Over the long weekend, a wisdom1 tooth that had previously been minding its own business decided it was high time for a little excitement up in here. At first, it was just sort of annoying. The Dork Lord and I met one of his friends out for a nice dinner and halfway through my Hawaiian rib eye (drool), I got this odd, not exactly pleasant teething feeling. Now, when my nephew was cutting some new chompers last week, we shoved a pizza crust in his chubby little hand and let him gnaw on that. But while that may have worked for the kid, I figured I’d try a more… sophisticated approach: red meat and red wine. I don’t have to tell you how successful that was.
Apparently, the alcohol content of wine is not sufficient for sterilization. Who knew?
By Sunday, I had an ice pack glued to my face. Remember how it was a long weekend and how no one was open who does things like fix impacted wisdom teeth? Yeah, that was my favorite part. In the absence of proper medical care, I tried salt water, Orajel and finally, when I was beginning to lose my mind, dug through my cabinet for an old Vicodin prescription. And that’s when the heavens parted and angels sang. And I walked around like a zombie extra from Sean of the Dead.
Yesterday, the dentist stuck her little mirror in my mouth, put on her You Poor Dear face, wrote me a couple prescriptions and scheduled an afternoon of fun with the oral surgeon. When she told me that the antibiotic would have me feeling “right back to normal” by today, I didn’t yet know she was a lying liar, so I skipped right out of her office and to the pharmacy for my magical cure. The hopeful feeling carried on through dinner, which the Dork Lord took care of with a trip to The Grocery Store We Can’t Afford. Oh, the yummy things he came home with! I immediately put a pan on the stove to heat up the gourmet green chile chicken soup.
“How’s the soup?”
“Sheepy,” I said, making the face I normally reserve for goat cheese.
“Sheepy?”
“The whole thing tastes like hot sheep’s milk.”
I abandoned the sheepy soup on the counter and reached out to sip of the wine he’d opened to go with his real-food-for-people-with-working-teeth dinner.
“Oh my god, this is DISGUSTING. How are you drinking this?”
“It’s not the greatest, but I thought it was okay.”
“No, it’s bad. Really bad. It tastes like… dirty pennies!”
And that’s when we figured out that this magical antibiotic was not only not so magical, but it made everything I ate taste terrible.
“Nooo! I’m broken!”
The Boy sampled (and by sampled, I mean finished off) the soup, which he pronounced “pretty damn awesome” and I crawled onto the couch, defeated. Without wine and cream based soups, life was *this* close to losing meaning. So as a precaution against further devistation, I’m staying away from chocolate and cheese. I just don’t think I could live with that kind of disappointment.
1Question: Didn’t you already have your wisdom teeth out?
Answer: Sorta. My dental insurance in New York only covered wisdom teeth that had made their wise way through the gums. They don’t care so much about crowding or any of that nonsense. And me, I was in no position to elect to take the others out. So, in short, I still have two. Until next Thursday.
i’ve had that with certain anti-biotics too! ugh it sucks, hope you feel better soon!
If they offer you gas, take it (on top of all other pain meds.) You won’t care WHAT they do to you — it’s glorious.
Ouch.
I can empathize more than you know.
Hang in there. Once it’s over it’ll have been worth it.
Good luck and feel better soon.
Two words of wisdom for the ol’ Wisdom teech (who the heck named ‘em that? Must be the same person who though the funny bone was, well, funny.):
1) drugs
2) fresh pineapple
1)It’s dental pain- don’t be brave. Dental pain is a form of torture, you know. Any pain killer they offer is responded to with the simple, “Yes, please. And may I have another?”
2) When the drooling stops and the healing begins (and food’s a-ok) put some fresh (gotta be fresh) pineapple in the food processor and take little spoonfuls. The enzymes help with quick, sterile healing- couldn’t say why. Just works.
Good luck! (This has *got* to be good for serious sympathy points some where along the way.)
I had mine out SOOOO long ago, but I do remember a few bits of info which I wish someone had passed along to me:
1) Take a couple of swigs of pepto before you take the drugs (which I highly encourage as well). Believe me, last thing you want is to hurl after having those puppies extracted. Not. Fun.
2) Wish I’d known about the pineapple. My saving graces were pudding, mashed bananas, and mashed potatoes (like from Boston Market) with gravy of course!
Good luck!
I’m surprised your plan only covered wisdom teeth that had made their way out through the gums. All four of my wisdom teeth were deeply impacted and covered by my medical insurance to be removed, the dental plan did not. A few tips from my experience:
Go in with your hair pulled up and back, if you don’t they’ll do it for you when your passed out and it’s never pretty.
