Injury Recovery Part 31 - A Tooth Pulling

You know it is hard to focus on what you want to do when you have to deal with things you really don't want to deal with and today was a balance of them both.  At work my hack team is in the last week of preparation for our meeting with the CEO and the last thing I want to be dealing with is my recovery let alone a rogue tooth.  But hey we have to play the cards we are dealt and if the accident taught me anything it is to roll with the punch's and trust in a better day tomorrow.  Last night I called a couple of dentists and got a referral for a local oral surgeon.  They were my first call this morning having looked them up on Yelp last night and they were able to fit me in an emergency spot this afternoon.  It was really nice to have things just work out with little stress.  The lady that answered the phone was really helpful and got me all set up for a 3:30 appointment to have the tooth extracted, leaving me free to get on with my day which was great with all that is going on.


I will be honest I was not looking forward to 3:30 and a little nervous about the whole thing.  With questions still unanswered I turned up for the extraction and the great experience I had on the phone continued at the dental office.  The staff were friendly and helpful and the doctor I saw was engaging and professional with great bedside manner.  He listened to my longwinded story and explained that a trauma can bring on a nerve problem but dealing with the tooth was the first step.  He explained what was involved in getting an implant and made sure that my mouth was fully numb before starting.  He took care to check that I could feel nothing and a few twists later and a crack or two and the tooth was out.   Once the tooth was out he explained that he inspected the area and I did not need a bone graph to support an implant.  He told me the optimal time to consider and implant would be in 4 to 9 months time.  He spent time explaining that only 15% of people use the rear top molar to chew on and that he would recommend that I wait and decide if I really miss the tooth as he would not recommend spending the time and money if it is not needed.  I was very impressed with the whole experience and if you are interested in who I saw here are the details.

http://www.summitoralsurgeons.com/meet-us/meet-the-doctors/  -  Jared R. Cottam

After the extraction I asked for the tooth and whist I was expecting to see something I was really surprised with the size of the cavity











I am now home and applying the regiment of gauze changing and icing needed to get the bleeding and swelling under control not to mention a good helping of pain control which makes me not care what I look like, yup that's me with a bag of frozen blueberry's strapped to my face feeling all fuzzy and happy thanks to the pain meds.  I don't know I think there is a fashion statement somewhere between 1st world war and fairy princess lol.










Well that's me for the day, if all goes well I will be back in the office tomorrow for a sync with the team in the afternoon - fingers crossed.