I need...

[Der Cute]

Also not an option. I'm scrambling as it is to come up with the $2400 for my surgery; there's no way in hell I can afford travel expenses. And I've no wish to run into any of the ongoing drug wars that have been lighting that country up like fireworks lately. (Granted, I don't know the exact geography where ambushes have been taking place, but still. Not exactly confidence-inspiring.)

Hey. It cost me about $200 for the plane ticket. $20/night at the motel. $5 bux from apt to motel. Walking distance from motel to Tijuana border. $5 for a taxi ride straight from other side of fence to dentist office. $5 for a taxi ride from dentist office back to the border.

So, if you have an idea what teeth (the tooth number) need to be fixed, call around for an estimate. You think it'll cost $2400 here? Find out what it would cost in TJ. And I'm serious, I did not have to walk around in TJ at all. Taxi to doc, taxi from doc. Easy peasy.

In the US, my fixings would have been 4x1600 (4 crowns front teeth) 2x 800 (2 sep root canals) 200 (Bleaching) 100 (cleaning) 300 (cavities).
So..it would have been around $8500 here. It cost me the travel costs of $350 (above rounded up) and about $3500 for the work.
I paid 3850 for 8500 worth of work.

I know the first reaction is omg travel costs money omg. But look into it. The part of San Diego I was in is called San Ysidro. It's walking distance, about 1mi from the motel to the border. You show your passport, get in, hey taxi, done.
And the motel had AC. It was 75, 80F in San Diego when I was there. It was 95+ in Seattle, where I had to return to. With no AC. Seriously. Look.

[Amethyst Hunter]

I know the first reaction is omg travel costs money omg. But look into it. The part of San Diego I was in is called San Ysidro. It's walking distance, about 1mi from the motel to the border. You show your passport, get in, hey taxi, done.

Things are already set in place. I can't go changing them; doing so would cost me more time and money that I don't have and sorely inconvenience the only person that I can get to drive me back from the surgery (I'll be way too out of it to drive safely). I want this done and over with. If that means I eat nothing but ramen for the next 6 months, so be it.

Besides, I don't have a passport. My understanding is that nowadays, you need one, even just to go to Mexico or Canada. It takes way too long to wait for a passport, even one expedited. The longer I wait the more risk I take in getting the one tooth reinfected again, possibly worse the second time around.

At this point, I'm more worried about any pain involved. THAT is what's scaring the spit out of me right now. I don't do well with medical stuff.

[wagegoth]

At this point, I'm more worried about any pain involved. THAT is what's scaring the spit out of me right now. I don't do well with medical stuff.

I had all four wisdom teeth removed at one time, and the pain wasn't that bad. I don't have a pain threshold, everything hurts, so a dull ache was not bad. The only unpleasant part was that I puked up the next morning, and I slept a lot, for about a day and a half, as the medicine that was supposed to relax me actually put me out, so it took a while to recover.

The dentist should give you some kind of painkillers.

And absolutely, you MUST follow the instructions to avoid a dry socket. I didn't get one, but the people I've heard who have had them found them the absolute worst part of the extraction.

[Amethyst Hunter]

Why I refuse to ever have kids: I'm not passing on my family's dicketry.

Aaaand I'm in trouble.

Woke up today with a puffy feeling in the side of my face (where the one bad tooth is) and slight pain.

This may mean the infection is back. I need to call the dentist (the first one I went to) and find out what to do. But there's a good chance that the surgery may have to be postponed.

If that's the case, this REALLY puts me in deep shit.

The only person I can get to drive me home from it is my dad. Who is driving down (he'll be bringing some stuff of mine, that's why he's driving) from up north. When I called tonight to inform my folks of this potential problem, he FLIPPED his shit on me. My dad already thinks I'm overreacting whenever I mention how scared I am of this whole deal (Wiki-ing details on tooth extraction and anesthesia probably didn't help either). Frankly, I don't want him to be here for this. I'd rather have my mom, who is generally more sympathetic. But she can't come because her douchebag of a workplace won't let anybody (except for higher-ups, of course) have any time off now that it's the holiday season. And I have nobody else where I am that could drive me home afterwards.

I had to go cry for about ten minutes after being on the phone with him tonight. In his words, "we're going to pull some goddamn teeth when I get down there, one way or another!" Yeah, he's a REAL sympathetic type, my dad. Now you know why I'm so neurotic. My dad is one of the reasons I don't want kids. I'm not going to pass on inherited assholery. Several generations of that is more than enough, thank you very much.

This week is going to suck so much. Extractions or no extractions, either way, I'm going to be in a lot of misery by the end of this week. Yeah, 2011 can just go fuck off right now. And Christmas is officially canceled.

