Half of my wisdom is officially gone. The two wisdom teeth on the left side of my mouth were ripped from my face on Friday.
The top tooth came out fairly easily. A bit of shoving and pulling, wiggling and yanking, and it slipped right out. The bottom tooth was impacted and was nearly horizontal, so it needed to be sectioned into pieces that could be removed separately. This involved some sort of saw-like tool and safety goggles to protect my eyes from flying dental bits.
I thought the whole experience would be a lot worse, but it all went quite smoothly. The two teeth were removed, and my temporary crown was replaced with a proper crown, and I was finished before I knew it. The most painful part of the process was the bill, coming in at about $1500. My insurance doesn’t cover crowns, so I only get about $300 of that back.
Recovery is also going well. I’m not an anxious person in the chair, so they just gave me the regular local anesthetic. This was handy, as I could drive home after and didn’t feel sick or woozy. I’m on antibiotics for a week, since the bottom tooth was a little complicated and the socket was exposed for a while. As long as I don’t get a dry socket, everything should be fine.
This is how I saw dentists as a kid:
After sitting through a lot of dentist appointments this last year, I’ve found that dental procedures are never as bad as people make them out to be. It’s worth just going and getting it over with. I’m now fully caught up on all of my dental work, and it’s a huge weight off my shoulders.