pay up tooth fairy.

by - Date posted: 2013-01-13 - 64 comments

Hey everyone, I survived a 4 wisdom tooth extraction under local anesthetic and here to embarrass myself once again on the Internet. I feel it’s for the better good as everyone loves a good chipmunk (or hamster, as the Germans have been calling me) photo. I also want to recount this experience while it is still fresh as a reminder that pain is temporary, people go through worse, I am strong, [other cheesy stuff], how terrible it was, etc. Feel free to skip all the reading (it ain’t pretty) and instead scroll down and laugh at all the photos.
 
First off, I must say I feel super tough after this for a few reasons 1) local anesthetic 2) alone 3) all 4. I did not realize I was a little extreme doing four teeth under local anesthetic until everyone here acted so surprised when I told them. “ALL FOUR AT ONCE? they would ask. My friends from home were even more shocked, “You’re going to be AWAKE?” My German health insurance covered the whole procedure, which was fantastic, but a general anesthetic would have cost another 250€ and that’s a good weekend trip right there. My oral surgeon also had informed me that my lower right wisdom tooth was extremely close to the nerve and a CT was ordered so they’d have a better view during extraction. If they hit the nerve, I could be numb for “weeks or months”. Um, are you joking?
 
Anyways, all the talk before the surgery had me pretty terrified. I am normally a very calm and steady person, but the pre-extraction consults with my oral surgeon combined with her terrible English and the absence of a set caretaker here (aka Mom), I was absolutely dreading the procedure.
 
I waited about 20 minutes post appointment time before my name was called (so much for German punctuality – it does not exist at the doctors). When I was brought into the “operating” room, I did not recognize the doctor. I was quickly told that my doctor was sick and asked if it was Ok if this new doctor performed the surgery. She had such a kind manner and spoke fantastic English. I was ecstatic. Before, I had no confidence in my surgeon so the personality of my new one alone was soothing. I was given 2-4 shots of local anesthetic at the site of every extraction, so about 12 shots in total. I’ve had a couple cavities filled and those shots don’t bother me, nor do most shots, but oh were these something else. I cringed and teared up. My legs were shaking completely. Here, I began thinking I should have forked over the cash for the general anesthetic.
 
Although I can understand German in many circumstances, medical ones, despite many cognates, terrify me. I want a full, confident understanding of what is going on and why. My new doctor during the procedure gave me play-by-plays (you know, because I was awake and all). She would say things like “you will feel a lot of pressure”, “you will hear a crack”, “it’s going to be very loud”, “first tooth is out”, etc. These words were scary, but it made me feel better knowing it was coming and that it is normal. I was allowed to listen to music during the procedure, but the saw that cut my teeth and the cracking could not be drowned out.
 
Luckily, all this lasted only 30 minutes and my shakey legs were stilled immediately after. I was so relieved. It was over. After a x-ray to make sure they got every last bit, I was free to go, just like that. My mouth still super numb and ice packs on, I wandered to the pharmacy , where I understand zero that the pharmacist told me, but was so happy to go home I didn’t care. I was actually feeling pretty great due to the anesthetic and relief.
 
Eliminating my little mishap spitting blood all over the tramstop, everything went smoothly and I was all set for my day in bed watching the newest “Revenge”, “Scandal”, “The New Normal”, “Shark Tank”, “Grey’s Anatomy”, “Switched at Birth”, “The Bachelor” and old episodes of “Dexter” and “It’s Alway Sunny”. Yep, I’d saved up the return of this weeks shows for the weekend.
 
I bled for a good 7 hours, which was miserable. And gross. Like really gross. And once my anesthetic began to wear off, I began a terror. I could not figure out how to take my pain meds and I was quickly turning into a mess. I was in pain and frustrated. Luckily for me, my friend and WhatsApp came through in the clutch and we figured out how to properly consumer the pain medication. I’m an idiot.
 
So Alas, the last three days in pictures. Sorry for any of you who actually read about my horrid experience.

Petrified before my early morning surgery. I ate a fresh croissant from the bakery next door right before.