[Der Cute]

I've had my teeth extracted, all at once. The dentist prescribed demerol for the pain. Make sure you eat food and have a food cushion! when taking pain killers.
Soft /liquid simple food (oh and painkillers/benzos like to clog your other end up too..water!!) and rest when it's over with. Your body will heal itself, and yes, avoid dry sockets. Those..ebil.
Personally I'll take post-surgery pain over brand new ongoing tooth pain. The dull is much better than the aching/throbbing volume of new tooth pain. Ow.
Your dad sounds like a turd. Hey, think of this! You'll be stoned on painkillers, his word doesn't matter! (It doesn't anyway, but you will take less input when you're passing out)
You could also try this: On the way home, tell him it hurts so much so bad, you have a migraine. Then put earplugs in to "stop the sounds, it hurts". Done.

[Amethyst Hunter]

Your dad sounds like a turd. Hey, think of this! You'll be stoned on painkillers, his word doesn't matter! (It doesn't anyway, but you will take less input when you're passing out)
You could also try this: On the way home, tell him it hurts so much so bad, you have a migraine. Then put earplugs in to "stop the sounds, it hurts". Done.

No, what my dad'll do is bitch and moan (he's the passive-aggressive kind) and it's bad enough I'll have to spend several days cooped up in the same living space as him (doesn't clean up his own messes, hogs the TV, runs electricity when there's no real need to do so). I don't need his childish fits on top of it.

Too bad there isn't an "Ignore" button for people one could just press.

I'll settle for sleeping my way through most of the days afterward.

[PhiSigGirl1988]

Don't worry too much about the tooth extraction pain; it really isn't that bad. Before I got braces, I had to have my molars cut out because they were so rooted in (my dad passed on some great genetics: stubborn teeth, severe scoliosis, etc.). Just make sure you get something in your stomach quickly after the surgery is done. There was a Wendy's right next door to the place where I got my teeth removed, thankfully, so I got a Frosty. The anesthesia will most likely upset your stomach, and you're not allowed to eat before the surgery. Having something cold and soft right after will help.

[Amethyst Hunter]

Just make sure you get something in your stomach quickly after the surgery is done. There was a Wendy's right next door to the place where I got my teeth removed, thankfully, so I got a Frosty. The anesthesia will most likely upset your stomach, and you're not allowed to eat before the surgery. Having something cold and soft right after will help.

Well, it's because of the anesthesia that I figure I'll be way too blitzed/nauseated/uncomfortable to want to eat anything the rest of that day. Which is fine by me - hell, if I could sleep straight through the entire week and then wake up after the worst is over, that'd be fine by me.

Nevertheless I do have a tub of orange sherbet and a tub of vanilla ice cream on standby in my freezer, just in case.

Less than 48 hours to my appointment, and the jitters are starting to set in. Courage, I do not has it.

[BeenThereDoneThat]

Wishing you the best, AH...I had all four wisdom teeth removed when I was about 20, and that was 23 years ago but even then I don't remember it being as bad as I thought it would be. Take care of yourself and please post an update when you're able

[42_42_42]

It's not that bad. Really. Take it from someone who not only had to have her impacted wisdom teeth taken out by the oral surgeon, but had to have all but 1 of her baby teeth yanked because her roots didn't dissolve (feeling the dentist literally break the root away from the jaw bone is freaky as hell). The worst thing is the pinch of the numbing needle. Everything else is easy. Just make sure to follow post-op directions exactly. NO DRINKING THROUGH STRAWS! And make sure they send you home w/ plenty of gauze, cause you'll need it.

Call around to the churches and aid orgs in your area. Some might be able to give you som $$$ to help out. At the very least, you should be able to get food at the local food pantry.

[Amethyst Hunter]

Teeth update: Wisdoms gone!

Well, I have good news and bad news. Bad news will be detailed in a separate post, since it's not applicable to this subject, but let's just say I now have a new possible health woe to deal with.

On to the extractions. It went a lot better than I thought it would, especially considering I'm such a huge chicken about anything medical. I did start crying and shaking in the office, but they were all very nice to me. They had me on a sedative at first, since I was so nervous, but then the anesthesiologist came in and hooked me up to the Hardcore Drug (which, if I remember right, somebody there told me it was the same thing Michael Jackson OD'ed on. If so, that's not exactly what one wants to hear right before surgery, lol).

The last thing I remember was the surgeon coming into the room to say hello to me, and then...total blank. I woke up with a mouthful of gauze and the assistant saying "we're done!" They had me sit in a back room for a little bit while the rest of the anesthesia wore off; I was more or less like "meh, whatever" at that point.

My dad drove me home, after we filled my prescriptions for the antibiotics and painkiller (which, incidentally, was good shit - it was a Vicodin substitute, and I only had to take that for about a week. Good thing too, since it was loaded with acetaminophen which I'm sure didn't do my liver any favors, but ah well). I pretty much slept the rest of the day on and off, with ice packs steady on my face, and changed the gauze periodically as needed/told to. It was pretty gross for the first day, two days, but after that it quit seeping and around the third day or so I mustered the courage to look at my new messed-up mouth. Yuck. There really isn't much to see at first, unless I open my mouth really wide, then you can see the hole where the missing bicuspid should be. So that's something, at least. I may eventually get a bridge or something for that, but that's just a pipe dream for now.

