Wisdom teeth redux.
Oct. 19th, 2004 08:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
elwen[Warning: As I've said before, I tend to take a clinical interest in these kinds of things. I'm posting it more for my own interest and entertainment -- I get morbid pleasure from describing stuff in gory detail -- than for your benefit. So don't read it if you have a weak stomach or just generally don't like to read about medical grossness. In fact, I'll even cut it for you.]
So my wisdom teeth miraculously grew back, and they had to extract them again.
Not.
What really happened was that, about a week ago, my jaw started swelling again. Actually, it never completely recovered, but it was little more than a small bump in my cheek, basically invisible. I had been getting near being able to stick three fingers vertically between my teeth -- this is not actually how I measure my jaw opening ability, but apparently this is the easiest to visualize, and the doctor used it when I called him -- but now I was back to two. The swelling was about how it was at the end of the first week. I kind of put it off as my having been straining my muscles too much, chewing too much tough foods and such, and dragged my heels about getting it seen to. Then on Saturday morning, exactly the longest before I'd be able to get treatment, it got worse. The swelling was now about how it was at its worst, three days after the extraction, and there was a faint pink splotch on my jaw where the swelling was just against the skin. In the mornings it was darker and looked almost like a bruise, but the color was generally too fresh. The swelling was definitely beyond my cheekbone and quite visible. I could open my mouth maybe a finger. Chewing was mostly okay, but there was a lot more resistance to my opening my mouth beyond the soft limit: after the extraction, I think it was mostly just that it hurt to open more, but this time I would have actually had to pry with my hands, most likely. There were a lot of pulling and pinching sensations inside my cheek, probably because of the swelling.
So that's pretty much how it was yesterday morning when I went to the health center. I think it was bothering me a little less, although the swelling was no better -- I kind of suspected that the swelling had gotten too bad to hurt, if you know what I mean. The health center person said I should call my oral surgeon, and then ask my dental insurance, since I'm not under Caltech's plan. So the rest of the day was one big rush of trying to call different people and get necessary information, between going to class to make sure I knew how to do sets that are due tomorrow.
My doctor was pretty sanguine at first about the increased swelling, actually. He'd started telling me to take antibiotics and kind of poke around at the gum around the last tooth -- I tried this later and it hurt like hell and helped not at all -- and then he mentioned that I should watch out for increased difficulty swallowing or opening my mouth. So I told him I couldn't open my mouth very much, and he suddenly became very alarmed -- his threshold was two fingers -- and told me to see someone right away. By the time I'd gotten insurance information and verified the people he referred me to, "as soon as possible" meant this morning at 8:30.
I went in and sure enough, I had an infection. Both doctors said it was probably some bit of food that got caught in the hole. The problem socket is the one for the fully impacted tooth, where there had been this little flap of flesh over the hole, and when I washed it out, I'd have to lift it up with my tongue and squirt under. I had been a bit worried that the flap would be like that forever, actually, but a little after I arrived at Caltech, it'd become tight enough that I couldn't really get under it. I guess this is the point at which I should have tried what the doctor recommended about poking at the gum with the syringe. It might have worked better when I could still open my mouth enough to easily fit the barrel.
But anyway, pus was gathering in some space around my jaw or cheek -- it's actually a bit in front of the actual socket -- and that was causing the swelling. It had spread slightly to another space, which is kind of under my chin near my throat, and the doctor I saw today said it was good it hadn't spread more, as that place isn't accessible just through my mouth. So I guess I saw him at the last minute before the next stage of badness. In any case, the treatment was an "I&D", incision and draining. Basically he'd have to cut it open, and put in a tube for it to drain, which is left for two days, and then it's just a matter of taking antibiotics and such.
For the surgery, he recommended full anesthesia, which I hadn't even gotten for the extraction. It was probably a good thing this time, though. From what I can feel of my cheek -- I'm trying very hard to resist temptation to poke around there too much -- it was pretty invasive. And the tube is literally this thin, squashy tube sticking out from the base of my jaw bone.
