If you recall from just a little over a month ago, I went to the dentist for the first time in over 3 years. Since that fateful July morning, I feel like I haven't been anywhere else besides their office. My mouth has gone through over a major overhaul -- especially in the past two weeks!
First, there was the deep cleaning of my gums with a laser. I guess after three years bacteria starts to build up in one's teeth pockets, and that led me to have some sort of periodontal disease. I was like, okay, lets nip this thing in the bud ASAP, so I made the appointment to have the more expensive procedure done to fully clean them out. On some random Tuesday or whatever day it was, I went in and did the right half. Now, that procedure is pretty quick and rather painless except when she was up in there scraping or whatever she was doing, one of my teeth was a little sensitive and she saw me wincing in a little bit of pain. At the end of the whole prodecure she asked me if it had hurt back there, and when I said yes she told me that I had a cavity back there. WAIT, DIDN'T THE DENTIST GUY TELL ME THAT I DIDN'T HAVE ANY CAVITIES?!??!! When I explained this to her in a more calm matter along with an inclusion of "I knew it" she said oh, that's not good. So, I had to make another appointment to come in on the following Wednesday to have that checked out. Fast forward to said day, and what do you know, there's a cavity back there -- on my wisdom tooth no less. It was nice that he apologized for the fuck up, but the bad news was that they don't patch up wisdom teeth, so both of them on my right side were gonna have to go (since I figured "hey, the ones on the left are cool, let's leave them be"). When I had the bright idea to ask how that would affect my braces going on that Friday, I was told that all four of my wisdom teeth were gonna have to come out so the rest of my teeth wouldn't shift all weird during my ortho treatment. I rescheduled with the orthodontist and my wisdom teeth were scheduled to be pulled the following Tuesday.
Now, this is when hell week for my mouth started.
That Tuesday, I came in all nice and relaxed ready for this to go down. I should mention that I opted to have local anesthesia done as I saw no reason to be put under mainly due to the fact that since all four of my wisdom teeth we fully grown out, they weren't going to have to dig any of them out. So, I'm sitting in the dental chair nervous with anticipation when the oral surgeon finally came in. After asking me some med questions he started jabbing me everywhere with the novocaine needles and after 2 quick minutes of this he was all like, "Okay, be back in 10 minutes to check on you" and off he went. After about 3 minutes, my mouth started to fill with drool -- as he had said it would -- and I felt the sensation on the lower half of my face begin to fade. At one point I was pretty much trembling from my anxiousness, not because I was scared or anything, but just because I wanted to get it over with.
Before I continue, I should also mention that I've never had a tooth pulled. So, I really didnt know how the the whole process of pulling teeth went; all of my friends who had their wisdom teeth pulled had been put under so they really couldn't tell me what I should or shouldn't expect. He comes back after the 10 minutes he said he would, although it felt like much longer and he started touching me in and around the areas that were supposed to be numb and what do you know, I couldn't feel jack shit. After giving a couple final pokes and inserting needles in some last spots that probs weren't numb enough, he FINALLY got started. Now, boys and girls, if you've never had a tooth pulled, let me be straight with you: it's pretty barbaric. They seriously go in there with some special dental pliers and yank those suckers out. NOT A FAN. Granted, I couldn't feel a thing, but the noises and sounds weren't all that pleasant. I could just hear my teeth shattering through it all. And seriously guys, they were done in like 10 minutes.Quick and painless, so I was all for it. Overall, it wasn't that bad of an experience. I just want to add that it was awkward due to the fact that the surgeon was trying to make conversation as he was pulling my teeth but I was only able to respond in grunts. I mean it's nice and all that he was being polite, but asking me questions that require more than a "yes" or "no" grunt was kinda pointless, dontcha think? After teeth were yanked out, I spent the rest of the day at my future mother-in-law's house being nursed back to a quick and heavily medicated recovery. The next couple of days, I was pretty much starving since I couldn't really chew much of anything. If only I knew what was still to come.
Fast forward to that Friday and I'm back at the orthodontist to have my braces placed. I wasn't a harrowing ordeal to have them put on, but my teeth were in so much pain afterwards. Like it hurt to bite anything or chew. I wasn't able to eat for the next 5 days. Low and behold, I had to return two weeks later. I thought they were going just going to do the routine change of my bands and wires, but they decided to take it up a notch. They placed an expander (to widen my bite) on the roof of my mouth and ever since it's been uncomfortable trying to each some things since it gets stuck in the gap. Not only that, but my teeth hurt and I can properly bite through things; especially one of my favorite foods: sandwiches. Hopefully, as I keep getting used to having braces, things will continue to improve with my eating. On the bright side, however, I have lost 10 pounds since getting braces! Not going to complain there.
