Appliance delivered.

Wow does this hurt.  That is, wow does this hurt when I haven't had any strong meds.

I made it in plenty of time for my appointment, 30 minutes early, and still ended up waiting for nearly an hour.  What the hell?  Do these Dr's realize what kind of anxiety a person goes through when the realization half their front teeth are going to be yanked out finally hits them?  I managed to hold it together until I got into the chair and then it happened - water works.

Holy crap.  No matter how hard I tried to prepare myself for this moment I was still unable to keep my emotional response to the thought of loosing my teeth under control.  A few shots of numbing agent and a couple of seconds to myself and I was fine.  Man, did that guy use some strong meds to numb my face.  Here we are nearly 10 hours later and I still have a numb lower lip but when the meds wore off and I was sitting at Walgreens waiting on them to fill the perscriptions I really began to feel the pain I had been dreading all along.  That excruciatingly painful throbbing that happens when the really good meds wear off.  Ouch !!!

What took nearly an hour to prepare for only took a minute to yank out.  Both teeth gone.  As soon as he pulled the first one I swear I felt instant relief.  As if someone had opened a valve and let all that infection run out.  The tooth with the cap that kept falling off must have been harder to get out as it was cracked when I got to look at it.  That's right.  I looked at my now missing teeth.  And boy oh boy am I so glad I got the infected one out of there.

When I went for a consult not too long ago to discuss what was going on with it I was told the ligaments had taken over some of the bone structure and that was causing the infections, but it wasn't until I actually saw the tooth for myself that I finally understood what all the concern was about.  To describe it as best I can I would have to say it is like looking at the damage caused by a very dull drill bit.  A crater in the middle of the tooth appears to have been "eaten" away by the ligament and the infections.  If my tooth looked that bad after 20 years I can't imagine how bad my jaw bone must appear to be, but I certainly know there will be no avoiding having a bone graph done if we are looking at having permanent implants installed later.

From here I have to wait at least three months for the extractions to heal completely.  Then depending on our financial situation at the time we will need to figure out when to do the bone graph and eventually have posts put in to support an implant.  It will be a long, painful, and costly procedure but the end result will be the best solution.  And at long last (crossing fingers here) I will no longer have to deal with constant infections, ear aches, and painful teeth/jaw issues because now there is no tooth left for the infection to destroy.

Worst thing about the appliance so far is getting used to the feeling of having something foreign in the front of my mouth.  If the pain would subside enough I might actually try getting some sleep.  Tried laying down but it hurt way too much.  Think I'm going to try the chair with the heating pad or an ice pack - which ever feels better.