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Kind of a success?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Terrifiedintoronto
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Terrifiedintoronto

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Joined
Aug 4, 2024
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46
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Toronto
Well, I did it, I had my wisdom teeth removed. Only yesterday, and I cried non stop. So I don’t know if it’s really a success. But I’m a bit proud of myself anyway.

I have had a severe phobia of the dentist since I was a kid, due to a terrible first experience. It was so bad that in my adult life I had only been to the dentist twice. In 15 years! so this really was the worst thing that could’ve happened to me! I was lucky, I took really good care of my teeth to avoid having to go, so I had no issues.

Until 3 months ago.
I started having severe pain that started in my left lower jaw, and eventually got so bad I couldn’t open my mouth properly. It started to hurt in my cheeks and sinus area too, and inside my ears. I started to get a burning feeling on my face, along the jaw line and cheeks. It felt like someone was trying to break all the bones in my face, and my cheeks would periodically get so swollen I could barely move them.
I went to the er 9 times and not one person could tell me what was wrong. One doctor suggested a brain tumour. It was the scariest time of my life.
Finally, one of my coworkers suggested it might be an infected or abscessed tooth, and maybe the infection was spreading. Everyone was so busy thinking it was neurological, no one thought to check my teeth!! I realized I had been tasting salt/metal for a few weeks. And then one morning I woke up and my mouth was filled with pus and blood, and my lymph nodes very swollen.
I went to a dentist who in minutes of looking, diagnosed pericoronitis. In both lower wisdom teeth (which google tells me is impossible unless you have mono! Which I do not, so I guess don’t always listen to google!). The left one was severe. They gave me amoxicillin for the spreading infection and a referral for removal.

The pain I’ve been in for 3 months has been excruciating and although I was happy at the thought it might be coming to an end, I’ve been in unbearable agony over the fear of having them removed. Just non stop panicking over and over. Not just having to see more dentists, but having to have teeth pulled!?!? A nightmare for someone with my level of anxiety. You can tell by my increasingly panicked posts here.
I kept looking up complications, and reading terrible stories of what could go wrong. I found this board to try and read success stories, but it didn’t matter because for every success story I read, I would remember the horror stories from before!

And then they called me on Thursday. And said “can you come tomorrow for the removal?”

I suppose it was better that way, I didn’t have as much time to really work myself up about it. I told my boss I needed Friday off, he was pissed and expected me to still come in on Saturday (today)!

So I went and had it done. Yesterday. I cried the whole time, right up until the IV sedation kicked in a knocked me out. And I woke up crying too!

Apparently it took 10 minutes and was an easy extraction. All that pain, and all I needed was 10 minutes to get rid of it.

But I did it, they’re out. I don’t know how long until the pericoronitis pain stops, I still have the infection and still have to take antibiotics. I still have the burning sensation on my jawline every now and then, so I still have the fear that it really is neurological, or maybe that the infection sat untreated for so long that it spread to the bone.
And now I have the pain from the removal to recover from! But I’m hopeful I’ll get my old pain free life back soon!! The dentist who diagnosed me assured me that everything I was feeling really was caused by this infection. I hope he is right!

So I don’t really know if this is a success story. I’m only a day out from the surgery. I have quite a bit of pain still. I’m worried about dry socket, or permanent jaw pain. I’m still terrified of dentists, maybe even more than before. Don’t know when I’ll go back. And I literally cried walking in the door, and cried walking out. But I did it, even though I was scared.

(And because I deserve a treat, I bought myself a very expensive dress I had been eyeing for a long time for getting through it!)
 
I think youll definitely feel much better now you can live like normal and youre free of pain. or will be when the recovery ends, so that is a huge positive and well done for facing up to getting the extractions which are probably the most daunting thing to have done.

I hand on heart dont think that fear of dentists is ever going to go away sadly, for you and me both. For many many reasons.

But im so so glad you got your treatment and are recovering now, and hopefully planning an occasion out with the new dress :)

Well done, a DEFINITE success in my eyes
 
Congratulations @Terrifiedintoronto - that's fantastic news, so good to hear you got it over and done with without a long wait. Here's hoping for a speedy recovery 🤗. Well done!!!
 
@letsconnect thanks!!! And thanks for answering my previous panicked posts lol 😁
 
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