Remember when I said that the antibiotics would take care of the parts of my jaw and flesh that weren't going to "numb up" with the Novocaine? Lies!! All lies!!
Okay, so maybe not intentional deceit. The area had been infected for a decade.
I guess I'll start at the beginning. I go to work for 3 hours. One of my coworkers drops me off at the dentist. They offer me nitrous oxide, but since it had no effect when I had my wisdom teeth removed, I turn them down. They do an excellent job of numbing the area with the topical anesthetic, so I hardly feel the first few Novocaine shots.
That when they take out the pliers. Suddenly I'm in the pilot episode of Alias where the Korean guy is pulling out Sydney's molar as a form of torture (and by the way, he didn't have NEARLY enough leverage to get that puppy out, trust me on that one....). Back at the holistic dentist's office, they get a good hold on #19 and start pulling and wiggling to get it loosened. Then we wait for a little bit. Then some more pulling and wiggling and I yell "ouch!" So, more Novocaine to the outside of my jaw. Wait a little for the numbing effect and then get some more leverage and wiggle-pull and out comes this enormous tooth with roots.
That's when the fun begins. Now that the tooth is out of the way, they begin scraping and tearing out the damaged flesh and breaking off pieces of damaged bone. I wince, I cry out. More Novocaine. She actually shoots/sprays it directly into my jaw. Apparently, given the acidity of this infected flesh and bone, it cannot be anaesthetised. Welcome to my worst nightmare.
So, they work as fast as they can, cutting out pieces of flesh, breaking off pieces of bone, using instruments that look like cuticle trimmers and every one's favorite dental implement, the very sharp and pointy metal thing. My body begins to shake. I am holding my head still for them to work, but this is all I control. The pain is unbearable.
They finally announce that they are finished. They clean out the new hole in my mouth with a foul tasting solution and pack it with some sort of surgical packing. At this point I am sobbing and everything below my neck is shaking violently. They put some gauze in my mouth over the site and tell me to bite down. The dentist starts wiping away my tears and instructs the hygienist to put a blanket on me, then she talks me through breathing as I am starting to hyperventilate. They put some drops under my tongue that help me to calm down and promise that they will never allow a tooth to get that bad again.
I vaguely remember the hygienist's instructions for caring for the site. She tells me I have been through a traumatic surgery and I need to let my body rest and heal itself. It will heal from the bottom up: first the bone with regenerate on the jaw; then the flesh around the jaw will regrow and finally the gum with grow back and sink over the space where the tooth should be. It will take several weeks.
When I get out to the waiting room, my sister and nephews are waiting for me. I'm still shaking and sobbing and frighten both my sister and my older nephew.
Finally, we get home and I can fall into a narcotic induced sleep.
Just for the record, I had to pull a few screen caps of the Alias pilot to show how frickin' similar the reality is to television...
Seriously!! They actually used that same instrument!!! Don't let me suggest I was tortured. I got to listen to my iPod. And I wasn't tied down, but in retrospect, I think my dentist might have preferred that... And did I mention that I paid for it?
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