icedawg & the wisdom teeth
well, i had my wisdom teeth removed today. as it turns out, the x-ray revealed i was "fortunate" enough to be "blessed" with a hidden additional wisdom teeth, so i actually had 5 removed. anyway, i just thought i'd share my story about the surgery for anyone else with this procedure looming over them, in case perhaps i can help allay some trepidation.
i had requested a general anesthesia, but unfortunately i would have had to wait about a month for that, and i wanted to get this done prior to returning to school, so i instead had an 'IVS' (intravenous sedative) along with nitrous oxide (lauging gas). i was quite worried about this at first because a number of people i talked to seemed rather concerned that i wasn't going for the general anesthesia, but it seems their concerns were quite unfounded. the surgery itself was a breeze. i mean, after the nitrous oxide, i really didn't care what was going on, nor did i really even know--i was practically half asleep during the operation.
the IVS of course numbed my entire mouth and surrounding area, so i felt essentially nothing. i say essentially nothing because i was aware the surgeon was in my mouth, and i felt some pressure, but absolutely no pain. i was aware of him moving from tooth to tooth, but had no idea that the teeth were actually being pulled. i mean, i couldn't believe it when the dental surgeon had said he was all done...i was never aware of a tooth actually being removed.
i had one occluded (or "impacted") wisdom tooth, which means it was buried below the gum (aside from a small visible part). they would have had to cut the gum to reveal the tooth, but again this is something that was all transparent to me really. also, since that extra wisdom tooth was somewhat below one of the regular ones, i'd imagine that was somewhat extensive as well.
so now i have lots of gauze in my mouth (lots of blood...oh man), and a couple ice packs tied around my face. i also get to enjoy liquid/soft food for the next few days...w00t? but, i got some pain killers too (percocet--which for those of you who don't know, is acetaminophen and oxycodone) and some Tylenol #3's, i believe.
anyway, i'm hardly out of the woods yet. now i get to look forward to lots of swelling, still more bleeding, and then of course possible bruising and whatnot. but, the best part is (i guess) this gets me out of work for the next few days! sure, perhaps not the ideal way to spend one's vacation, but i'll take what i can get.
as i said, all in all, the surgery itself was great. i had recently had a cavity filled and had experienced more discomfort during that than the wisdom teeth removal (was quite uncomfortable, kept having to swallow and whatnot, but that wasn't the case at all during this surgery).
so in conclusion...not much to worry about during the surgery...it's afterward that the real fun begins--from what i understand anyway. it's much too soon to tell for me just yet.