Catching Idle Butterflies

I'm tooffwess!

Sat's righth. I'm wifout one toof.

Last night the pain kept me up and I decided I couldn't tolerate an entire weekend before getting this thing taken care of. No amount of Tylenol or Advil could cut through it any longer.

Aside: I did discover a natural topical painkiller . . . okay, I didn't discover it, Dave told me. Clove oil! It worked much better than Orajel, as well as tasted better. Something to keep in mind next time you have a toothache or even a canker sore, clove oil will numb it right now.

So this morning at 7, we called around to all the dentists and found one who could get me in at 11am. Tell you what, that made for a long 4 hours!

Went in, filled out the requisite paperwork, you know, questions like: What medications are you on, allergies to medications, do you have AIDS, hepatitis, high blood pressure, heart failure, kidney stones, ingrown tonails . . .

I answered no to all . . . and yes I was honest! Sheesh. I really don't have ingrown toenails. I'll take a picture of my feetsies to prove it if you want.

So the hygenist took me to the exam room, nice room too: Light blue carpet, antique white walls, and all the cabinets were made of oak. On the pine ceiling hung bright colored kites and plastic glow-in-the-dark stars. Not the torture chamber I expected (okay, not really). Even the dental chair was comfy enough I wanted to steal it.

I explained my problem, had one of those rotate-around-the-face X-Ray's, and waited for the dentist to arrive.

He came in, a younger man, probably my age, with kind eyes, easy smile and soft voice. I wasn't at all nervous since I already knew what his prognosis would be, but I could definitely imagine he could put a nervous person at ease by just his presence.

Anyway, he told me the best course of action was removing my wisdom tooth. He said I did have a low-grade infection, probably for years, but at this point my immune system could no longer keep up. Hence the pain and swelling.

I said, "Well? What are we waiting for? Dig the thing out!" Okay, I was less abrupt and dramatic than that, but I did tell him I expected that, and yes, please, let's do it today.

So after rubbing my gums with a topical anesthetic, he stabbed my gums with that straight out of a horror film syringe with 12" long needle attached. Okay, I'm exaggerating. After the first stab, I felt the needle no more. Then we waited for the right side of my face to tingle, thicken, then deaden.

It took about 10 minutes, and I asked him lots of questions about teeth, such as can good teeth be the result of genetics, etc.

Sometimes, he said, but the biggest factors are lifestyle, such as the amount of sugar a person eats. Another tidbit of info I found interesting, is in our mouths grow two types of bacteria, but not every person has both types. One kind causes tooth decay, and when a person has that type of bacteria, the more sugar they eat, the quicker their teeth fall apart. If someone doesn't have that kind of bacteria, their teeth won't decay. Interesting, huh? I guess they discovered that only ten or so years ago. He also said, when a person looses their teeth, it may not be because their teeth are bad, but the bones and gums holding the teeth are disintegrating. That, he said, is mostly due to genetics.

I apparently don't have that bacteria, because he said my teeth were in excellent shape; not a single cavity. He did recommend I eventually get the other three removed, but that was entirely up to me and he wasn't at all interested in doing it today.

When my tongue and lip sufficiently numbed, he dove in and proceeded to dig out my tooth. I got really lucky, here. The roots of my tooth didn't splay out or wrap around my nearby molars. In fact, it was conical in shape. That made for a very easy extraction. It took less than three minutes.

My mouth still feels thick and not at all my own, but the novacaine is wearing off enough I'm starting to feel the pain of the extraction.

Hee, hee. I just realized why I still can't close my teeth together. I keep biting down on my deadened tongue!

If I follow the simple instructions, I should be back to normal within 24 hours. If not, I should call right away as I might have "dry socket." He did say if I feel any discomfort to take 1 Tylenol and 1 Advil.

Um, yep, it's time for that now.

Oh, and pencilsoverpens ! I did think of you during my procedure! I hope yours goes just as easy.