Wisdom Teeth 1, Hrefna 0

2012-06-14Uncategorized Standard

I’ve known for a few years now that I’d probably have to do something about my molars (wisdom teeth, endajaxlar).  None of them have bothered to actually surface, but parts of them have shown up on dentist x-rays every now and then over the years, causing dentist-frowns, and at least one referral to an oral surgeon.  Not really liking the idea of such drastic measures for a non-existent problem kept me from doing anything about it, though.

This spring, I finally plucked up the courage to go get a complete x-ray for my jaw, which resulted in yet another referral to an oral surgeon.  Said surgeon looked at the x-ray image and told me that I could either do something about my horizontal molars now while I’m in ok-ish health, or when I’m in my sixties, on blood pressure medication etc. and the molars have eaten away the bone holding the next tooth in, causing me to loose two teeth per one molar.  Oh, and then there was the added joy of potential infections and inflammations.

Having heard the good news, I figured this summer might be a good time to get it done, since I’m taking the entire summer off from work.  He then sent me to get a CAT-scan of my jaw to check for the placements of the main jaw-nerves.

Fast forward to last Monday, 11 June 2012.  I showed up at the oral surgeon’s office.  He asked his assistant to fetch the CAT-scan images, took a look and uttered “Huh, I’ve never actually seen that before… in a patient that is… just in textbooks…”  I gulped, and he went on to explain that the roots of my huge horizontal lower molar enclosed one of the main nerves in my jaw – hence he couldn’t just rip the molar out, he would have to cut off the crown, and leave the roots.

CAT-scan of my evil but VERY VERY special horizontal molar, seen from the top of my head. You can see how the molar-roots envelope a dark spot - that's the nerve.

So that’s what he ended up doing.  He numbed me up, then dug in after the tooth, and literally sawed and tore the crown off the base.  Once he was done, he decreed that since I apparently have very a ‘hard’ jawbone (whatever that means), that he would let the upper molar stay, but keep it under observation.

Monday, same day as operation.

Tuesday. Finding this funny face somewhat humorous. Also, ibuprofen rulez!

Wednesday. Sad to miss a sewing-club dinner party, feeling only marginally better than Tuesday.

Thursday. Able to chew a little better, but can still only minimally open my mouth. Speaking remains rather uncomfortable.

And so that’s why I’ve basically spent this week lounging on the couch, feeling very thankful for the plethora of very interesting reading material on the world wide web.  Today was the first day where I felt like I had a little extra energy beyond staying horizontal, but I still can’t really bend over without feeling the blood rush to the jaw, and speaking is difficult.

According to Wikipedia, the swelling may stay for a whole week.  Oh, joy.  And this was just on one side!

COMMENTS

Rajan P. Parrikar

Were you on local or general anaesthesia during the procedure?

Hrefna

Oh, just local anesthesia. I did ask the oral surgeon guy beforehand why he didn’t do general ones like they do in the US. He replied that it just so happens that oral surgeons in the US are also usually anesthesiologists. Furthermore, since general anesthesia is more expensive, they have a financial incentive to use it over local anesthesia, which is why it’s so commonly used. And then he sort of rolled his eyes at the US oral surgeons… 🙂

Rajan P. Parrikar

I see. I asked because I was put on the general years ago for a procedure that I reckon wasn’t half as involved as yours.

School Starts, Molars Removed « Dagbók Finns og Hrefnu

[…] single small yank.  I spent the rest of the day mostly in bed, trying to nap.  It does look like the swelling is not going to be as crazy severe as two years ago, when the top of one was removed, but we’ll know for sure tomorrow.  (3 images […]