Since then I've been taking it easy, keeping my mouth clean with saltwater rinses and regular cleaning as it improves, and I spent at least a week on a purely-liquid diet (Ensure milkshakes: a blessing!) before I started taking my first tentative bites of Real Food, starting with soft things like scrambled eggs and chicken noodle soup. Downside to this is that now I have to really make sure I rinse well afterwards, because goop gets stuck in the back areas where the wisdom teeth were. Joy.

All total I lost 6 teeth: the 4 wisdoms, plus the bastard bicuspid with the really bad cavity that started it all, and the upper back molar where the one wisdom tooth was screwing it up. At the initial consult the surgeon said he thought that one, the molar, might be salvageable, but he wouldn't know until he actually went in there. It must have been too far gone after all. (Fuck you, wisdom tooth.) I don't mind the wisdom teeth being gone; I always knew they had to go someday. I don't even mind the missing molar so much. But boy, do I miss my bicuspid. It feels weird to have that gone.

So, for anyone's future reference, here's my handy supply list to get you through tooth extraction:

You will need the following, as much as you can stock up on:

- Gauze

- Ice packs (bags of frozen peas work well too, but you won't want to eat them when they thaw out) Keep ice on your face constantly for about 36 hours, this will take care of the swelling. I had very minimal swelling because I stayed steady on the ice. Past 36 hours, they say ice doesn't have much of an effect then, but feel free to use as preferred.

- Salt

- LOTS of purely-liquid foods: chicken broth (DON'T heat it, or, if you do, no more than ten seconds at most), Ensure or other adult-nutrition drinks (I recommend the strawberry and chocolate flavors) (Caution: you may experience runny poop after a while of drinking these), that sort of thing. You most likely won't want to eat anything anyway for at least the first day right after surgery, and will probably feel limited appetite in the next few days following.

- Ambesol (topical tooth pain reliever, available at most drugstores/Walmarts/Targets/etc) - this is just in case if your pain becomes annoying. I got some just in case, but I didn't need it after all since my painkiller worked so well. (incidentally, TAKE your medicine when they give it to you and DON'T wait for the effects of the previous pill to wear completely off. Your soreness will thank you for that.)

- Peroxyl (oral antiseptic mouthrinse, good for helping to keep clean the area(s) at about the 6th or 7th day after surgery. But still keep doing the saltwater rinses because those are good for you.) (DON'T use ANY mouthwash or rinse for at least 5 days; you also won't want to brush your teeth till about the third day after, and then you should use a very gentle touch, and stay away from the extraction site itself.)

- Good supply of movies to watch, or books to read, since you won't feel up to doing much for at least five days.

- People, or at least one person, to look after you for at least three days (and definitely to drive you around, if you're getting knocked out). Because having somebody around to take care of the rest of your life always helps when life kicks you in the teeth - literally.

- These things are NOT allowed for a good recovery: NO smoking, NO drinking anything with a straw, NO hot foods (you will want only cold or room-temperature things, this is so you won't irritate the affected areas), no spitting, blowing, chewing hard things, etc. (And when you rinse, ONLY gently turn your head from side to side for the first 5 days; don't swish as you usually would.) Basically anything that would mess things up and risk you a dry socket. You want to be especially careful during the third and fourth days of recovery as this is prime time for dry sockets to develop. Believe me, I was VERY careful about this! (I've heard the horror stories. Didn't wanna go there.)

[ShadowBall]

I got my wisdom teeth out recently too and I have a horribly low pain threshold. I think for me, the worst part of it was getting the IV. I was under the impression I could have no food or water from midnight the morning of the surgery until after the surgery. No water for 14+ hours = I'm dehydrated = my veins are being jackasses. So I got an IV in both my hands, for some reason and I was sobbing and trying real hard not to punch the doctor.

And yeah, Slim-Fast and pudding were dear friends for that first week. It's been about two weeks since I got my wisdom teeth ripped out and I'm getting pissed off at one of the sockets that hasn't closed yet because every time I eat something, I end up spending 15 minutes in the bathroom trying to flush out some itty bitty chunk of food.

I also was not told about not spitting and rinsing and dry socket and all that crap, so of course I was happily rinsing and spitting all day following the surgery because I couldn't stand the taste of blood all through my mouth. Surprisingly, I never got dry socket or an infection.

Hope you'll be feeling okay. (hugs)

[BeenThereDoneThat]

Thanks for the update, AH. I hope you're feeling much better soon. Takes a while to get used to the feeling of missing teeth/gums/whatever but eventually it will "seem" normal. For the record, I love the chocolate Ensure drinks

[Amethyst Hunter]

It's been about two weeks since I got my wisdom teeth ripped out and I'm getting pissed off at one of the sockets that hasn't closed yet because every time I eat something, I end up spending 15 minutes in the bathroom trying to flush out some itty bitty chunk of food.

Yeah, this is what's pissing me off lately too. It's not like you can just reach in there and pull the goop out with your fingers...

And lately I'm now having the urge to repeatedly poke my tongue through the "fence" where my bicuspid used to be, which is also annoying me.