Pulling Teeth.

I had a nasty molar out Friday 16th July 8.30am. Not a clever decision. The tooth had been bothering me since Christmas and I procrastinated for soooo long; finally the week before my brother's Inquest I decided to bite the bullet and get rid of the tooth.

Thursday afternoon I called for an appointment with my regular dentist. I was told it was his last day and he had already left the building. OMG! So I made a brave/stupid decision to have my tooth out first thing next morning with a new dentist.

My hubby took me to the dentist bright and early. I was nervous as hell. I got called in, saw the dentist for the first time and thought he's not as good looking as my regular dentist. Bad omen. He was very nice though, very polite and thoughtful too. So I relaxed. He agreed my tooth needed pulling out. So he gave me a couple of injections to numb the area. One was horrid; left hand corner of my upper and lower jaw - nasty. Then I went out to wait for a fat lip to arrive.

OK all nice and numb - he poked around, I couldn't feel anything. So he started pulling. It took at tiny little while, longer than I would have liked and then I felt the tooth fall on to my tongue; I spat it out and caught it! Yuk! I had my eyes closed the whole time. I can't stand the sight of those long needles they stick in your gums and jaw and I didn't want to see the forceps he'd asked for either. I had these very stylish shades on that he had given me to wear, so at least I looked cool. He was happy with my catch and complimented me; (ironic - I could never catch a ball at school and was the bane of the PE teacher's life).

The dentist told me how to care for the wound and told me to take pain killers asap. So all good. We were on our way home pretty soon after arriving. I was also told to give him a call if I had any problems.

I went home chilled out for a while, the anisthetic wore off. I'd had some paracetamol and I went to work at lunch time. I got some goodies from M & S as I was starving. Got trifle, rice pudding, jelly and tucked in when I got to work. I had more pain relief when the time came round and did a salt water rinse at the prescribed time. I worked for about 4 hours and went home. I dosed up with pain relief, did the rinsing and had some soup for dinner. I took a sleeping tablet and got a good sleep. I got up early on Saturday and my mouth was throbbing with pain at the site of the jab in the corner of my upper and lower jaw. I called the dentist; he had a day off. Great. I didn't want to see another dentist so I left it at that.

That day was horrid, pain and more pain. I stayed on a soft food diet and lots of painkillers. That night I took another sleeping tablet; I got 2 hours sleep. It seemed as if the night would never be over. I was in a bad way.

Sunday was worse. More pain, more swelling in my mouth and I was popping pills and brushing my teeth for England. I was exactly like a bear with a sore head. Snappy to say the least. That night I took 1 and a half sleeping tablets. I went to bed at about 11pm but I was climbing the walls until about 3.30am; had no sleep at all and I was ready to go to A & E. Luckily due to exhaustion I slept for a few hours.

Monday morning: back to the dentist. He had a look. He was more than a teeny bit concerned; he said there was an abcess and I needed antibiotics; he gave me 2 different ones. Then the bad news - if my mouth was no better in 24 hours I would have to go to A & E to have the abcess lanced. Lovely.

I took the meds religiously. I brushed and rinsed like a crazy person and I prayed that I wouldn't end up in hospital. More pain all day and all night but I took 2 sleeping tablets and was knocked out thankfully.

Tuesday morning: no better. Phoned dentist, he advised that I go to A & E. Went to local A & E with hubby and was told by the doc that they didn't deal with teeth or mouths and my dentist should not have passed the buck. But he said he'd make some calls to see if he could get me seen somewhere. So he asked me to get an x-ray done of my mouth while I waited. After the x-ray I was sent to Ashford hospital with a letter for them to take a look at me.

I waited at Ashford with my hubby for the consultant to come out of surgery. The only thing that kept me from going stir crazy was the thought of seeing somebody who could take the pain away, even if they were going to stick a scalpel in my mouth. Pretty desperate.

I got to see the consultant fairly quickly, she looked very young and was pleasant and caring. Good omen. After asking what had gone on she had a look at the offending area of my mouth. She flushed the area 3 times with antibacterial and then packed the socket where the molar had been with clove paste. She prescribed a new antibiotic and told me to rinse with corsodyl 4 times a day. I asked her about the abcess; she said she couldn't see one. I thought - was it ever there? But then I thought great, at least it's not going to burst in my mouth!

We got back home around 3.30pm. I had some soup and one of the superduper new tablets - at least that's what I told myself they were. I managed to stay awake for about half an hour and then had to go to bed. Slept like a baby. Four hours later my hubby woke me up for my next dose of magic meds. Things were looking up. I could sleep, the pain was bearable and I was almost a happy bunny!

Wednesday: much better today; almost human. Able to do my morning regime almost 100% just left out drying my hair due to lack of energy. So not bad. I had a lovely day being spoiled rotten; my daugter looked after me and got me soup and scrambled eggs and anything I wanted. She even watched 4 episodes of Coronation Street with me; (she hates Corrie). A perfect pick me up.

After Wednesday things were on the up. My mouth was better. I could open it a bit wider and I could stick my tongue out a bit. I was also able to get off the soft food diet.

Thursday was good. I was almost normal. I spent the morning getting myself sorted out and after lunch time I went out to a lovely little parade of shops with my daughter. The first time I'd been out for pleasure in days. It felt good to be doing normal things at last.

Friday I was back to normal. The pain was gone; I was eating a more normal diet and I could almost stick my tongue out properly. I just had a tiny little soreness at the site of the injection in the corner of my upper and lower jaw. I even felt like going out in the afternoon for a couple of hours to paint some pottery. Very theraputic and relaxing. It was the 5th Anniversary of my brother's death. I was happy to spend part of the day peacefully doing something I really enjoy. I hope he would agree that I made a good choice. I hope he has peace now where ever he is.