There is nothing like your first visit to a dentist in almost three years to make you squirm. The poor hygenist, trying to dig tarter out of my teeth while I attempt to evade her pick-of-death. I feel bad, I have never been the person that squirms in the dentist's chair. I never will be again either, because in the future I will go to the dentist's in a timely manner. I have to say, love my new dentist too. (In a platonic way)
Now I did have some guesses as to what I would need when I went. My guess was 1 filling, wisdom teeth out and a root canal. I was ALMOST right, 2 fillings (which can be done at the same time) and wisdom teeth out, but no root canal. Woohoo!! Now I just need to gear myself up for having my teeth out, I am opting for the 'completely out' route. I could have them out with just novocane, but I couldn't live with being awake while my teeth are being pulled. I think that is just about my worse nightmare, and I am being only moderately dramatic, I do have nightmares about losing my teeth or not having any teeth. It probably means something deep and, well, meaningful.
Have a wonderful start to your New Year!
Posted by 10lees at January 1, 2007 09:08 PMfor you, my dear, my favorite dream interpretation site's possible explination for dreams of teeth: http://dreammoods.com/cgibin/teethdreams.pl?method=exact&header=dreamid&search=teethintro
get knocked out. but make sure someone that really loves you is taking you home afterwards. :o)
Posted by: dr gonzo at January 2, 2007 08:44 AMI second the get knocked out route. It's just more humane. Poor Christy had to deal with me afterwards, the first thing I remember is trying to drink some water when we pulled into my apartment complex, (some 40 minutes after I had woken up, and been speaking nonsense, but that's another story) and when I drank said water, it felt like my stomach was a cement mixer - and I puked all over the steps to my apartment. Other than that, it was a great time.
Good luck with yours!
Roland
Posted by: Roland at January 2, 2007 09:19 AMThe greatest dentist advert I ever saw was one where they advertised that they use gas. They would actually rip your teeth out of your head while you were awake?
No thank you.
Posted by: Eeek! at January 2, 2007 11:06 AMAs a tip if you want to be nice to those around you afterwards, remember that blood in the mouth (quite possible depending on how they're taken out), especially when adding gauze, is a recipe for about the worst bad breath possible. Oh, and getting rid of the gauze too early isn't great either, as blood in the stomach isn't pleasant (unless you want to copy Roland's experience).
Posted by: Jeremy at January 2, 2007 05:06 PMWhile I thank everybody for their graphic opinions, you should really wait until AFTER I have the surgery.
And there are serveral differences in my teeth extraction than with normal wisdom teeth. 1)My teeth are fully in, they are not impacted, there is no cutting involved in getting them out. 2)I may not even need sutures because it is just a simple tooth pulling. They are noisy, hence the reason I want to be out, but relatively (post op) painfree. and 3)I have such large cavaties in these teeth that they ache on a daily basis, meaning the cavity is already to my root, which means getting them out will end the daily toothaches.
And I will keep telling myself that until after the surgery. If you have had a molar tooth pulled for some reason, that would be a similar experience to what I am expecting. But I do not have any impacted wisdom teeth.
Posted by: 10lees at January 2, 2007 08:15 PMJust make sure they don't leave gause in your teeth for three months and you should be fine.
Posted by: little b at January 2, 2007 09:40 PMTHREE YEARS BETWEEN CLEANINGS??? Who is the woman that raised you???? Oh yeah - me! Anyway, the longest I ever went was 2 years. And they needed some cleaning - but weren't too bad. Got all my wisdom teeth out at the age of 18 or 19 - who can remember these things.
As for the dreams - it may be that in real life, your life would be so much better without those top wisdom teeth and someone - perhaps your own spirit/soul is trying to convince you to get them OUT OF THERE. Well that's my interpretation. So maybe after you get them out you won't have that dream. They say that recurring dreams are a sign that you're not GETTING THE MESSAGE. ;)
hee hee!
Love,
m
I'll drive you home!
I just saw the dentist as well...and I need to now see an oral surgeon to possibly get my wisdom teeth removed. Ughhh.
I'm guessing you have had teeth pulled, but just in case, it is not that bad to listen to it since it is relatively quick and you can just walk out afterwards. I have had about 10 pulled at one point or another (small jaw and 7 of them were baby teeth). I think there is a much higher risk involved in getting knocked out.
Posted by: Nicole at January 3, 2007 06:59 AMI was knocked out, and it was the best decision of my life, but one of mine was impacted (I only had two). It was a very pleasant experience, and I don't remember anything from the time they told me to count backwards until the time they were dumping me in my mom's car.
I was sick afterwards, but I believe that was a reaction to the stuff they use to knock you out since my dad has similar reactions. When I had my cyst, I told them, and they gave me something before the drugs to knock you out. Then I was fine. You might want to look into similar though I don't know whether they do that at the dentist office. Just a suggestion.
They give you lots of pain pills (Hooray Vicodin!), so it's really not all that bad (because I was sick, I couldn't take the pain pills until about 12 hours later, and that was rough). Just do what they tell you (i.e., don't drink from a straw when they tell you not to, don't eat chips, etc.), and you should be fine.
My best advice to you is that if you are a mouth breather, cover your pillow with plastic or something.
Posted by: Lo at January 3, 2007 07:33 AMew! :o) hehehehe... i hate oral pain!! Good luck 10 and Nicole!! word of advice: dont ask little b about her experience for a few months. wow. makes me tear up just thinking about it... sigh.
btw, is it normal that Vicodin does absolutely nothing for me? none of those tylenol-based pain pills ever work for me. and of course, my nurse friend says "you're lying, it works, you'd be in much worse pain w/o it"... i disagree entirely.
Posted by: dr gonzo at January 3, 2007 09:29 AMI do not know. I always have fallen asleep when I have taken Vicodin in the past, and I always feel like I've been hit on the head with a mallet and had cotton stuffed in my mouth, but I don't wake up in pain.
With any of those pain pills, I can always still tell that something hurts, but it doesn't actually hurt. You know, like I know the pain is there because pain feels heavier for some reason, but it doesn't hurt. I don't know; I can't explain it.
Posted by: Lo at January 3, 2007 01:40 PMWhen I got my wisdom teeth out I was awake... it wasn't so bad. Although they hit a blood vessel or something I was gushing blood, which made my face swell up pretty bad for about a week. It was a fun experience I won't soon forget.
Posted by: bleaus at January 5, 2007 02:13 PMDrG, if vicodin does nothing for you then you probably don't feel good when endorphins are produced in your body either since they bond to the same receptors (opioid) on the spinal column. Tylenol is a different system altogether, it is a COX (Cyclooxygenase)inhibitor.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrocodone
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opioid_receptor
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyclooxygenase
10, if you do need pain meds and you are either sick of vicodin or don't need its "feel good" effects, Tylenol (or any other Acetaminophen based otc) would be a good alternative since it won't thin the blood (unlike asprin and ibuprofen).
The only reason I know all this is because I had a similar discussion with one of my little brothers who is going for his PhD/MD.
Posted by: jeff at January 8, 2007 09:43 AM