ET's Info-Stew

About an hour ago I got my two left wisdom teeth pulled. I opted for the Nitrous Oxide, and so I'm not too groggy. But it's certainly been an adventure. For the first couple minutes of breathing the gas I was kinda freaking out because sounds were starting to get duller, my body was getting slightly numb, and I felt like I was having trouble breathing. But I forced myself to relax and that helped. I think going under N₂0 is kinda like hypnosis: you have to let yourself fall into it for it to have it's full effect. Having the iPod playing my music helped.

My dentist came back and started off with my lower left wisdom tooth. That one apparently took quite a bit of time because they had to drill it in half to get it out. And they couldn't get it all out. I recall the dentist saying "I'm just going to leave it in", which I later found out meant that he was going to leave in part of the root. After the procedure he told me that the gums will just grow over it, so it shouldn't be a problem. The top tooth came out whole and much more quickly. The left side of my face was completely numb, but it was weird to still feel a minor tearing feeling as the teeth came loose. The worst part of the procedure itself was that when the dentist was working on the bottom tooth, I felt like the pressure he was applying was cutting off my air supply. I actually had to adjust my nasal passage to be able to breathe.

I just now notice that the feeling is starting to return, and I'm worried about that. I feel a dull ache that is slowly growing in intensity. The dentist gave me a prescription for some pain meds, and I've already taken a dose in anticipation of the pain I don't want to feel. The dentist was pretty rough with me, it seemed, so I imagine there's quite a bit of damage to heal back there.

The worst part, now that it's over, is that I constantly feel like I need to spit. And because of that I can't talk, not that I want to talk too much anyway. But at this point people can only expect a response from yes or no questions because I'm afraid if I open my mouth to talk I'm going to drool all over myself. How's that for a visual :)