Bye, Bye Wisdom Teeth!

This year, I lost my 3 teeth. I couldn’t sleep at night because of the terrible toothache. This is what I’m afraid of and it finally came! When I examined my mouth, there were noticeable decay on both of my wisdom teeth so after a week, I decided to go to the dentist. I had it extracted because I couldn’t bear the excruciating pain anymore.

My experience

Before the dentist recommended for tooth surgery or the odontectomy, he suggested that I need to undergo panoramic X-ray first and let him examine the position of my third molars. So using my health insurance, I had requested for a panoramic X-ray, got my result within the day, and submitted to doc right away.

As he examined, both of my wisdom teeth were impacted and the dentist said that I should take an action quickly or else, the pain will still persist. To someone who has suffered the pain for a week, I told him that I’m prepared to have these impacted teeth extracted all at once but he said that I may not tolerate the post-operative pain. So, I just agreed to his advice to extract the right wisdom tooth first then the other one in the following week.   

During the surgery of my right wisdom tooth, I kept myself strong. I need to be brave for this. The dentist was so considerate to explain to me the whole procedure and he told me that there’s no need to worry about the numbness since it only means that the local anesthesia is already working. I really commend Doc for being so caring throughout the procedure. He always asked me if I’m alright. He kept on reminding me to raise my hand if I feel pain as he carefully remove the impacted tooth. Even though I heard some awkward sounds of slicing and drilling of my tooth but I just closed my eyes and relaxed. I need not to worry because I’m in the good hands.

The extraction was done after an hour when Doc finally got the root. He told me that the extraction was successful. I looked at my tooth but it was broken into pieces because as Doc explains, the decayed tooth was already brittle. After that, he put collagen foam to the extracted area and started to stitch the incised gum to accelerate the healing. Medications such as mefenamic acid (to ease the pain), amoxicillin (an antibiotic to prevent infection), and tranexamic acid (to stop bleeding) were prescribed.

After that week, I went back to the dental clinic to remove the stitch made from the previous extraction and to proceed to the next impacted tooth. Although the gum was slightly inflamed but he said it’s just normal. The same procedure was done to my left wisdom tooth but this time, he needed to extract the upper tooth opposite to the lower impacted tooth to avoid supraeruption. It might cause problems in the future if the upper tooth is not extracted. Just like the previous one, I needed to be stronger because this is the only way I could get rid of this, for once and for all.

At last, Doc was able to get the impacted tooth and it took only 10 minutes to get the upper tooth opposite to it. After that, the operation was successful once again. I went to the nearest ice cream parlor to give me and my gums a treat!

POST-OPERATION EXPERIENCE

The doctor didn’t fail to remind me some of the post-operative instructions that I need to do after the extraction. For an hour, the anesthetized area was still numb. Just as when I was about to think the suffering was over, I had problems in eating. How would I suppose to use the un-operated side when both sides were affected? With the stitches on and gums started to inflame a little bit, I couldn’t eat rice or hard foods so I chose to eat oats the whole week. I couldn’t even use a straw for drinking. Also, both of my cheeks swelled as well. I applied ice packs in the morning and in the evening. I didn’t lift heavier objects in order not to stress myself and I took the medications prescribed.

My swollen cheeks started to heal 

One thing that I learned from this experience is that, we need to take an action before things get worse. If I had tolerated the pain much longer, it could have complicated the operation. When the stitch was removed on the left extracted area, I couldn’t express the relief. My gums started to heal and I started to eat rice once again. Since then, I realized that I need to take extra care for my teeth by limiting sweets and start flossing. Even though I spent a considerable amount of money in removing my wisdom teeth but the comfort that it gave me didn’t cost a thing. It was priceless.

My deepest gratitude to my dentist, Dr. Fred Yap for doing such a wonderful job! During the surgery, I never felt pain and he made things easier for me by explaining the steps. I learned so much from my condition. I have put an end to my suffering, finally!