I'd never had full anesthesia, so it was kind of interesting. I honestly had trouble telling whether or not the nitrous oxide was taking effect. I guess my eyes did get a bit heavier after they started it -- it's hard to resolve the different causes of sleepiness when you're a Tech student. So then came the ordeal that I should have foreseen: finding a vein. I thought of how the frosh interest sheets ask for a special talent, and mused that I should put this as mine: confounding and baffling doctors all over the world with my absolute lack of veins. Seriously. The guy in Japan was pretty old, although I don't know if he specifically said he'd never had the problem before. Today's guy said he'd been practicing since '96 and had even been successful with someone who had had something else that presumably makes it difficult to find a viable vein, I didn't recognize the name of the condiction. So apparently I'm more unique than I thought with this. I wonder if it's something I should get looked at. It's not like there's anything they could do, though. So I guess the doctors will just be confused every time.
As Lucy had suggested, I made careful note about the success of each place I'd gotten poked last time, but I still ended up getting poked four times again. One obligatory stab in the crook of each elbow, then one on the back of my left hand, and the final successful one on the underside of my right wrist. Although he'd tried my left arm because I mentioned that's where they got blood last time, he didn't like the vein on the side of my wrist nor the weird dark splotch of a vein on the upper edge of my elbow. Naturally there are differences in finding a vein for drawing blood and one for an IV, I suppose. Now I know workable spots for either.
Going under was really weird. One moment they were securing the needle and tubing to my arm and telling me to relax it on the armrest, and the next they were helping me out of the seat and guiding me to the recovery room. I dozed a lot there. I think I remember them saying several times that they were having trouble contacting Ewen, but then she came in and they took me to the car in a wheelchair. [I also have this weird probably-a-dream of a lot of people crowded over me and looking down into my face and trying to pry my jaw open really wide.]
I was pretty unsteady when I first got back, although I could walk unassisted. I was quickly struck by waves of nausea, though, possibly from taking the penicillin and ibuprofen on no food, or from drinking water combined with the anesthesia. [I hadn't gone in planning for that, so it was pure luck that I hadn't eaten anything for 8 hours and had only drunk a but of water this morning.] So I went to bed and slept off the effects and the numbness in my cheek. I did miss Japanese class, unfortunately, but that's probably a small cost all considered.
Right now, I'm feeling pretty good. I can feel that my cheek is not quite right, but that's how it's been for a week. I do have twice as many sets this week as usual -- which really just means that my weeks alternate in having 2 sets and 4 sets -- but I think I'll be okay. And getting an extension for a not-too-nasty p-chem set will just mean Thursday will absolutely suck with the chem-e.
So now that I can feel my mouth, it's kind of interesting. It doesn't really seem like he touched the socket, so I guess it's still up to my body to take care of the bit of food or whatever that instigated this whole mess. On the other hand, there were these thick "veins" of swollenness in my cheek that were probably where pus was gathering. There are stitches in the side of my cheek and they don't seem to be so swollen anymore, so I'm guessing that's what was drained. The hard, faint red splotch on my jaw is still there, but I guess that'll go away in a few days. Then there's the tube. There's not really anything draining out of it right now, as far as I know, but again, I'm sure they have their reasons for putting it there.
I'll go back on Thursday to get that out. Other than that, I have this really neat antibiotic mouthwash thing. Neat because I can feel its strength in the way it makes my mouth tingle. Pretty badass, although it's a prescription drug, which means it's allowed to have side effects like increasing tartar buildup and discoloring teeth. [I dont' think I'll be using it so long as to have to worry about those things, though.] And I have to take 4 days worth of ibuprofen -- the directions say to finish the bottle, so I'm guessing it's more for the swelling than for my pain -- and 7 days of penicillin. At least it's 4 times a day instead of 6 like before. And I have Vicodin again, but I'll do my best not to touch it after last time's nausea.
Right now there's not much pain at all. I did stick to having soup for dinner, but I think I could probably chew most things just on the left side. The tube is kind of cause for concern in that respect, though. I'm kind of paranoid about food getting in there. They didn't really give me any instructions about diet, but they might just assume it's common sense. After all, I did get my wisdom teeth out.