Immediately post-extraction, waiting for my x-rays

Still got my new tunes rolling, here’s the playlist I listened to

sending “I survived” photos to friends & family, anesthetic still going strong

The doctor was very surprised I asked to keep my teeth. I sent this photo to my mom entitled “Does the tooth fairy come to Germany?” She said she does. Cha-ching!

Miss America 2013

Anesthetic wearing off. WTH.

Infinity scarf, repurposed.

I actually look like I took this with the Fat Face Booth App. News Flash: I really look like this.

Chipmunk/Hamster/Squirrel – at least all of these animals are widely considered cute?

A little bruising action, ya know, because it just keeps getting better.

Day 2 – at least I showered?

Really enjoyed the selfies keeping me company these past few days. (No fear, I had company from real people, as well).

Day 3. I think it’s gone down a little?

Anywho, I am doing much better now. I still feel a little pain and hate eating (plus side: great diet thus far). I have not been outside in 60 hours, which is clearly not normal. We have gone from no snow to a blanket of it in this time.

Have you had your wisdom teeth pulled? How was it? Do you still have yours? 



Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...

64 Comments

  1. Congratulations Alex! Yet again, you demonstrate ‘wisdom’, courage, fortitude, frugality & strength. As you mentioned, this too, shall pass.

    Unfortunately, I am unable to empathize. I have all 4 of my wisdom teeth & wish I did not. They are difficult to floss & brush and serve no apparent purpose as I had no difficulty masticating prior thereto?

    I recall accompanying your Mother to have hers extracted. ’twas $75 per tooth & when I asked for the teeth, they had already been disposed & were somewhere among a mound within a jar. Oops, no tooth fairy for your Mom?

    Keep your extraction points irrigated & clean.

    Sorry you had to suffer.

    Proud of, & for, you.

    Miss you.

    Love always,

    Daddio

  2. Oh my,,
    i haven’t got mine removed because i’ve been working and i’m pretty sure after i remove them i’d be petrified.
    so glad you survived!!!!

  3. Ohh, poor you :S
    I can assure you though that the worst is already over and you will be fine in no time.
    I have removed 2 wisdom teeth so far, both were bothering me with tremendous infection around them kind of. The second one went out smoothly, done by a specialist. The first one was disaster: Dentist wore glasses. Do I need to say more? The massacre going on in my mouth was kind of put on screen for me – everything mirrored in his glasses… Option two was closing my eyes and listen to all that horrible noise – closely.
    I would look like a mutated blowfish.
    Not nice.
    That was my experience so far. I hope that I just can keep the other two, even better, I prefer they just stay where they are (which is under the surface).

    Get well soon!!

    Let everyone spoil and pamper you during these days ;-)

    Svenja
    xx

    • HOLY COW! You make my experience sound like a trip to Disney Land! I am feeling a lot better, in a few days I’m sure I’ll be back to normal. Thanks Svenja!!

      • uh no.. I am very sure, that yours wasn’t even close to Disney, since you had them removed all at once!! Not even baby food was practical, right? I at least always had one part of my mouth ready to handle food…The diet went also well though, I remember that I had lost 2 kilos in no time, just because eating was looking so unattractive,,, Glad you feel better already!!

        The good thing is the whole episode won’t occur again — in your case ;-)

        Happy regards,

        Svenja

        @http://svenja-happybluebird.blogspot.de

        • Haha yeah, I could barely open my mouth so the first day I just didn’t eat. Thank goodness I’d had a croissant right before the procedure. Day two was just a scoop of ice cream. Finally today I had my first normal meal, but still some of it was too difficult. I lost 2 kilos as well… now if I can just keep it off paha. Good diet kickstarter, that’s for sure!

  4. ahh! that experience sounds frightening. I had all 4 impacted removed in Dallas a few years ago but was DEFINITELY asleep and would have been terrified had I been awake-especially in Germany!!! You’re brave- glad you survived it! Wasn’t Revenge good?- I can’t wait to watch the new episode!

