My Dental Nightmare – 4 Wisdom Teeth Extracted
*Warning – Do not read this story unless you have a strong stomach
Dentists and I have a long history together and I have certainly contributed to their wealth over the years, as I have had so many dental procedures in my never ending search for the perfect smile.You know you have had plenty of work done when the dentist brings his colleagues into the room to check out all the work that has been carried out. I am a walking dental museum I guess you could say. I have had braces twice, dentures, plates with false teeth, headgears, root canals, bridges, extractions, fillings, crowns and even 4 wisdom teeth out in the chair. This is my first hand account of the rightfully feared wisdom teeth procedure.
Wisdom teeth extractions are not uncommon but I believe there is a large proportion of people that choose go to hospital, have a general anaesthesia and are basically ‘knocked out’ for the procedure. I chose the faster option which was to have all four teeth extracted in the dental chair. I went to the surgery in town very nervous as I had heard all the horror stories about getting teeth out in the chair. My Mum also had to come with me as you are not allowed to drive yourself home afterwards due to the risk factor.
The Dentist, his Assistant, and the Anaesthetist all welcomed me to the chair and gave me the final rundown of what was about to happen. I had heard statistics of people dying during operations under general anaesthesia, so I thought it quite fitting to ask the team “Has anyone ever died in the chair under local anaesthesia?”. The dentist came back with “We haven’t lost anyone yet” …very comforting Mr Dentist!
The Anaesthetist then proceeded to administer my drugs and I began to feel groggy. The Dentist asked me a few ‘tester’ questions to see how whacked I was, then proceeded to put every dental instrument in the drawer into my mouth…at the same time . I remember being almost asleep when I heard an almighty ‘crack’ followed by a metal ‘clunk’ as the first tooth was dropped into a tray. Then another crack then a clunk. “That’s two” said the dentist. He then struggled with no.3 and had to put his whole body over me with his knee on my chest as he pushed off for leverage. Crack… Clunk….”Got him,” he exclaimed. No. 4 was a breeze and it was now time to plug the holes. The Dentist then jammed cotton gauze pads into my mouth to help soak up the bleeding.
The trauma was finally over, my entire face was completely numb and I was then ushered to a recovery room where I had to sit across from another lady that had also received some dental surgery. The drugs were still in full force and I was pretty happy to just sit there and float around mentally as I was told I was not allowed to leave for an hour.I began to focus on the lady as I sat there, and noticed something strange about her. She had something hanging out of her mouth and it looked like a piece of white string. I started to laugh to myself and the drugs were making me feel very loose. My hazy internal dialogue then took over and said “Has that lady just swallowed a small white mouse? or is she chewing on a tampon?” I became infatuated with the white string hanging over her chin and couldn’t stop staring. The lady stared back and was equally interested in me. “What is her problem? ” I thought to myself.
In my drugged state I remember laughing out loud and thinking “This lady looks ridiculous , she has no idea how stupid she looks, and why is that string there?” Her face entertained me for most of the hour I was in recovery, then Mum said it was time to leave. I needed to go to the bathroom before the drive home. It was here that I got the shock of my life. I looked into the mirror and noticed my swollen cheeks and guess what? I had 4 white strings hanging down my own chin!!!
OMG no wonder the lady was staring at me, and it was at this moment I realised I had 4 tampons in my own mouth…ahhhhhhhh.
My head was spinning at this point and it was time for the drive home with Mum. She drives way too far over on the left side of the road and also drives way too slowly. I normally panic whenever she is driving me anywhere, but under the influence of the drugs she appeared to me to be acting like a mad woman. I distinctly remember trying to grab the steering wheel and yelling at her ” Look out!!! Why are you driving on the footpath? You will kill little kids driving like that!”. It was clearly the drugs talking and I was beginning to hallucinate.
After we got home,I had a heap of Panadeine Forte then had a lay down on my bed and awoke about an hour later with a blood filled mouth. I rolled over the side of my bed and spat out a mouthful of blood into a large bowl. No joke – This happened over and over again every 30 minutes with no let up on the bleeding. I stayed overnight and changed the cotton gauze pads every hour. The Dentist said the bleeding should stop after a few hours….12 hours later I was still bleeding badly. I was feeling nauseous now so decided to walk to Mum’s bathroom to let her know I was not well. As I opened the door I collapsed on the floor due to the blood loss presumably. Mum said I was “white as a ghost” and we needed to go back to the dentist. Amazingly, he was happy with the situation and just let me know in some rare cases the bleeding can continue for up to 24 hours..great!!!
