, according to the doc. But in truth, it didn't feel that much worse than Day 2. Managed to have some canned creamed potato soup, some mocha icecream (had a tough time removing the bits of almond though), continued to drink the Marigold mango smoothie now and then.
For dinner...my best meal yet! Chicken Alphabet soup. This was good. the little alphabet noodles were perfect and I swallowed them easily. Even the bits of carrot and peas were easily swallowed. Nice. Albeit the soup was a little too salty.
Oh and finally used the tongue cleaner to clean my tongue. So much grub had accumulated on it...it was causing my breath to stink. Still couldn't do much brushing. Am abit concerned for my molars that I haven't been able to reach. Would rinse/gargle more but am terrified about the posts on the internet about mouthwashes being bad for the surgical sites and causing dry socket and all...SIGH.
Hoping to eat more foods tomorrow and explore mashed potatos. Maybe scrambled eggs... am abit sick of staying at home and eating lousy food. :(
Day 4
Swelling was still the same I think...Still sore. But could open my mouth wider!
And thus I had scrambled eggs for breakfast, Red Pepper & Tomato Soup from Cedele for lunch (think this one had little bits and tomato seeds but I threw caution to the wind, whee!), a cup of greek yoghurt + honey for tea break and for dinner, instant mashed potatos, corn broth and chocolate ice cream.
Yummy!! Looking forward to tomorrow, hope to be able to eat the mac and cheese I bought from cold storage...
Just wanted to record down this "momentous occasion" in my life somewhere lah.
Why remove my wisdom teeth?
Ah ha, the reasons are sketchy at best. My main purpose in consulting the orthodontist was to get braces. X-rays showed 4 impacted wisdom teeth (the bottom two were completely horizontally-impacted), so the doc said I not only had to have 4 premolars removed for the braces, but had to remove the 4 wisdom teeth as well. Further scans showed that my bottom wisdom teeth were buried deep and near certain nerves but the surgeon said that it shouldn't be too much of a problem.
Day 1
They got an anesthetist in just so that I could be iv-sedated while they removed all 8 teeth. Could tell she was trying to distract me while putting the iv thingie into the back of my hand...it hurt lah and really reminded me of all the painful stuff from spinal surgery years ago. It all went by pretty fast, I felt another surge of pain (they said it was the drugs administered via the iv) through my arm, a nurse began to apply cream around my mouth area and bam...the next thing I know I was awake already with a mouth full of gauze.
REALLY COULD NOT HAVE DONE THIS WITHOUT IV SEDATION. I am told this is different from GA in that you are not completely unconscious, but the iv meds cause you to have partial or full amnesia. Awesome!
Anyway, one of the first things I heard after I 'woke up' was the surgeon telling my parents that one of the teeth was buried very deep.
Then my mind started to clear up and I was really bothered by the phlegm stuck in my throat and so the nurse took out the gauze in my mouth and let me have some water. After that they left me to lie down and rest...could not go back to sleep...just felt really uncomfortable. Might have cried a little after realising that it was finally done. lol.
Not long after, they said that I could go home. So they gave me a mask to put on...and my parents happily decided to have lunch at the mall. So after buying some icecream and smoothie, I had to wait for them to have lunch. Bad idea, my bloody drool started to accumulate and drip out of my mouth/mask...it happened while I was buying Green Tea milkshake from New Zealand Natural. 0_o
Went home and felt miserable for a few hours. Was terrified that the bleeding wouldn't stop. The gauze in my mouth kept on getting saturated with blood immediately and I was so afraid to change the gauze because my mom said that the nurse said not to change it "too frequently" if not the blood wouldn't clot. Anyway, the entire first day was nuts lah, because of the bleeding. Was confused over how long to let the gauze stay in, and when I could take out the gauze permanently. Worried about "dry socket" (the horrible possible complication that i'd read about online)...
Felt slightly better after I finally managed to drink half of the milkshake (tried earlier but could not even swallow my medication)....and then for dinner I had instant powdered soup (supposedly asparagus flavour but it was just....salty) and some bottled strawberry smoothie.
Oh forgot to say, the painkiller worked PERFECTLY. Did not feel pain at all the whole day.
Day 2
The swelling started!! For breakfast all I had was the remainder of the strawberrie smoothie. Lunch...tried to eat some laoban douhua but failed...the pieces kept on going everywhere in my mouth instead of down my throat. So I had porridge soup (without the rice) and soya sauce instead. Also had abit of bird's nest but was concerned with the small bits of ginseng in it. Sometime during the afternoon I had a cup of mangosteen sherbet and continued to fail with the laoban douhua. So I gave up on that, sigh. :(
For dinner I had crystal jade porridge! It was the really blended kind such that it was nearly paste. This tasted so good...
Finally showered and "brushed" & flossed my few remaining front teeth. And rinsed using the mouthwash the doc gave. Felt good. However, while flossing I realised that the numbness in my right chin was also present in my teeth/gums itself on the right side of my mouth. Really hope this goes away soon.
Day 3
Ah, the day the swelling was supposed to get worse, according to the doc. But in truth, it didn't feel that much worse than Day 2. Managed to have some canned creamed potato soup, some mocha icecream (had a tough time removing the bits of almond though), continued to drink the Marigold mango smoothie now and then.
For dinner...my best meal yet! Chicken Alphabet soup. This was good. the little alphabet noodles were perfect and I swallowed them easily. Even the bits of carrot and peas were easily swallowed. Nice. Albeit the soup was a little too salty.
Oh and finally used the tongue cleaner to clean my tongue. So much grub had accumulated on it...it was causing my breath to stink. Still couldn't do much brushing. Am abit concerned for my molars that I haven't been able to reach. Would rinse/gargle more but am terrified about the posts on the internet about mouthwashes being bad for the surgical sites and causing dry socket and all...SIGH.
Hoping to eat more foods tomorrow and explore mashed potatos. Maybe scrambled eggs... am abit sick of staying at home and eating lousy food. :(
Day 4
Swelling was still the same I think...Still sore. But could open my mouth wider!
And thus I had scrambled eggs for breakfast, Red Pepper & Tomato Soup from Cedele for lunch (think this one had little bits and tomato seeds but I threw caution to the wind, whee!), a cup of greek yoghurt + honey for tea break and for dinner, instant mashed potatos, corn broth and chocolate ice cream.
Yummy!! Looking forward to tomorrow, hope to be able to eat the mac and cheese I bought from cold storage...