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Thursday, June 16, 2011

There is no tooth fairy

On Monday I had an "exciting" day, I had my middle tooth pulled.

The day started with a trip to Dr. F's office, I needed to have the wire taken out of my braces.  That went quickly and without incident.  He told me that after my tooth was pulled that I could come back and have the fake teeth put back in to cover the span of now 3 teeth.

On the way to Dr. D's office I had a slice of pizza, which was a better idea before I had the wire taken out of my braces.  My teeth always feel tender after the wire comes out. 

At Dr. D's I was quickly set up for the extraction, some topical numbing cream, novicain (with epinephrine, opps - that doesn't agree with me).  Then a yank, and the tooth was out.  Dr. D did introduce me to one of the other doctors in the office while discussing if she should put in a little bone.  They decided not to.  2 or 3 stitches later my mouth was stuffed with guaze. 

After that we discussed the surgery.  She showed me where she would put in the distractor, and told me that the bone needs to move 20 cm, which at less then 1 cm per day will take about 3 weeks.  But, she will not start to move the distractor for 1 week.  After the distractor is in place the bone will need to set for about 4 months before they will take out the distractor.  If for some reason they need to take it out earlier she said that Dr. F has some tricks up his sleeve for keeping everything in place.  She explained that I will be on a soft food diet since she is concerned about me healing; but, she didn't say how long - ugh, I'm sick of soft food!

After that I left the office (guaze still in my mouth) and went to Dr. F's.  I didn't know how long I had to keep the gauze in my mouth so I still had it in my mouth 30 minutes later when I arrived at Dr. F's.  This became a problem because it meant I never had a chance to take any pain killers and the novicain wore off by the time I was done with Dr. F - NOT GOOD!  This wasn't quick, but it seemed relatively easy for Dr. F to put my wire back in, along with the 3 fake teeth thing.  Let me tell you, these teeth looked better then my real teeth ever did!  After that he showed me a model of my head, which was cool, explained what Dr. D is going to do.  Which was slightly different from what she said she was going to do.  I think they are still discussing exactly how they are going to do the distraction.  It's really cool and nifty and way over my head, so as long as they figure out what they're doing and are all on the same page, I'm good with that.  Then Dr. F took some pictures, I have no doubt I looked completely miserable in these pictures - I just wanted drugs or to cry by then. 

Luckily I carry Advil with me, I got in the car and the first thing I did was take Advil, then I noticed I was still bleeding a little.  But I needed some dinner (soup) and to get my prescription filled for pain killers.  I was never so glad to get home and relax. 

In other news...  My mother had surgery a month or so ago and got MRSA and is in the hospital on IV antibiotics for that.  This leaves the possibility that I have MRSA and on Wednesday went to my primary care physician to get tested.  I should get the results from that test back late this week or early next week.  If it's positive then I'll have to go on antibiotics immediately in preparation for the surgery.

Oh, and as for the subject - I did get to keep my tooth, but I was affraid to put my tooth under the pillow for the tooth fairy.  How freaky would it be if she actually showed up?

Saturday, June 11, 2011

I seem to have fallen behind

Sorry, I had some chaos a few weeks ago (mom had her hip replaced), then I went on vacation.  Came home to mom having an infection.  ugh!

But anway, before my trip I did go see Dr. F.  He did a mold of my mouth.  When I have my middle tooth removed he will not be able to put a 3rd tooth on my wire so he will make a retainer like device.  Depending on how Dr. D closes up my mouth from the extraction Dr. F may be able to give me the retainer on the same day. 

He also adjusted the wire on the bottom and I'm really starting to see the tooth Dr. F is rotating move.  That makes me happy, it hurts when I bite on harder foods.