My teeth are screwed. Getting them all pulled in 2 months time

[ATouchScared]

Hello everyone! I'm new here!

And scared to billio. Even though I'll be going under GA for the surgery, I'm not looking forward to being without teeth. I've done some reading on these forums, and intend to hit the patches for my smoking a week or 2 before I go in. GA scares me a little bit. Its been a good 29 years since I've been fully knocked out and my immune system is not the greatest. I'm also paranoid about how much its going to hurt afterward, and how I am going to feed myself. Mid way during this post I am cooking myself up some fish fingers & chicken nuggets for an evening snack.

I have a few questions for post surgery "staying sane".

What will I be able to eat being a gummy for a few weeks until I get my dentures?? Is it soup and noodles and other soft foods?

How much pain will I be in post operative considering I am having 29 teeth yanked out?

Will I look abnormal until I get my dentures?



With the GA, I think my fear was the gas they used, so I'll probably ask the gentleman/lady who is in charge of my sedation to just give me the needle. Unlike most I am not afraid of being jabbed. This whole turn of events came when my face had puffed up like a balloon thanks to an abcess. They pumped me with 30 bags of IV antibiotics. I had them move the location of the cannula partway through my hospital stay. "You don't start the next bag till you moved that thing to my left arm as my right one is getting sore from the thingy" (I forgot the medical term for it and they just laughed and happily abided by my request.

I am so glad I went to the E.R. - 24-48 hours later the infection would have probably reached my blood stream, and I would not be typing this post.

In the dentists office they put the bib and glasses on me and I said "oh no you don't. Check my file. I want to be knocked out for this!!". They promptly removed them and the dentist (lovely lady she is) said. "I'm so sorry I didn't mean to freak you out! I need you to fill in some forms for me and we'll get you in ASAP.". Much nicer than the dentist I had many moons ago who I kinda called the ogre, he was so mean and pushy. Probably why I was afraid of getting something done sooner. My new dentist is absolutely lovely, very friendly, and has a bit of a cheeky streak too. We seem to get along well

She then proceeded to say what was going to happen, and how long I'd stay in hospital (apparently discharge once I was deemed ok to leave), but I opted for an overnight stay; as much as hospitals scare me to bits, I wanted to make sure they could administer pain relief if needed by either oral pills, or for something more powerful, injection.

My closest friend is well aware that I am scared to buggery and will be right there with me up until they wheel me away to put me to sleep, and be waiting there for me when I come into recovery. He's taking the day off, unpaid, for a mate. Good on him.

I just hope I am freaking for no reason, and should just relax and wait for it to all happen.

For location stuff, I am in Australia. And so are these chicken nuggets and fish fingers. They're totally yummy. Got the mouth wash ready that I was instructed to use after each meal / snack

 

[Sevena]

Hey, welcome to the forum

I had all my teeth extracted a couple of years ago, so I've been where you are. As for eating, at first you'll have to stick to liquids like soup. I suggest stocking up on some protein shakes for the whole recovery period, because it's common to lose a bit of weight during it. I personally moved to (soft) solids only a few days after. Nothing crunchy, but things like boiled or steamed potatoes and veg, mince, that sort of thing. Some things, like pasta, are tricky without dentures in. Anything too chewy or crunchy I would avoid.

As for pain, well, it's different for everyone. I was in very little pain. They gave me painkillers, ibuprofen and paracetamol and codeine - but I didn't need the codeine and I only took the ibuprofen to keep the swelling down. I was quite tender. It would hurt if I poked my face, for example, but it's a different kind of pain from toothache, and much easier to deal with. The pain of a healing wound, basically, compared to inflamed nerves from a tooth infection (the latter probably being the worst pain ever).

Your face will probably look a little different. It's not, in my experience, a drastic change. But it'll stand out to you just because it's your face and you're used to your face looking a certain way. It probably won't be so noticeable to other people.

It's a relief to get it over with, and having bad teeth out your mouth will be better for your overall health. It's good that you have a friend to look after you. I'll warn you that it's a bit of a psychological adjustment. It'll feel weird as anything having no teeth at first. And when you get dentures, those are an adjustment too! But you'll figure out what food you can have, and you will adjust, and you'll be better off in the long term.

