This is the last of a four-part article about my experience with oral surgery. In case you missed the first, second, and third parts, you can read them first,  Dental Death Sentence,  The teeth cleaning, chopping, sharpening tools, scary experience, and The consultation, cry baby, I want my teeth.

When I was making the appointment with the urgent care clinic, I was asked to come in early because it was on a first come, first serve basis. Grandma Annette and Grandpa Jim picked me up one hour early for a thirty minutes’ drive. We arrived at the clinic on time and I checked in. I was called in and was given a pair of safety glasses to put on. The nurse, Christy (I think) examined my mouth and said, “I think you have to go to the other side of the hall to do a procedure. We can’t take out the tooth.” I told her that I was supposed to have two teeth extracted – number 31 and 32.

She said well, “Let the doctor come and take a look, then we will decide.” I told her my ordeal and the miserable journey I had embarked upon as a result of my dental dilemma. She said, “We will figure something out, but I don’t think we can do it.” She added, “You don’t have to be in pain. I will follow you to the other side to talk to them.” Christy was really nice. It was like holding my hands all the way. When the doctor came in, they both decided that I had to go to the Oral and Maxillofacial section. Christy took me across the hallway. I signaled to grandma and grandpa in the waiting room that I would be back as Christy took me across the hall to the Oral and Maxillofacial section of the clinic.

The front desk staff said, “We have an appointment for you in August,” but I said, “I am in pain and one part of my head seemed like it does not belong to me.” Then she turned to Christy to ask, “Is there swelling around the gum?” And, Christy said, “Yes, it is really looking bad.” Then the front desk staff said, “Let me see if there is something available for you this afternoon. Go have a sit.” I was a little relieved that the teeth will finally be vacating my mouth and never to return like a lost ship in the deep sea. I thanked Christy as she went back to the urgent care section of the clinic.

I sat for a few minutes, then, I quickly ran to the urgent care section to beckon grandma and grandpa to come with me. They came and sat with me. I told them the new development. Grandma was pretty vocal about her happiness that I would be free from pain.

I had been told that I was not going to go through the procedure asleep and that I was going to feel when they were working on me. I consoled myself with my C-section experience almost nine years ago when I had my son. I was not put to sleep, I could feel the pressure but not pain during the procedure. So, I thought to myself, “It is going to be like that. I will not feel the pain but the pressure.”

When my name was called out by the nurse, I followed her to the back room, filled paperwork, and was made to watch the video that I had seen during my consultation a few months ago again. According to her, it was compulsory for a patient to watch the video. I had to also append my signature that I watched the video. Afterwards, she was going to take me to another room for Panoramic X-ray. But I quickly said that I had given them a disc. She was surprised because she had not seen it. The doctor that was going to the procedure, Dr. Harold, came in. She told him that I said that I had brought a disc.  Dr. Harold said, “Okay, let me go upstairs and check.” Then, the nurse asked if she could go ahead or standby, he said, “Standby.”

She took me back to the room where I laid on the dental bed. Another nurse joined her and while she was taking my vital signs, Dr. Harold came in with the disc. He popped it in the CPU and a picture of my entire mouth appeared on the screen. Turning to me, he said, “I will give you local anesthesia, so you will not sleep, but you will be fine.” I said, “Okay.”  He brought out a very long syringe. I have never seen such a long syringe before. He injected around the teeth and went into my jaw. He said, “You will feel a pinch.” I think that statement was right for the injection by the teeth but not for the jaw. After administering the anesthesia in the jaw area, I felt my mouth moving to one side of my ear. Dr. Harold stepped out saying, “I will be right back.” Then, one of the nurses asked, “How do you feel?” With my now babble speech, “I said, I feel that my mouth is moving to this side” using my hand to show the side with which my mouth was moving. She smiled and said, “That is how you should feel.”

Shortly after, Dr. Harold came in and said, “Open your mouth. You will be fine.” As I opened, something was put in my mouth to keep it ajar while the procedure was on. I closed my eyes praying in my mind and calling Jesus with my inner voice and I felt the hard pressure on my gum. When I felt the pull or hard shaking, I held on tightly to my cell phone and screamed Jesus with my inner voice.

All of a sudden, Dr. Harold said, “Bite hard.” I was like, “Is it done.” He and the nurses chorused, “Yes.” With my mouth still on one side, I said,“Thank you so much. That didn’t take that long.” They said, “Yes.” After watching the video before the procedure, Dr. Harold had asked if I had any question and my question was about the length of the procedure. The video said about an hour but Dr. Harold assured me that it was not going to be that long. He was right. It took half the time – only about thirty minutes and it was done.

I had made a special request. I wanted my teeth. He agreed to give me my teeth but the nurses warned me against exposing it publicly because of germs, I promised that if she put it in a ziplock bag, I was going to keep it in my bra until I left the premises. I wanted them because, they belonged to me, plus, I wanted to use it to encourage my eight year-old son to brush his teeth regularly. Dr. Harold thought it was a good idea to use it to encourage my young son to keep good dental hygiene.

When I took the teeth out of the zip lock, it was stinking like a decomposed corpse. Well, I cleaned it and dipped in rubbing alcohol. I showed it to my son and friends. Indeed, the wisdom tooth did great damage to the tooth beside it. It had dug a big hole underneath the tooth and I felt relieved that my dental nightmare was over.

At the end of the whole process, I assessed my experience and thought; it wasn’t a bad procedure after all. I was just been paranoid for nothing. I will like to use my experience to encourage anyone out there to go for regular dental examination, because, I was told that if it had been examined earlier, the wisdom tooth would have been taken out before it damaged the tooth beside it. More so, it wasn’t a death sentence as I had felt. It was for my own good and total health. I was happy to get my smile back, plus, the holes are not even visible because they were way in the back of my mouth. The local anesthesia was not a bad idea too. In fact, I was glad that I was not made to sleep. I didn’t feel too weak at the end of the surgery. Most of all, I did not feel pain. The analgesics that I was given were really helpful. I just felt loopy and sleepy. Plus, I am up during weird hours of the night but I was grateful that pain was not in the equation. However, I must say that I didn’t like the gaggle part of my recovery. The salt water just makes my stomach upset for a little bit and I don’t like the taste in my mouth after every meal. But still, I will take that for pain any day, any time.

This is the concluding part of the four-part article. However, I have a surprise for you – a bonus article to show you my extracted teeth. You don’t want to miss it. It is entitled, Bukola Museum of Entertainment: The Bonus Story

Thanks for reading. I hope to talk to you again through my blogs. If you have questions, comments or suggestions, please, send me a note – fill out the contact form. I want to hear from you.  You can also get my recent posts by signing up to receive updates.

Bye for now, until next time.

 

 

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