Make sure to keep ice on your face afterwards, even while passed out. I turned into the incredible hulk when my ice packs fell off while I was sleeping.
Prepare by having lots of frozen treats around, cold is good.
Anything less than vicoden won’t do.
Good Luck!
If you ever have bad tooth pain again and no immediate access to dental care you can use clove oil (diluted) or whiskey to help the pain. Gargle the clove oil or whiskey and then try to hold it in the area that hurts for as long as you can. That will numb it right up! Clove oil gives you lovely breath too. The whiskey not so much. Or just put some cloves (the ones you cook with – not the ones you smoke) on a damp cotton ball and place on the pain area.
Say yes to being knocked out. The oral surgeon who did mine told me how they would get to the tooth and there was no way in hell I was going to be conscious for that nonsense.
I sympathize with you. I have had mine taken out, 3 of the 4 were impacted. And then the painkillers made me puke. I recommend NOT puking when you’ve recently had your gums stitched back together.
Best of luck – and I’m afraid I also know the pain and annoyance of the long weekend teeth problems. The only people who are open are shady and you’re not sure you want them to touch your mouth.
No doubt this is not news to you, but don’t forget that antibiotics nullify birth control pills, so ya-know…keep that in mind.
As for the ruined taste buds, think of it as a short-term diet aid, not that you need it.
Good luck. That pineapple trick is a good one.
cheers,
LD
I’m sorry. Mostly because I just came from the dentist. I have one temporary crown and will probably need a root canal on another tooth because I almost punched the dentist when she sprayed the cold air on it to test it.
My face is still numb. Sigh.
I had all four wisdom teeth removed by my dentist on a Friday morning. The bottom two were impacted, and my jaw locked up due to the local anesthetic, so it was a total pain in the ass for him to dig them out. Luckily he was not inclined to be stingy with the anesthetic, and kept asking if I “felt” anything. Nope!!
Other than not being able to feel my face for hours, and lots of drooling. The weekend wasn’t too bad. Surprisingly, I was back to work on Monday without any real pain. Just some over-the-counter meds.
Soooo, glad I didn’t go to an oral surgeon. I love my dentist.
Oh I really do not envy you. I am going to be honest. It’s not fun. At all. Not that this should surprise you, having things pulled from your body never really is. Best of luck and get LOTS of pain meds. (I could just be a baby, but it really suckes when I had it done.)
Good Luck!!
I had all 4 of mine taken out 2 months ago… ouch. Definitley keep ice on it… I looked like a chipmunk for 3 days… Mashed potato soup and those little campbell soup in hand were my best friend, other than the vicodine…we were best friends.
I did manage to puke about 4 hours after surgery and let me tell ya, not pretty! And whatever you do, avoid dry socket at ALL costs…
It sounds like you aren’t a post pain med puker which makes you lucky. I share the same sad story with Emily.
I’m sorry about your dental woes Fish. I had to have a surprise root canal last week. And, surprise!, it was miserable. Hang in there!
You poor thing! I have to get a couple of teeth pulled too (for my braces, yes, you read that right – braces at 38!). The thing is that I’m pregnant so I’m not looking forward to having them done. I’ve been given the okay by my OBGYN, but I’m not anxious about how I won’t be able to use the laughing gas or the other good stuff to numb the pain. All this to say – be glad that can ask for them to knock you out if they want!
Ouch. I’ve been there. It blows. And losing the ability to taste? Just tragic. I hope you feel better!
Hours before I was induced with my 2nd child I had to be put on IV antibiotics. I wasn’t able to eat anyway – it was the middle of the night and I was trying to rest – but those meds gave me the worst metallic taste in my mouth, even the awesome ice pellets from the ice machine couldn’t make it better. I feel your pain!
Hey, Fish – just checking in to see how your extraction went. Hope you feel better soon!!
UGH! Th best non-swelling technique I had was to lay on the couch watching bad TV and switching an ice pack to the other side of your face every half-hour. I had all four out at once and no chipmunk cheeks here!
I also slept off and on for 48 hours of this marathon with a roommate around to wake me and ensure the rotation of numbing (not to mention some good drugs). Best well wishes to you and the only silver lining I can find is that this SHOULD be all of them (right?!)
…hope she gave you a pain prescription, in addition to the one for antibiotics. That would be just cruel!
Hope you feel better soon!