 

[ATouchScared]

Well it would seem that I am worrying for no reason. I've recovered from a healing wound, and thats not as bad as toothache pain, which can be debilitating, especially when you can't get to a dentist and have to wait an hour in the E.R. until they can see you and administer painkillers (I was given endone). Then the next thing I know, I'm on an iv drip with antibiotics going in. Thats when I realised that I was close to being in serious trouble with my health and had to do something about it.

Protien shakes, never thought of those. I'll go and get some and try them and see which one is my favourite.

Boiled, scrambled or fried eggs should be good once I can start eating softer foods for breakfast, along with toast provided I cut the crusts off. Breakfast cereal will be a no no for a while though, as most of them are quite crunchy, even if you completely drown them in milk.

I have started making a list of things that will be manageable as I heal, starting with the liquid diet, then the soft solids etc.

I don't think the physiological shock will be as bad for me as many of my teeth have broken at the gum line, so most are missing anyway. Approximately 10 left that are on their last legs. I'm surprised I haven't stopped being a scardy cat and just done something about it earlier - its surprising I could eat solid foods at all with a mouth in this condition.

I certainly look forward to being able to smile in photos. I'm normally the one behind the camera rather than in front of the lens . Seems all my friend's don't seem to be bothered how I'll look after the operation, "just think - wait till you get your dentures - you won't know yourself, and you'll be able to have a wider range of food to eat, and be able to smile in pictures again!"

I have just booked an appointment well in advance to see my doctor for a full health checkup and blood tests as requested by the hospital; the anaesthetist can do these but I'd rather see my GP, and give the results to the anaesthetist to save them a bit of work, and I also know the pathology department is pretty good at my GP - they use those cool vacuum vials, which means getting blood taken is very quick, and uses a smaller gauge needle; meaning quite often you are waiting for the jab, then the nurse will say "all finished" as she puts the little band-aid dot over the site. I head in for the consultation and bloodworks on the 19th of February, then back on the 25th to collect the results. Then to see the anaesthetist on the 27th, and finally the big day on the 9th of March.

I can also take my blood pressure with my little machine in the morning and take it with me to show them, as I am anxious in any medical environment, which means the reading they take won't reflect what it normally is when I'm not anxious. I've done this for my GP before as well, its the same brand as they use, and they're happy to take my reading over the higher one in the office, knowing that I'm anxious, and just power walked up there for the consultation. I've been told the name for the fear of medical environments is white coat hypertension, which doesn't help when you have high bloody pressure, so taking a reading at home to give to your doc to show him the pills he prescribed for it are working is helpful.

Hopefully this all goes smoothly, there are no complications, and I'll be back to a normal life with teeth again as soon as possible. Eating should not be a chore, nor painful, and I shouldn't have put it off for so long. Kicking myself for doing so.

 

[Sevena]

Here's a page with some food suggestions:

http://www.dentalfearcentral.org/faq/soft-foods/

I remember going a little crazy if I got cravings for things that were too awkward to eat, but mostly it was fine. Learning to eat with dentures is a whole different experience: for that I recommend just saying "sod it" and forcing yourself to do it, until it starts to feel natural.

Many of my teeth were broken right down too, but it still felt strange. Probably because I was a bit of a clencher before, and it just feels *bizarre* at first when there's nothing at all to clench. I found it was helpful to keep busy and keep my mind off it.

I get anxious in medical settings too, but I get anxious in almost every setting so it's not too unexpected I did inform all the nurses and stuff so they knew why my heart rate was up. I went under GA, and I woke up very groggy and very bleedy! Though I was too sleepy to care about the blood, and it calmed down very quickly. Then I spent the next few hours in a hospital bed, sipping lots of water. I felt a little "out of it" when I went home, spacey if you will, but slept like a baby when I got home. It was altogether a much easier experience than I'd expected. I hope yours goes just as smoothly

 

[ATouchScared]

Well I got myself worked up over nothing except a bad nights sleep and a misfire on the cannula (thats the needle they put into your hand to put you to sleep).

While it's still fresh in my volatile flash memory, I'll give you guys a rundown on what happens when you go into day surgery under GA to have all your fangs pulled out.

Being a computer nerd I had BOTH flight data recorders running and a TWIN set of LTO 5 tape drives recording everything to tape. They even managed to shut that down (there was about 3 miles of blank tape recorded) (yeah I'm a nerd!)