EDIT: for those who don't want to put up with the grossness, basically my wisdom tooth socket got infected and they had to perform surgery to let out the infection and now I'm back on antibiotics and such, but mostly I'm feeling alright, and I have the promise of getting better.
So my wisdom teeth miraculously grew back, and they had to extract them again.
Not.
What really happened was that, about a week ago, my jaw started swelling again. Actually, it never completely recovered, but it was little more than a small bump in my cheek, basically invisible. I had been getting near being able to stick three fingers vertically between my teeth -- this is not actually how I measure my jaw opening ability, but apparently this is the easiest to visualize, and the doctor used it when I called him -- but now I was back to two. The swelling was about how it was at the end of the first week. I kind of put it off as my having been straining my muscles too much, chewing too much tough foods and such, and dragged my heels about getting it seen to. Then on Saturday morning, exactly the longest before I'd be able to get treatment, it got worse. The swelling was now about how it was at its worst, three days after the extraction, and there was a faint pink splotch on my jaw where the swelling was just against the skin. In the mornings it was darker and looked almost like a bruise, but the color was generally too fresh. The swelling was definitely beyond my cheekbone and quite visible. I could open my mouth maybe a finger. Chewing was mostly okay, but there was a lot more resistance to my opening my mouth beyond the soft limit: after the extraction, I think it was mostly just that it hurt to open more, but this time I would have actually had to pry with my hands, most likely. There were a lot of pulling and pinching sensations inside my cheek, probably because of the swelling.
So that's pretty much how it was yesterday morning when I went to the health center. I think it was bothering me a little less, although the swelling was no better -- I kind of suspected that the swelling had gotten too bad to hurt, if you know what I mean. The health center person said I should call my oral surgeon, and then ask my dental insurance, since I'm not under Caltech's plan. So the rest of the day was one big rush of trying to call different people and get necessary information, between going to class to make sure I knew how to do sets that are due tomorrow.
My doctor was pretty sanguine at first about the increased swelling, actually. He'd started telling me to take antibiotics and kind of poke around at the gum around the last tooth -- I tried this later and it hurt like hell and helped not at all -- and then he mentioned that I should watch out for increased difficulty swallowing or opening my mouth. So I told him I couldn't open my mouth very much, and he suddenly became very alarmed -- his threshold was two fingers -- and told me to see someone right away. By the time I'd gotten insurance information and verified the people he referred me to, "as soon as possible" meant this morning at 8:30.
I went in and sure enough, I had an infection. Both doctors said it was probably some bit of food that got caught in the hole. The problem socket is the one for the fully impacted tooth, where there had been this little flap of flesh over the hole, and when I washed it out, I'd have to lift it up with my tongue and squirt under. I had been a bit worried that the flap would be like that forever, actually, but a little after I arrived at Caltech, it'd become tight enough that I couldn't really get under it. I guess this is the point at which I should have tried what the doctor recommended about poking at the gum with the syringe. It might have worked better when I could still open my mouth enough to easily fit the barrel.
But anyway, pus was gathering in some space around my jaw or cheek -- it's actually a bit in front of the actual socket -- and that was causing the swelling. It had spread slightly to another space, which is kind of under my chin near my throat, and the doctor I saw today said it was good it hadn't spread more, as that place isn't accessible just through my mouth. So I guess I saw him at the last minute before the next stage of badness. In any case, the treatment was an "I&D", incision and draining. Basically he'd have to cut it open, and put in a tube for it to drain, which is left for two days, and then it's just a matter of taking antibiotics and such.
For the surgery, he recommended full anesthesia, which I hadn't even gotten for the extraction. It was probably a good thing this time, though. From what I can feel of my cheek -- I'm trying very hard to resist temptation to poke around there too much -- it was pretty invasive. And the tube is literally this thin, squashy tube sticking out from the base of my jaw bone.