    • Yeah, if I could turn back time, I so would’ve forked over the money to be asleep. But it is pretty awesome I got everything for only 10 Euro on my German insurance. Revenge is just always awesome! I’m about to watch Sunday’s episode now!

  5. You poor thing! At least it’s over and you’ll never have to do it again! (Can you imagine if you’d only done 2 and you had to go back for the others in a few months?)

    I had all 4 of mine done at the same time and they put me under for it, but they told me it only took about 15 minutes. I can’t imagine hearing all of it while it was happening!

  6. Oh no, poor you! That must have been terrible. I had them taken out twice at a time, but it still sucked. But I guess it was the right thing to go with local anesthetic because it puts so much stress on your whole body to be knocked out completely.

  7. I’m so sorry this was so awful! My wisdom teeth extraction literally was the worst pain of my life for about three weeks. And I was completely sedated, so why in God’s name could you hear the saw? That’s horrifying!

    • I mean the saw was just terrible and all the pressures you could feel from it, jesus. And I kept squirming around so thank goodness the doctor could like predict my moves and work around it. Just ridiculous.

  9. Haha I had my wisdom teeth removed before camera phones existed, so luckily there is no evidence. I wish I had gotten to keep my teeth, though. Hope you are all better! xoxox

    • haha ya the total problem with the pictures or when people see me is everyone laughing and then I laugh but it hurts to smile. I’m healing up nicely, thanks Janna!!

  10. Wow, I am impressed. I had my wisdom teeth out my senior year of high school (I was thankfully knocked out for it, I would not have been able to handle the teeth crunching sounds). I don’t remember it being that bad, but it’s possible I’ve blocked it out. I do remember being upset that I didn’t get any fancy pain meds. They gave me some kind of vicodin/ibuprofen hybrid that I did not get high off of at all. Total rip off. Anyway – glad you’re feeling better!

    • I think I wouldn’t have minded at all if I was knocked out but all the sounds and the pressures, lordy. I mean really ripped off on the pain meds, like why go through this crap if we don’t get a good consistent high after? Rats.

  11. oh my gosh, Alex, you brave girl! I had a miserable time having my wisdom teeth removed, and based on that experience I cannot imagine going through the process alone in a foreign country. my jaw would start aching every time I tried eating for at least a month afterwards – that SUCKED, ’cause I do a lot of eating. hoping your recovery goes smoothly! and that your face returns to a normal size fairly soon!

    • Oh yikes! I am still terrified of solid foods and avoiding them at all costs, which has been a pretty decent diet so far so at least there’s been one plus side. Thanks a lot Kaity!

  12. OUCH! you are so brave. not sure that i could handle just local anesthesia but then again an extra 250? that is quite a lot. I think the swelling has gone down quite a bit. Hopefully you won’t be in pain too much longer, but i’ll be thinking about you!

    • Thanks lady, healing up nicely and totally using this to my advantage – aka never leaving the house and having people bring me things. That part isn’t so bad :)

  13. Ouch, ouch, ouch…ouch. (an ouch for each tooth :) Your post has made me feel very grateful for the fact that I did not have to have my wisdom teeth removed. The dentist says I have enough room for them…which is probably code for; you have a big mouth. Haha. :D
    I hope your back to being 100 percent soon!

    • I thought I never would and that they’d stay way up there and small and yeah, dang suckers decided to grow and face funny directions. Hope yours grow in well! Thanks Liz!

  14. So, I have to agree with your Dad- I have my wisdom teeth and they are a BITCH to floss. Like seriously, because of these suckers, I have just given up on flossing all together. This aside, I think you- this post gave me one of the best chuckles I’ve had all weekend :) I hope you are feeling better. I don’t want to imagine the pain.

    • hahaha thanks Bailey! I’m always impressed when people actually have those suckers come in normally, it’s like you deserve a prize. How are all of the rest of ours so messed up?

  15. You make a cute hamster ;-)

    Haha, yes punctuality does not exist at German doctors (or for Deutsche Bahn!).

    Hope you feel better soon.

