walk in dentistry.
Friday: 10 am appointment with family dentist to admire I mean inspect wisdom teeth. after sitting in the chair approximately long enough to have a small x-ray taken. She nods her head and says in spanish "yes, you must have surgery to take them out! You're done!" and then my grandpa and grandma both had brief visits.
10:30 am we are all done and given a referrel to an orthodontist near the jardin principal (town center) we walk on over and wait outside. The secretary tells us it will be a half our. Several Half Hours later, the dentist comes in and welcomes me into his office, grandpa comes in as a translator. The ortho man looks at the x-ray and then uses one of those small mirror things to look inside my mouth. Yes. They must be taken out. The top is in the same condition as the bottom. He then explains the surgery. I only got a little nervous when I had to ask grandpa what hueso? meant? and hearing that it was bone. and that the doctor would have to widen the space to take the tooth out by drilling into my bone. and then again when he said or we could cut the tooth in pieces and take them out separately. I'd say I took it all well in stride. oh, and when he said they only use local anaesthetic. I said "but in the states they knock you out!" I finally said "Si las mexicanas se puede, entonces, yo puedo tambien." which is a poor translation for "IF THE MEXICANS CAN HANDLE IT, SO CAN I!!"
we had options for saturday or tuesday. Grandpa and I both agree the sooner the better, less time to dwell.
Saturday: 10 am appointment with the orthodontist. I sit down. he covers me with a white cloth that only has a square open for my mouth. All the better as this way i can't see any of the shiny sergical weapons coming at me. Shots of local anastethic. some opening and closing of the mouth. and then this awful drill sound! "WHHIIIIIRRRRRRRRR Whhhhhhiirrrr!" and I squeek. and this makes the dentist and my granpa laugh. luckily a good natured paternal laugh and not a mad scientist I will take ALL your teeth laugh. And then he proceeded to cut my tooth into a billion pieces and take out the shards and then sew me up. The top tooth came out no problem, no drill saws of mass destruction. and then he said "done!" I think he actually said that in english. I told grandpa later the dentist knew the important english words: open, close, RELAX, done. and I opened my eyes he asked me how I was I said bien he said don't talk for three hours. and I motioned to ask if I could have my teeth and the x-ray. And, to my surprise, both teeth were intact and the saw I thought he used to cut it up was just used to dremmel off some monster root so he could take it out. I was relieved. It reminded me of 6th grade when I had 6 baby teeth pulled so the adults could come in faster so I could be put in braces, and the first one they tried taking out with the dental pliers and my head went to and fro and then I heard a giant "CRACK!!!" and I thought "oh god, that does it. they've broken it into millions of little pieces and they'll have to fish out the shards." but instead, it was really my root giving way. So again this time, I thought oh great a billion little pieces when really it was just the root.
then we headed back to cuarenta and it's a good thing the anastesia (which by now you must know I have NO IDEA how to spell) hadn't worn off yet. And I've been recovering ever since. No swelling. just a little bruised on my lower jaw. And man am I glad I got that over with!
GOODBYE WISDOM TEETH. I'D RATHER KEEP YOU TWO IN A BOX. that way I still get the wisdom without the pain or infection! and I can add them to the 6 baby teeth I got in 6th grade.
and now it's time to watch syndicated Grey's Anatomy. I love satellite tv.
10:30 am we are all done and given a referrel to an orthodontist near the jardin principal (town center) we walk on over and wait outside. The secretary tells us it will be a half our. Several Half Hours later, the dentist comes in and welcomes me into his office, grandpa comes in as a translator. The ortho man looks at the x-ray and then uses one of those small mirror things to look inside my mouth. Yes. They must be taken out. The top is in the same condition as the bottom. He then explains the surgery. I only got a little nervous when I had to ask grandpa what hueso? meant? and hearing that it was bone. and that the doctor would have to widen the space to take the tooth out by drilling into my bone. and then again when he said or we could cut the tooth in pieces and take them out separately. I'd say I took it all well in stride. oh, and when he said they only use local anaesthetic. I said "but in the states they knock you out!" I finally said "Si las mexicanas se puede, entonces, yo puedo tambien." which is a poor translation for "IF THE MEXICANS CAN HANDLE IT, SO CAN I!!"
we had options for saturday or tuesday. Grandpa and I both agree the sooner the better, less time to dwell.
Saturday: 10 am appointment with the orthodontist. I sit down. he covers me with a white cloth that only has a square open for my mouth. All the better as this way i can't see any of the shiny sergical weapons coming at me. Shots of local anastethic. some opening and closing of the mouth. and then this awful drill sound! "WHHIIIIIRRRRRRRRR Whhhhhhiirrrr!" and I squeek. and this makes the dentist and my granpa laugh. luckily a good natured paternal laugh and not a mad scientist I will take ALL your teeth laugh. And then he proceeded to cut my tooth into a billion pieces and take out the shards and then sew me up. The top tooth came out no problem, no drill saws of mass destruction. and then he said "done!" I think he actually said that in english. I told grandpa later the dentist knew the important english words: open, close, RELAX, done. and I opened my eyes he asked me how I was I said bien he said don't talk for three hours. and I motioned to ask if I could have my teeth and the x-ray. And, to my surprise, both teeth were intact and the saw I thought he used to cut it up was just used to dremmel off some monster root so he could take it out. I was relieved. It reminded me of 6th grade when I had 6 baby teeth pulled so the adults could come in faster so I could be put in braces, and the first one they tried taking out with the dental pliers and my head went to and fro and then I heard a giant "CRACK!!!" and I thought "oh god, that does it. they've broken it into millions of little pieces and they'll have to fish out the shards." but instead, it was really my root giving way. So again this time, I thought oh great a billion little pieces when really it was just the root.
then we headed back to cuarenta and it's a good thing the anastesia (which by now you must know I have NO IDEA how to spell) hadn't worn off yet. And I've been recovering ever since. No swelling. just a little bruised on my lower jaw. And man am I glad I got that over with!
GOODBYE WISDOM TEETH. I'D RATHER KEEP YOU TWO IN A BOX. that way I still get the wisdom without the pain or infection! and I can add them to the 6 baby teeth I got in 6th grade.
and now it's time to watch syndicated Grey's Anatomy. I love satellite tv.