Shima Mirkarimi

getting your wisdom teeth pulled 101

I was extremely hesitant when I first heard I had to get all four of my teeth removed. I‘d seen a few of my friends get it done and I had heard enough horror stories. My parents had never gotten theirs removed (well my dad had 8 of his teeth removed during his second operation since they were infected and wouldn‘t let his fever go down after the operation. But he said he was hooked onto Morphine and he never felt anything. And I suppose having serious heart surgery done, you‘d be a little bit more concerned with that than your 8 missing teeth. My mom still has hers intact)

So the day finally came. I called a few days ahead of time to see what the procedures were. They told me not to eat anything after midnight the night before: no water, no solids. I decided to listen. I‘m not sure if that was a good idea. I was so hungry by the time they called me in.

At first I had to sign some consent form saying that I knew all the risks that were involved and how much it would cost and that I was getting IV sedation. I did my thing and waited. Both my parents had accompanied me and weren‘t too happy when the nurse told them they couldn‘t accompany their 22 year old daughter during her 1/2 hr procedure. I shock hands with my dad and said bye to my mom and walked right into the room ready to meet my doom.

I had only sat down for maybe 5 minutes when the doctor came in and started asking me questions about my health and if things had changed since the last time he had seen me in the summer. The nurse on the other hand started hooking me up with stuff to monitor my heart beat and she put one of those finger thingies on my finger. The doc checked my heart pressure and began to get my left arm ready for the IV. I‘m not sure how big the needle was or what it was exactly connected to since I couldn‘t get a good view of anything from how I was lying down but it didn‘t hurt too much when the liquid stuff started trickling into my body.

I was surprise they didn‘t ask me to count backwards. It took quite a while before I was remotely sleepy. Maybe 30 seconds after the initial flow, the doctor told me that I would begin to feel itchy. He didn‘t say where. He didn‘t need to. What an awkward place to feel itchy. It was not comfortable one bit and I didn‘t know what to do. I don‘t go around itchy myself in public under normal circumstances, so I didn‘t think it would be appropriate to start now. It might have last a minute or so before it was all gone. (The doc said it was a side effect of the medication) My lids began to feel tired and that‘s when my nap began.

I remember waking up in the middle or near the end of the procedure and hearing the doctor and the nurse but I wasn‘t too bothered to stay up. The next thing I remember is opening my eyes and hearing the doc. He asked me how I was and I said fine. Then he got me to walk to another room and I think that‘s when my parents came in (I think. They might have been there when I walked in, but I can‘t remember). The nurse gave me some quick instructions and told me I could go and make sure to make an appointment for next week to see the doc.

I held my dad‘s hand as we made our way through the mall (My dentist is in fairview mall) and to the parking lot, where my mom drove us home. I went to bed as soon as I got home. At this point my lips were completely separated and my left cheek looked like a balloon was stuck inside. My right check didn‘t hurt at all, in fact it still doesn‘t hurt. I wonder if he actually took all four teeth out! :P

I drifted in and out of sleep, but I made sure to make it through last weeks episode of Grey‘s Anatomy. It‘s a shame Ali didn‘t have Desperate Housewives taped, that would have been a nice treat. The nurse asked me to change my gauze every hour until the bleeding stopped. So about every hour or so I would make my way to the bathroom and did the due. Ali had gone to get my medication but by the time he had got back, I was still unsure I could swallow anything since I couldn‘t feel anything and so I opted out of taking my meds and eating anything. (BAD IDEA!)

Around 3 pm I wake up to make my way to the bathroom to change my gauze and holly fuck why did I get up? I could only see black dots. I hardly make it to the bathroom without bumping into anything. And this is when it starts hurting. I have enough energy to take the gauze out of my mouth before collapsing midway through the bathroom floor and the hall. This is excruciating pain. I begin whimpering and walling and eventually waking my dad up from his afternoon nap (How am I going to give birth!? I can‘t even handle this pain). For half and hour I was delirious: I needed to go to the bathroom and barf at the same time! It‘s unheard of, I know. My dad kept on trying to get me to have my pills, but I didn‘t think I could take anything dow.

I slept there for a while before I got enough courage to sit up and have the pill and a little bit of water (half which trickled back out of my mouth)

The pills did the trick with in half an hour I was sleeping again. I eventually had some soup that my mom had made and right to be bed again. It‘s not so bad now. It‘s been almost 9-10 hours since the operation. My mouth/cheeks are still numb and my left cheek is bruised. The right side is absolutely fine. I‘ve had some rice (two spoon full.. Shhh- don‘t tell anyone.. I was just so hungry) some cookies and cranberries. I “chew” with my front teeth only and try to swallow as fast as I can without making contact with my wisdom teeth.

I‘m about to have some pineapples (thank you Roshi for the heads up).

I have to have my penicillin tablets every four hours and the pain killers every 6 hours if I‘m in pain. So far so good. I‘ll update tomorrow on how I‘m feeling.