Three hours ago, I was sitting nervously and reluctantly in the dentist chair, waiting to get a wisdom and molar pulled. After my horrible experience two years ago with an infected wisdom tooth extraction, I was close to a panic attack. Being the queen of procrastination, I have put this off for two years now. I used every excuse from being pregnant, to not having insurance, to just not having “enough time.” Today, my mom watched the kids (who were still asleep when I returned home), I have insurance, and there was no logical reason or excuse to prevent me from getting this done.
So, as I sat there devising even more plans to get out of this situation, despite my mouth being numb and the doctor heading right for my tooth, I thought I should give AC readers some tips for when they do make it into the dentist for work.
1. Make your appointment early.
Whether you are anything like me, or nothing like me, you will use any reason to delay your visit. My latest excuse, before today, was the 45-minute extra waiting in the lobby due to the dentist getting behind. If you can get the first appointment, or one in the first hour after the office opens, you have much less time to freak yourself out and make an excuse to leave. You will find yourself sitting in that chair, numbed and a tooth less before you know it.
2. Attempt to pretend (nonchalantly) that the numbing shot was not as effective as the doctor would like.
For me, once I get over the initial numbing shot, I am pretty well good to go. What, if anything, I do feel after that is not enough to induce panic. However, as an added bit of protection, (“just in case”) I like to pretend that I am not as numb as the doctor would like me to be. Some dentists fall for this and other sees right through you. It is worth a try though, since you never really know how numb you are until it is too late.
3. Have a plan for filling pain medication prescriptions before you leave.
Some dentists will outright give you a bottle of pain medication; however, for rural folks like me, you usually have to drive some distance to a pharmacy. In my case, the pharmacy in the small, one-stop-light town of South Whitley, Indiana was not going to open for another hour. The next closest pharmacy was in Columbia City, ten minutes away. If I had checked in advance, I would know that to fill a prescription in South Whitley conveniently, I would need an appointment no earlier than 8:15 a.m., since the pharmacy opens at 9:00 a.m.
Keep in mind though, that the first two hours or so after you have a tooth pulled, you will not feel a thing. It is embarrassing to walk around with gauze in your mouth, but you are not the first and no one will remember how funny you looked a year from now, except you.
4. Tips for healing at home.
You should also consider purchasing extra gauze while you are at the pharmacy. The dentist should give you some to take home, but it likely will not last long enough. You can also use paper towel, tea bags (my dentist swears by them), or tissue paper. Fold and push the gauze (or what ever you use) as far back into the mouth as you can get, without kick starting your gag reflex. I also recommend not attempting to eat solid foods the first day. (Make sure to eat good the night before.) Drink water and maybe some Slim Fast or chicken broth. Perhaps later tonight, I will try some chicken noodle soup.
I prefer to start using the pain medication when I feel the numbing shot wearing off. Some people like to be badasses though and wait until they can take no more. The thing to remember when employing this policy is pain medication takes up to two hours to reach the full effect. I left the dentist office about two hours ago and took my first Vicoden five minutes ago. I am not sure if it is the stress of the kids running through the house with no regard for my condition, or the fact that I have not smoked a cigarette for nearly three hours. Nevertheless, whatever the cause, my mouth is starting to hurt like hell.
5. Speaking of smoking…
The dentist will always tell you to not smoke or suck on a straw for AT LEAST 24 hours after having a tooth pulled. Since I smoke two packs a day, I am finding this to be the worst part. If you absolutely cannot wait, wait at least four hours before lighting up. While my kids would rather see me get dry socket at this point than watch me wait another 90 minutes, I told my mom I would wait at least that long.
My last wisdom tooth extraction was complicated by dry socket. I could come up with excuses all day long, but I know it was a direct result of leaving the dentist office and immediately lighting up. After birthing five kids, a tonsillectomy, and tooth extractions, dry socket is the worst thing I have felt in my life. A toothache in general is no match for the pain created by dry socket. Moreover, to my knowledge, the only cure is a small swab that the dentist puts on your tooth. After that though, you feel completely better. Strange how the human body works.
If you are lucky, you will never experience the procedure known as tooth extraction, but if you do, I hope that these tips can help you make it through the incident a little easier. Now, it is time for another pain pill and possibly a nap.