I'd never had full anesthesia, so it was kind of interesting. I honestly had trouble telling whether or not the nitrous oxide was taking effect. I guess my eyes did get a bit heavier after they started it -- it's hard to resolve the different causes of sleepiness when you're a Tech student. So then came the ordeal that I should have foreseen: finding a vein. I thought of how the frosh interest sheets ask for a special talent, and mused that I should put this as mine: confounding and baffling doctors all over the world with my absolute lack of veins. Seriously. The guy in Japan was pretty old, although I don't know if he specifically said he'd never had the problem before. Today's guy said he'd been practicing since '96 and had even been successful with someone who had had something else that presumably makes it difficult to find a viable vein, I didn't recognize the name of the condiction. So apparently I'm more unique than I thought with this. I wonder if it's something I should get looked at. It's not like there's anything they could do, though. So I guess the doctors will just be confused every time.
As Lucy had suggested, I made careful note about the success of each place I'd gotten poked last time, but I still ended up getting poked four times again. One obligatory stab in the crook of each elbow, then one on the back of my left hand, and the final successful one on the underside of my right wrist. Although he'd tried my left arm because I mentioned that's where they got blood last time, he didn't like the vein on the side of my wrist nor the weird dark splotch of a vein on the upper edge of my elbow. Naturally there are differences in finding a vein for drawing blood and one for an IV, I suppose. Now I know workable spots for either.
Going under was really weird. One moment they were securing the needle and tubing to my arm and telling me to relax it on the armrest, and the next they were helping me out of the seat and guiding me to the recovery room. I dozed a lot there. I think I remember them saying several times that they were having trouble contacting Ewen, but then she came in and they took me to the car in a wheelchair. [I also have this weird probably-a-dream of a lot of people crowded over me and looking down into my face and trying to pry my jaw open really wide.]
I was pretty unsteady when I first got back, although I could walk unassisted. I was quickly struck by waves of nausea, though, possibly from taking the penicillin and ibuprofen on no food, or from drinking water combined with the anesthesia. [I hadn't gone in planning for that, so it was pure luck that I hadn't eaten anything for 8 hours and had only drunk a but of water this morning.] So I went to bed and slept off the effects and the numbness in my cheek. I did miss Japanese class, unfortunately, but that's probably a small cost all considered.
Right now, I'm feeling pretty good. I can feel that my cheek is not quite right, but that's how it's been for a week. I do have twice as many sets this week as usual -- which really just means that my weeks alternate in having 2 sets and 4 sets -- but I think I'll be okay. And getting an extension for a not-too-nasty p-chem set will just mean Thursday will absolutely suck with the chem-e.
So now that I can feel my mouth, it's kind of interesting. It doesn't really seem like he touched the socket, so I guess it's still up to my body to take care of the bit of food or whatever that instigated this whole mess. On the other hand, there were these thick "veins" of swollenness in my cheek that were probably where pus was gathering. There are stitches in the side of my cheek and they don't seem to be so swollen anymore, so I'm guessing that's what was drained. The hard, faint red splotch on my jaw is still there, but I guess that'll go away in a few days. Then there's the tube. There's not really anything draining out of it right now, as far as I know, but again, I'm sure they have their reasons for putting it there.
I'll go back on Thursday to get that out. Other than that, I have this really neat antibiotic mouthwash thing. Neat because I can feel its strength in the way it makes my mouth tingle. Pretty badass, although it's a prescription drug, which means it's allowed to have side effects like increasing tartar buildup and discoloring teeth. [I dont' think I'll be using it so long as to have to worry about those things, though.] And I have to take 4 days worth of ibuprofen -- the directions say to finish the bottle, so I'm guessing it's more for the swelling than for my pain -- and 7 days of penicillin. At least it's 4 times a day instead of 6 like before. And I have Vicodin again, but I'll do my best not to touch it after last time's nausea.
Right now there's not much pain at all. I did stick to having soup for dinner, but I think I could probably chew most things just on the left side. The tube is kind of cause for concern in that respect, though. I'm kind of paranoid about food getting in there. They didn't really give me any instructions about diet, but they might just assume it's common sense. After all, I did get my wisdom teeth out.
EDIT: for those who don't want to put up with the grossness, basically my wisdom tooth socket got infected and they had to perform surgery to let out the infection and now I'm back on antibiotics and such, but mostly I'm feeling alright, and I have the promise of getting better.
no subject
Date: 2004-10-19 10:54 pm (UTC)