  16. You are so brave, Alex. I really hope you are feeling better now! I have had two of my wisdom teeth pulled and I was terrified too. I bought lots of baby food the day before and was prepared for anything. Then when they started to cut off the flesh it hurt so much and I tried to tell them that and so they said that they haven’t waited long enough and the anesthetic would not work yet. Nice. After a couple of minutes they tried again and it was fine but they did not get one of the teeth out so they had to crack the tooth into pieces while it was still in my jaw. That wasn’t very nice. I listened to music during the whole procedure because the noises were so terrifying but it did not help very much. All in all not a very nice experience but I was surprised because I did not look like a hamster at all and I was able to eat pretty much everything after one day.
    I did not want to tell you about cracking the tooth before you had your procedure but I am glad you survived and feel better now. :) I think it is pretty normal to use local anesthetic in Germany unless there is something wrong. But yeah for German health insurance. I am glad they covered everything!
    Have a good day and feel better!

    • AH oh my gosh I can’t believe that the anesthetic hadn’t set in yet that sounds just horrifying Katrin! Otherwise, our experience sounds really similar. It was so tough! And yes, probably good you didn’t tell me pre-procedure because I was worried enough. And gotta say, my insurance has yet to let me down, which is good, since it is SEHR TEUER!

  17. I had all four of my wisdom teeth out at once, back in the US, but I was put under for the procedure. I would not have been capable of doing that without a caretaker though- the drugs used on me for the procedure killed most of my memory of that day. From the time I was moved out of the surgery room to the time I got home, I only remember a total of about five minutes, and not in sequential time.

    Did they warn you about the possibility of dry socket? This didn’t happen to me, but everyone says it’s a very uncomfortable side effect: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/dry-socket/DS00778

    • Ya the one time I was put under, I definitely didn’t even remember going home, but being awake for it was truly hellacious. I think I’ve avoided the dry socket dilemma, but the doctors here didn’t even address it! I think it’s because I’m stitched up?

  18. I’m sorry, but I can’t stop laughing at those chubby cheeks! You look so cute! Apologies, because I know that it’s been painful and nobody wants to be patronized when they’re in pain but LOOK AT THOSE CHUBBA WUBBA CHEEKS! xo
    P.S. 4 wisdom teeth without going under, you my friend are hardcore.

    • I felt hardcore – mainly bc I’m not hardcore. But oh I survived and glad you got some amusement out of my cheeks, my friends have been having a hayday with them!

  19. personal opinion, the Germans blow wisdom teeth extraction way out of proportion. My roommate went to the dentist three separate times to get all of hers hers pulled and every single time was on her back for four to five days as her entire family came over and fussed over how brave she was having a single tooth pulled. I was like, really? Shut up, be a man, get it all done at once. Then you only suffer for a few days and get it over with as opposed to suffering for a grand total of two+ weeks as they take 1-2 teeth out at a time. When I told her that getting all four out at once was pretty standard in my neck of the woods she was like “OH MY GOD SUPERPOWERS.” I was like “OH MY GOD DON’T BE A WIMP.” Although epic kudos for you only doing it under local anesthetic. When I got mine out the doctor was like, “So you want loc-” and I was like “SILENCE.”

    • Everyone I know in Germany either got all of their teeth out at once, or had it done in session of two teeth each. None of them were put under for it, and none of them got anything stronger than simple Ibuprofen afterwards. Some got nothing at all.

      All of my American and Canadian friends were put under and got prescriped heavy-duty opiate painkillers ranging from Percocet to Vicodin. I don’t know, but that sounds a whole lot wimpier to me ;-)

      • I don’t know any Germans who got theirs done out all at once, everyone I know had multiple sessions. And they put my roommate in intensive care for three hours afterward pulling one tooth, and all they gave her was laughing gas, so admittedly, I am judging via her experience. Man, who got Vicodin for their wisdom teeth? And why wasn’t my oral surgeon that kind to me?

