Wednesday, July 05, 2006

Tooth Extraction

Background:
Back when I was living at home, as a teen (around 18yrs old), I had an amalgam filling in one of my upper, left side molars (I have these 'pits' that apparently is in the genes).
Well, before I conceived Wyatt, that molar fell out. I have it in my jewelry box. And my tooth has gotten progressively worse as the time went on but I really didn't have any pain associated with it.
The night of July 3rd, I could feel my cheek & gum swelling up while I was in bed. That next morning, my left cheek was swollen up. I look totally deformed. Of course, being that yesterday was July 4th, no dentists were open.
I asked Jeremy to bring me today (so, yes, he missed out on working today for me). This place in Palmetto takes walk-ins until 12pm and its also were Jeremy went for his extraction last year; the least expensive in the phone book. So, we left the house around 9am with kids in tow.
It took a while before I was called in, maybe 30 minutes or so. Then, I sat in the dental chair for probably another 30 minutes. A nurse took my x-ray and for some reason, afterwards, my cheek started hurting a little bit. I wonder if there was any connection between the x-ray or if the thing to take the x-ray did it...
So, this petite dentist lady comes in and talks to me. She tells me usually, if there's this much swelling, they do antibiotics first and then make another appointment for the extraction. The reason being is that the numbing agents sometime doesn't numb the gums if there's too much swelling. She said that she could try but if she reached the cut-off for the amount of numbing agent she could administer to a patient and I was still feeling pain, she'd have to stop and let me make a 2nd appointment.
I asked her if she could go ahead and try extracting the tooth while I was there since I wasn't sure how long it would be before I could go back... I didn't want to have to drive afterwards; esp. if I was in pain... plus, I have NO idea how to get there... LOL
So, that's what we did.
The numbing worked and she was able to remove my tooth... she broke it in 3 pieces to do that.
I have 2 prescriptions. One for Lortabs and the other for Clindamycin.
I just looked up on Kellymom.com for info on breastfeeding and taking these meds. They both are rated the same as far as being 'moderately safe'.
Anyways, I haven't eaten yet today; just water and juice. Supposed to have a soft diet for 24 hrs.
Yes, it hurts.
I can't wait for the swelling to go down.
And no pics... not just because of my vanity but because my camera isn't working. Jeremy said to just pack it up and bring it to Wal-Mart... good idea, huh? They're really good about exchanging stuff.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

You poor thing! OUCH! Glad to hear they were able to take the tooth without surgery. I hope you feel better soon!

Jessica said...

I'm thinking by now you should be better. Hows the swelling?

Alison said...

Thanks Jenn W :D It wasn't any fun for that first day... but, the 2nd day wasn't hard.

Actually, today, Jessica, my face is almost back to normal! woohoo!