Out, damned tooth! Out, I say!
Yes, the cracked tooth finally came out… in two pieces, quickly and painlessly. The young surgeon who operated on me did an excellent job. It took him less than 20 minutes to extract the cursed tooth and I barely felt anything. Bless his young soul… and dexterity.
I left the periodontist’s office with a crooked smile on my face. I didn’t know if the left side of my mouth still existed, but I didn’t care. The tooth was out and I was (surprisingly) pain free.
We are far from the barbaric teeth pulling methods popularized by countless paintings or illustrations.
But then, two hours later, after the local anesthesia wore off, came the pain; a sharp excruciating, throbbing pain. It was so intense that it brought tears to my eyes. I did not know if I should lie down or walk around, so I did both with no appreciable results.
I gobbled up 2 Ibuprofen tablets in a quick succession, but the pain remained. As recommended, I applied a cold pad to the throbbing area but with no immediate visible effects.
In retrospect, I was right to apprehend this procedure.
“Minor surgery is an operation performed on somebody else.”
Little by little though the pain abated. I don’t know if the ice pad trick did it, but the horrible pain slowly faded away. Will it come back? I don’t know, but right now I am enjoying this relatively pain free moment.
A modern tooth pulling procedure is somewhat pain free, but the aftermath is a tad different. With surgery (even minor) there is always a price to pay… otherwise people would be constantly under the knife.
The best policy is to avoid (as long as you can) surgery… the aftermath is always worse than claimed.
Now would be the ideal moment to light a joint… Medical emergency you know… But I don’t have any of the “Mellow Yellow” stuff handy. Where is my purveyor of illicit pleasures when I need him? Just like a cop… never there when you desperatly need him.
The pain is finally receding… I might live…
Alain
I find that most men would rather have their bellies open for five hundred dollars than have a tooth pool for five. Martin H. Fisher