Thursday, April 5, 2012

odontectomy: an epic surgery

"Odontectomy: the extraction of a tooth by removal of the bone from around the roots before force is applied."

April 4 2012, the date I set for my wisdom tooth extraction (which was scientifically or technically called odontectomy). The growing wisdom tooth wasn't coming out straight; it was tilted, causing my other teeth to move and crowd. That's why I had to have it removed right away so I won't need braces. That's another story if it happens.

Yes, I was nervous. Yes, I was freaking out. Until the last minute, I was thinking of backing out and not pushing through with it. I was about to face my greatest fears: injections, surgeries, blood. Basically, anything that is PAINFUL.. I fear.

So anyway, I sat there shaking and praying. First thing I had to face was the anesthesia injection. Felt the pain of the injection, but fine, I was able to handle. Took sometime before it became numb that the dentist had to inject more anesthesia (which I didn't get to feel that much anymore, thank God.) As she started with the surgery, I was still shaking. My eyes were closed the whole time, for I didn't want to see anything that was going on. The fact that I hear all those digging / grinding noises I was already freaking out, what more seeing those tools that she's using. I could've fainted. (K, exaggeration a little, but srsly feel my FEAR! hahaha!) Anyway, when the dentist was starting to put pressure and force on the tooth, I was crying in pain. Already in tears, she decided to give me another shot of anesthesia. I've had like 4 or 5 total anesthesia shots yesterday! After the last one, I didn't get to feel much pain, just the pressure to move the tooth around. When she finally pulled it out, I didn't feel anything (thank you, anesthesia). She explained to me after that she had to "rotate" the tooth to make it upright before pulling it out. The rotating part was the MOST PAINFUL one, with all those hard pressure exerted just to make it upright.

my wisdom tooth with long "legs" and pointy edges.
i didn't expect it to be THAT big. and with roots THAT long. 

I felt so drained right after, pale and weak. It took me sometime to recover. I sat there on the dentist's chair and wanting to sleep! Thinking about what I went through, I'm thankful that God gave me the strength to face my fears. He gave me the strength to survive. And yeah, maybe I was courageous enough to go through it, haha! Now my prayer is that my other 3 wisdom teeth would grow normally. In truth, I don't like to go through another surgery like this! Please, my heart.. it might fail already next time! Haha.

I knew this coming year would challenge me to face most of my fears. Even I don't get to blog about every single fear I've already encountered, I'm thankful that God is going through every single fear with me. And I know, there are more to come. One more down, a lot more to go.

One tooth down, PLEASE LET THAT BE THE LAST ONE.

And PS. I feel food deprived. I can eat only soup. And ice cream. I am so hungry. :( 

3 comments:

  1. yay, congrats Joh! Woohoo, take a picture of your swollen face :p

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    1. haha, thank God it wasn't as swollen! didn't get to take a photo though, haha. thanks for the support, Jess! :))

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  2. That tooth looks like it has the legs of a good dancer! ;-)

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