Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Sloth & Surgery

So, right up front- I'm having the surgery tomorrow. I called the doctor and they told me basically they don't care what I do, it's on me. I then called the oral surgeon who didn't seem to care either way but mentioned they'll add another waiver form to my packet that I fill out in the morning, which is a bit alarming.

Part of me wants to wait another four weeks just to ensure nothing crazy is going to happen because with my current run of luck, I'm admittedly more than a little nervous. The other part of me says that I cannot handle the pain in my face another day. I told my friend Shirley yesterday that at this point, my fear is that in another four weeks I'll look like Sloth from the Goonies.



And that's a real concern because sometimes it feels like my face is falling off. The entire side of my face hurts and this morning it was visibly swollen as was the gum near my loser tooth.

The best part is that I've been searching online for more information about having a bone graft done and here's what I've concluded:

  • I will never, ever, EVER get another root canal in my life. I would rather them just pull the damn thing and give me a fake tooth. Seriously. Logically, I know that once you get a root canal you are essentially leaving a dead thing in your mouth and leaving a dead anything in your body doesn't sound like sound medical advice anyways. I just assumed that dentists and oral surgeons knew what they were doing. 
  • As it turns out, I really feel like root canals are a total scam. I think they do this to get you in the door knowing you're going to have issues and will need further work. 
  • Hey- when you pull a tooth out and don't replace it? Your body is all, "Oh, you don't need this bone anymore, let's get rid of it" and systematically like, dissolves it, which is where I'm at now. So if you pull a tooth, I don't care what they tell you- REPLACE IT. 
I am assuming I won't be in the mood for blogging tomorrow but I'll try to post something on Facebook to say hey- I didn't die. If you don't hear from me by Saturday/Sunday, assume the worst? I'm also creeped out that I'll have dead people bone in my mouth. I'm an organ donor so I'm grateful obviously other people are, but this feels different than an organ. Mostly because they took someone's bone out of their body, put it in a Ninja Bullet or something and bone dust will then get shoved into a hole in my face and stitched up, and then we hope my body doesn't say, "oh hell no, get this out NOW" and all heals nicely. 

Just so I can drill a giant hole in it in about 4 months and put what looks like a screw anchor into it. 

Then I get a fancy new tooth that screws in. 

The whole thing is weird and makes me feel like I'm on the fast track to dentures or something. *shudder*

3 comments:

Ruth said...

I hope all goes well.
My husband has had root canals and they go bad and he had one redone and they ended up having to take the tooth anyway. The dentist just told him that he needs to have another root canal redone or have the tooth pulled. I have not seen a lot of good from a root canal and won't have one. The failure high is fairly high.
My brother in law has a cadaver bone in his neck.

Unknown said...

I think I shared this a while ago when you initally posted about your mouth issues, but now that I'm a few months post-bridge I wanted to share thoughts.

I've had two root canals done. One on my front tooth (which... is a whole nother story) and one on the tooth that was basically infected because the baby tooth they removed was like fused to it so no one could get into it to floss. I was hanging out with a half-filled tooth for about 2 years when finally I could afford to fix it all and it really was at the best time. When they removed the baby tooth, they put a bone graft up there and at first, it freaked me out but honestly you just forget about it. Really, you do. It isn't that gross and I have never had any issues with it. They threw it up there so a) if I wanted an implant there was something to attach it to and b) so the space didn't totally get sucked up.

Because that one root canal tooth needed a crown anyways, the most cost effective/logical thing was to get a bridge, and while I'm hella bummed they shaved my other perfectly good tooth down to a nub for this, I'm really happy with it. For one, my jaw isn't like fusing in that gap anymore so thank God no braces. Two, they did a really good job matching the color and just overall shaping because it looks so damn natural. Three, if I would have let it go any longer I'd look like a trailer park queen who drinks bud light every day and kisses the ground Kid Rock walks on.


But $1800 + whatever the root canal cost me later... I still hate dental work. It's a scam, for sure. But it's one of those shitty things you like have to do.

I really hope you don't like stroke out or anything. Because that would suck huge balls. Hang in there and just hope the pain the next couple days just completely knocks you out.

<3
kimberrleigh

Brenda said...

All I can say is yikes and wow. I had a bottom back molar pulled when I was 22--I'm now 46 and haven't had a problem. I hope I continue not having a problem, lol.

Good luck and all of that. I'll be watching fb to see if you post about making it through your ordeal today.