      • Haha this is true, but we American and Canadians think you are crazy for not going under! If I could change it, I totally would. Of course, I am ok now and handled it but really, my body was more freaked out than ever before. And surgery needs it’s perks like good pain meds to at least make there a pro when most of it are cons :)

        All the Germans I’ve talked to here did 2 at a time with local anesthetic or all 4 whilst under. Thanks for your comment Jasmine!

    • I think this is my favorite comment ever. Everyone here could not believe that I was doing all 4 at once, seriously blown away. Anyone I met here that did all 4 was asleep, and I don’t blame them, because it was freaking terrible being awake. Trust me, the whole time I was like WHY didn’t my cheap ass pay for general anesthetic, WHYYYYYY!

  21. Oh girl, I had mine out and was freaked out just like you were!

    They knocked me out completely though, but when I woke up I was all confused and in a lot of pain. I remember the diaper looking ice pack helping out a lot! ;)

    • Lucky for me I had a very attentive gentleman to tend to my needy self haha – plus roommates and friends – it wasn’t so bad. And at first I felt so terrible I didn’t even want anyone here

  23. i absolutely love that your daddio was the first to comment on this post LOL :) i cant believe you had all 4 done at the same time. but i cant believe more that you had the courage to post those photos on here LOLLLLLL! so awesome.

    i can’t sympathize. and hopefully never will be able to. those teeth are too big for me to want to have them operated out (although i only have 3, not 4 because im special i guess).

    • Haha he was concerned :) And the photos were almost too ridiculous not to share, I feel like y’all are my real life friends and deserve in on the fun-poking :) I thought I’d never have to get them out but dang things decided to start making moves!

  24. Oh my poor you…. :( But sorry these pics are priceless :D you really look like a hamster..

  25. You poor thing!! I had two of mine taken out a few years back, and I actually still need the other two removed. I love your chipmunk cheek photos!

  26. Ohmygosh. I hope you feel better… I’m sure you do, since I’m way late to comment here. But seriously, you are a champ – I was OUT, and I’m way too much of a wuss to do it any other way!

  28. Mein Gott, Alex… You poor thing!

    I got my wisdoms taken out last year… Also all 4 of them but under general anesthetic and it was honestly the worst experience of my life for the following reason…

    Obviously, as you know, your meal choices are very limited and because of this, I was just dying for some meat so my mom bought these little chicken balls from Woolworths (don’t know if you get Woolworths overseas?) and cut them up into small pieces for me so that I could push them through my swollen mouth haha. Also, I didn’t go for physio like I should have and so my face was terribly swollen. Anyway. These chicken balls were obviously off, or past their sell-by-date or something, because I ended up getting food poisoning and, I know this is vulgar, but there I was throwing up through this swollen mouth that I could hardly open.

    So horrible. My God, the haunting memories.

    I hope you made a 100% recovery quickly!! Xxx

    • Oh my gosh that sounds terrible! My roommate had told me she threw up from taking her pain meds on an empty stomach when she couldn’t eat, so it became my biggest fear because I could only imagine how awful it would be, especially since your mouth barely opens! I am healing up great and get my stitches out tomorrow and I finally ate my first normal meal yesterday and oh was it tasty – thai chicken curry – and the chicken was cut so thin it was perfect and I was so happy to get protein in my body for the first time in days. Oh, and we actually have a Woolworths here in Karlsruhe, but it doesn’t serve food, which it sounds like is a good thing!

  29. Pingback: It’s A Sunshine Day | Doin' Time On The Donau

  30. You are hilarious! Just scared the snot out of myself by reading up on the procedure before I go in for my extraction on Saturday. Thanks for the comic relief! I have been sitting on the fence about whether to take the nitrous oxide or the IV sedative and I think your experience pushes me right over the fence for that horrendous IV, even though it’s an extra $400 :/ I’m a wimp.

    • Hahaha yeah mine would have been 250 Euro, the good news is despite how terrible it was, I think the whole procedure really took only 25 minutes, so looking back now, it was probably worth saving the money. I might just be a big wimp :)

Leave a Reply

*

*

CommentLuv badge