Stage one: Rocket sitting on the launch pad:

You arrive at the hospital/clinic and ID yourself, grab a seat and wait for the nurse to call you. You play games on your iPad, call your mates and let em know (those that don't have the internet or mobile phones), design your next video editing PC or other stuff basically keep yourself occupied. DONT wear headphones like I did in this stage or the rocket won't get off the ground. They had to come over and ask me my name coz they could not find ATouchScared in the waiting room

Stage two: Preignition
This stage involves visiting a nurse. In some cases she may put a cannula into your hand. This didn't happen to me, they just checked me over, weighed me (for body mass >< anesthetic input), and stuck some other tests which were pretty mundane.

Stage Three: T-5 minutes and counting....

Ok now this is where it gets a touch scary if you're afraid of hospitals or other clinical settings. You'll be off into a room to change yourself into all the fancy dress they want you to wear, including underpants. Don't worry the room is a small room like one you would check out clothes in a clothing store - plenty of room to sit your stuff down, change into the surgical gear, and pack your stuff away into the bag they give you. Its at this stage I had to disconnect the two LTO-5 tape drives - they couldn't come with me. They even refused the Go pro!

Stage Four: All personnel clear of the pad!

You'll enjoy a wonderful ride on a hospital bed zipping around the surgery until you arrive at the anesthesia room. You'll yarn with them for a bit and they'll put a needle into your arm. In my case they missed and I said "go for that one - they had no probs with that guy!" pointing for the side of my wrist. GEEZ that first one hurt! the second one was just a sting. So yes misfires hurt. But most often they get it in one, and you'll be off with the fairies when they give you the anti anxiety drugs into the IV.

(I spent about half an hour in this room because they had to clean up after the last operation; and had half an hour to explore my environment. It was only just before the operation that the nice nursie came by with the syring full of the happy stuff to help me relax).

Stage 5: LIFT OFF!
This is the best bit, especially when you have the happy drugs. You get wheeled into the operating room, the doctors put a tube onto your cannula to inject drugs into and you get the usual spaceman mask to breathe through. We were chatting away and having a great time talking about our camping trips and suddenly...

OFFLINE! hehe

Stage Six: Re-entry
Now we're cruising down from 783,000 feet back through the earths atmosphere. This is the hardest bit. You'll be bleeding. Literally. I bet I lost over a pint of blood through my mouth. In my head alarms were sounding and lights were blinking. However I was sitting at about a 37° angle from vertical in my bed, with nursie wiping away the mess until I could do it myself (And the dopey effects of the anesthesia had worn off). You will have a hard time communicating with the wall of blood to deal with if you had as many as I pulled out. I used hand signals to say "yay or nay" to the nurses until it calmed down. I bled for about two hours, slowly stemming to a trickle then it all stopped. Dont worry, the blood waterfall soon slows right down and you can speak (albeit like a drunk until you get used to speaking without teeth; or can do a firmware flash that resets the speech processor like I did *giggle*)

Stage Seven: Landing
I was kidding about the tape drives (plus they are heavy). I recovered quickly, and got served breakfast in the discharge room. Yummy omelette and toast, along with orange juice. I cut the toast into tiny portions and ate them up and followed suit with the omelette. I also drank the orange juice. My dental surgeon came around to see me and saw I had finished my meal and was ready to go home. I left and had one thing on my mind. And I needed it. That was a bit stressful, but not as bad as I thought..... BEER! So I wandered back toward home, and popped into the local. My favourite barman was on, and immediately said "Haven't you just come out of hospital" (the tape and cotton wool on my arm was a dead giveaway!). "Yep! Resches please my good friend". "Wow you just had all your teeth pulled out and your speaking fluently without a problem." (as he pours my beer). "Yup hit the recalibrate button on the way up. Being a bit of a nerd and he knows it, he just laughed.

The only thing I really wanted was a smoke, but I prepared for that, asked him to mind my beer, went to the bathroom, and slapped on a nicotine patch

Now, almost 12 days later, I don't regret it. Sure I have to cut my food up into small slices to eat it, but its all done. My only breakdown was when I cried in my best mates arms missing solid food. Now I've worked out a way to deal with that Laser slice and dice

Tomorrow is next dentist appointment, and all the stitches have fallen out. Might grab myself some soup or party sausage rolls for a late dinner - can't decide - last night I gobbled up 12! party pies - did em by careful dissection

Now that I have come to this stage, I get a new video editing PC and I'm not holding back - gonna build me a kick ass system to play games and edit 4K video on. I deserve it for meeting this challenge

Now I just want my dentures so I don't look like a gummy