This is exactly what the x-ray looked like on Monday, when Diana went in for her routine cleaning. I figured since she was home for the week, she could get her teeth cleaned & any cavities filled, if necessary. Good news was no cavities, bad new - two wisdom teeth were doing this.
I actually gave her the choice of doing it Tuesday, or in the summer. She opted to take care of it now - she was home, able to hang out on the couch, and didn't have any other pressing things to do.
Since I currently have awesome dental coverage (they paid 100% for two crowns for me last year), this is actually a good time to take care of this.
That morning, I made her Apfel Pfannkuchen (German apple crepe-style pancakes), and I think I felt almost as nervous as she did about going in there. Ugh. Wish I could have done it for her.
The meds we got from Wal-Mart (Darvocet, Demerol & Prednisone) were the generics, and only cost $12 for all of them. I got them during the time Diana was under the knife, so she could use them as soon as possible.
I didn't take any pictures, but she looked like a little chipmunk - poor thing. We had her use ice packs and she set herself up on the couch and pretty much stayed there all week until Friday.
The Prednisone is a steriod to decrease the swelling, and thus the pain. Diana's system didn't appreciate it though, and she had to throw up a few times after taking it. I called the dentist and let him know, and he said if she was okay with just the ice packs, she didn't need to take any more. Good. She does get a little woozy from the narcotics, but she's to the point now where she can sleep through the night without the Demerol anymore, and is just taking the Darvocet when it really hurts. The swelling is almost gone now.
They stitched her closed after extracting the teeth, so hopefully that will help keep her from getting any dry socket problems. The stitches should dissolve after 20 days.
Connor had to look in her mouth to see where the missing teeth used to be, and he tells her the tooth fairy should be coming any day now to give her something. She wants to get a small pet for her quad room -we'll probably stop by Pet Co or Wal Mart or something on the way back to her place on Sunday.
3 comments:
tell Diana I feel for her, not that I would want to go through that again, although I was luckier than most and had no Chipmunk cheeks or really that much pain. I spent my time drinking Carnation Instant breakfast after I could sip through a straw again. I did not have stitches so I had to watch out for the dry socket thing.
Glad for her that it is done. Not something to look forward to for summer, so way to go Diana!
She can still get the dry socket if she's not careful, but she's being very careful :) She was told not to drink with a straw.
Luckily, Safeway had Snack Pack pudding on sale for $.75 if you got 10 of them (10 packages of four for $7.50). I got all the flavors they had except banana.
We don't do banana flavor here - too close to 'banana juice' from OUR dentist - brrrr.
You said, "Wish I could have done it for her."
I am not surprised that Diana did not choose to have you remove the teeth for her. It sure shows that you are a confident person in that you were willing to try!
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