So…I had my wisdom teeth removed earlier today. This is something I’d been dreading for years, ever since they came in. Having heard a bunch of nasty stories of impacted wisdom teeth, which essentially entails your wisdom teeth not coming in properly, or not even exiting the gum line at all (see the picture, it isn’t graphic). Fortunately, my wisdom teeth came in properly…or, what appeared to be proper for a few years. Maybe I should briefly explain what lead up to this to give you a better idea as to why I suddenly had this procedure done.

Friday night, after feeling no signs of any sort of pain, I went to sleep. Later that night I awakened to a strange pain in the side of my face. I didn’t know what it was; all I know is that I couldn’t get to sleep for any measurable period of time afterward.

The following morning, I awakened, groggy and thoroughly exhausted due to the lack of sleep that night…the day of an important final no less and I immediately noticed the pain in my jaw. I went into the bathroom and checked my teeth in the mirror. Nothing appeared to be wrong with them so I took a pain pill and went to class. The final was easy enough but unfortunately, the pain persisted through the class and for quite some time after I’d finished and left and when I say “quite some time” I mean the rest of the weekend.

For two days, I had to deal with soul-crushingly intense pain, staving off bouts of intense pain with my good friends Tylenol and Ibuprofen. Sure, the pills managed to lessen the pain somewhat for a couple hours at a time but it always came back with a vengeance and nights became impossible to sleep through. Monday, the pain reached a head and I decided I could put this off no longer; it was finally time to visit the dentist…and you can probably guess what happened next.

I was a tiny bit apprehensive about going under the…er…tongs, as I’ve heard plenty of horror stories about surgery but all these feelings melted away as the pain reached its peak as I sat in the waiting room, feeling like it was going to drive me insane.

I’ve heard that tooth related problems/injuries can be among the most painful you’ll ever feel. After what I’ve felt in the past couple of days, I’m very much inclined to believe that. Now I see why teeth are targeted as methods of torture.

The entire process wasn’t nearly as painful as I thought it would be getting my teeth pulled, in fact, I probably suffered more waiting for the dentist and his assistants to finish up the paperwork and knock me the hell out. I was thoroughly sedated with shots of Procaine (Novocaine) and whatever else was in the IV they set me up on and they got to work. I don’t even remember falling asleep though and I could swear I was at least partially aware of what was happening as I saw (or, at least, thought I saw) the dentist pulling at least one of my teeth out of my mouth.

Afterwards, I woke up to the sound of the dentist’s assistant telling me to bite down on the gauze they’d previously stuffed in my mouth to keep me from bleeding. I was still fairly out of it but surprisingly enough, I was at least able to stand and walk without assistance before being driven home.

Now, as I sit here at my laptop at 12 AM, writing this for your viewing pleasure, I can feel a slight twinge of pain. Let’s just say I’m not exactly looking forward to the next couple of days in my recovery. I feel great now that the constant stabbing pain (seriously, it felt like I’d been punched in the face several times after chewing broken glass and gargled with a bottle of sulfuric acid, all on the right side of my mouth) is finally gone and knowing that I won’t have any further problems due to my wisdom teeth is a huge plus. Plus, my dentist gave me some Vicodin to help manage the pain (don’t worry, I’m no abuser) so I should be able to keep the pain down to a minimum.

Well, that’s it for now, I think it’s high time I head to bed and get some much needed sleep. After four straight days of getting very little sleep, I think I owe it to myself.

PS: I’m still a bit loopy from being sedated so if anything in the above paragraphs looks a little off, please forgive me.