My Wisdom Tooth Surgery

Finally, I found the courage to go for a minor surgery to remove ONE of my wisdom teeth! Yeah, I have THREE (which erupted during odd times in my life) but who knows there might be a fourth one which is waiting to emerge?? :P.

According to Wikipedia, wisdom teeth usually appear between the age of 17 to 25 years.  Well, mine appeared every time I got pregnant.  Therefore I got 3 now (kids and wisdom teeth :P).  It's really odd because I know some people will get their teeth ruin during pregnancy (due to lack of calcium).  In my case, an over-supply of calcium perhaps (which spurred the growth of the wisdom teeth)??  So, if my theory is correct, my fourth wisdom tooth will appear when I get pregnant for the fourth time, which, ladies and gentlemen, is not going to happen (ngeh!ngeh!ngeh!) unless God wills it...  I am envious of the 35% (of the world's population) who do not develop wisdom tooth at all!  How lucky!

Dentists defer in their opinions regarding the removal of wisdom teeth.  Some dentists advise the immediate removal of wisdom teeth; others were of the opinion that if the teeth do not bother the 'owner', they should be left as they are.

I was advised to remove one of my wisdom teeth because its position (impacted) has affected my second molar.  This particular wisdom tooth of mine is categorized as mesioangular impaction whereby the tooth is angled forward towards the front of the mouth (see pix below).

Pix from www.healthmantra.com

My wisdom tooth surgery took place at my dentist's clinic (Dr. Nirmal) in USJ 4.  However, the surgery was performed by another surgeon, one youngish Dr. Safar.  He told me that he was doing his PhD in dentistry part-time, in one of my alma-mater.  Well, that piece of information certainly boosted my confidence in undergoing the surgery. Surely, someone doing his PhD would be an expert in doing the surgery, right?? :)

Before performing the surgery, Dr. Safar showed me the x-ray of my wisdom tooth and explained how he was going to go about doing  it.  All the gory stuff which made my stomach queasy:  cutting the gum to extract the tooth (plan A) or sawing the tooth into two and drilling the tooth out (plan B).  As if that's not enough, he also pointed to a nerve (forgot what its called) which ran near the root of the tooth, which could affect the senses at my lower jaw if severed.  Not really music to my ears but who can blame the chap.  Typical PhD scholar ... LOL!

Next, the dentist rubbed some strawberry-flavoured gel onto the right-side of my gums and tongue to numb them.  Then, 2 jabs of anesthetic were implanted into my gums.  I think the long, huge needle from the shringe affected me more than the pain from the jabs.  Nasib baik tak pengsan!  Kikiki!

After 5 minutes, the surgery began.  I didn't feel any pain but I can feel Dr. Safar mengerjakan gigiku.  He even coaxed me to have a look at the procedure using a mirror.  I politely declined but when he kept on pestering me, I reluctantly took a glance.  Aiyoh!  Could have fainted seeing blood oozing from my gums!  I quickly pushed away the mirror.

You can watch a video on wisdom tooth extraction below.  Not for the faint-hearted, BTW!  (I myself have not watched it till the end :P)

It didn't take long before my wisdom tooth was extracted.  Maybe 15 minutes??  Wow!  That was fast!

The size of the wisdom tooth was as
big as my brooch!

I think the dentist took a longer time to stitch my wound, afterwards.  I was quite anxious.  Takut terjahit lidah pulak!  But Alhamdulillah, all went well.  Everything was done within an hour.  The surgery cost me RM 650. Takpelah... anything for my teeth :).

The good dentist then gave me some post-surgery do's and dont's:

DO:
-  eat lots of ice-cream, after the surgery to cool the affected area
-  take soft food which is not piping hot on the 2nd day
-  take some warm soft food on the 3rd day
-  rinse mouth with saltwater on the 3rd day but avoid gargling
-  pat cheek (tuam)with a mug of warm water
-  finish the antibiotics and take painkillers when necessary
-  rest for 2,3 days

DO NOT:
-  talk a lot after the surgery
-  drink with a straw (to avoid pressuring related muscles)
-  gargle (therefore, cannot brush my teeth for a few days :P)
-  spit
-  carry heavy objects

The dentist was not too pleased to hear that I was driving home after the surgery, but I assured him that I felt ok.  Luckily I wasn't dizzy or anything like that, coz it would have been unsafe to drive alone in the infamous Shah Alam-Subang Jaya jam.

My first night after the surgery was ok.  Blood at the affected place stopped flowing after awhile.  I did not experience much pain.  I slept soundly throughout the night.  At the time of writing (second night), I felt a bit of discomfort at the area of surgery, but not quite painful. I think it came from my second molar which has a cavity (due to the wisdom tooth pressing on it) and is due for root canal next.  My cheek looked a bit swollen too, but that was to be expected.

We'll see how things are after a few days.  Hopefully,  in a weeks time, the wound would have healed and the dentist will be able to remove the stitches :).