My wisdom tooth is no more! I had my bottom right wisdom tooth removed two days ago, at Kings College hospital under IV Sedation.
The whole procedure took about an hour and went by really quickly. I was sat in the chair and given a cup of drinkable ibuprofen and then the dentist tried to insert the IV. It took two goes in the right arm before giving up and trying on the left. It wasn't too painful though. I knew that IV sedation meant that I would be awake during the procedure, but that it would make me relaxed and sleepy. To be honest, I don't really know how the sedation affected me. It was nothing like those videos you always see on YouTube, put it that way! I guess the procedure went quite quickly, it didn't feel like it took 45 minutes, but I was aware what they were doing throughout the whole thing, but it didn't bother me. The thing I found hardest was that the IV sedation made me feel really, really cold so towards the end of the procedure I was shivering uncontrollably. Finally I was stitched up and wheeled to the recovery area where the nurse brought my step-mum in and explained briefly about aftercare (although really make sure you do your research before, as this was very, very brief) and gave me my pain medication (ibuprofen 400mg, they wanted to give me 600mg but were out so told me to top it up with 200mg ibuprofen from the pharmacy, and paracetamol). Once they took my blood pressure and checked that I was able to walk it was time to go home! Afterwards I was telling my step-mum that I didn't think the IV sedation had worked, but she said "Kimberley, you were acting drunk." So I guess it must have had some effect!
For the rest of the day I took my pain medication, lay on the sofa, had some soup and that was about it. Not in too much pain, and no blood. You can't rinse your mouth out or brush your teeth for the first day as you want a blood clot to form.
The next day my cheek was quite swollen, but not too painful. It's manageable with the drugs. I had been using a ice pack on and off on my face, but I don't know if it did too much. A salt water rinse and brushing my teeth gently with a baby tooth brush made me feel a bit more normal! After eating soft food for most of the day I happily wolfed down some home made lasagne in the evening. As I only had one tooth removed I was able to chew on the left hand side of my mouth, I just had to be careful not to get anything over the other side.
Now we're two days after the procedure and for me, this seems to be the worst day. I woke up this morning feeling very nauseous. This could be a side effect of the ibuprofen, but it's a vicious cycle as I felt sick so didn't want to eat, but can't take my medication on an empty stomach. I finally managed some porridge and took my ibuprofen and am feeling better now. My face and neck are feeling quite tender today though, and I am still swollen. My face doesn't seem any bigger though, so hopefully the swelling will start to go down now. Just half an hour until I can take my next dose of paracetamol!
Friday, 12 June 2015
Tuesday, 9 June 2015
My last day of wisdom
Today is the last day that I have that pesky bottom wisdom tooth. I've spent the last few days on a hen day, stuffing myself with junk food and alcohol so I feel pretty fattened up and ready for the removal. I've loaded up on Ibuprofen and have weaselled in my step-mum to look after me and feed me soap. Here's how tomorrow should pan out…
11:15 – Meet my step-mum at the hospital (I'm training it and she's driving) and check in together (you had to arrive with the person who will be caring for you, otherwise you can't have the procedure.
11:30 – My appointment time (although I'm counting on there being a waiting time, let's just imagine that it all starts on time!) I will be given IV sedation, which is good for nervous patients. Apparently you are awake during the procedure but are really sleepy and out of it, and the sedation stops you forming memories so you remember nothing about it all.
12:30 – The appointment should only last an hour (so I'm told). My step-mum will have to wait for the procedure to finish and then drive me back to hers, where she can wait on me.
I'm hoping that I will be able to sleep for most of Wednesday, and will be staying at my step-mum/dad's place until I feel ok to head back to mine (my boyfriend has started a new job this week, so unfortunately can't take any time off to look after me. He's gutted as he wanted to film me under the effects of the sedation!). I'm planning on lots of pain killers, soft foods, PJs and netflix!
11:15 – Meet my step-mum at the hospital (I'm training it and she's driving) and check in together (you had to arrive with the person who will be caring for you, otherwise you can't have the procedure.
11:30 – My appointment time (although I'm counting on there being a waiting time, let's just imagine that it all starts on time!) I will be given IV sedation, which is good for nervous patients. Apparently you are awake during the procedure but are really sleepy and out of it, and the sedation stops you forming memories so you remember nothing about it all.
12:30 – The appointment should only last an hour (so I'm told). My step-mum will have to wait for the procedure to finish and then drive me back to hers, where she can wait on me.
I'm hoping that I will be able to sleep for most of Wednesday, and will be staying at my step-mum/dad's place until I feel ok to head back to mine (my boyfriend has started a new job this week, so unfortunately can't take any time off to look after me. He's gutted as he wanted to film me under the effects of the sedation!). I'm planning on lots of pain killers, soft foods, PJs and netflix!
Monday, 1 June 2015
How I got this show on the road and my story so far
When I first started googling about adult braces and jaw surgery on the NHS, I noticed a lot of people who wanted to look into it but had no idea where to start. I thought I'd let you know how I got the whole process started.
I got to the point in my life where I realised that I wanted to get my teeth fixed. I'm 28 and at the stage where I'm in a secure enough place that I can handle braces. At this point in time I thought that I would have to go private and pay for the braces, as most of us know that braces on the NHS are usually only for those under the age of 18. My first point of call was booking in for a check up with my dentist. I went along to my appointment where they did the usual thing of checking my teeth and giving me a polish and scale. I mentioned to him that I wanted to get braces. He told me "You know you'll probably have to go private for that?" he said, to which I said that I had expected that and it was fine. He then started measuring my teeth and bite and told me that it would be covered by the NHS. He explained that it's all to do with measurements. If you are over those measurements then you will be covered by the NHS, whatever your age or employment status. At 12mm overjet I was well within those measurements. He told me that he would send a referral letter to Kings College Hospital.
It took a few months for my referral letter to come through but eventually I headed over to Kings College Hospital to have my assessment. This is the point where they had a look at my teeth, gave me x-rays and let me know that I would need lower jaw surgery. I had a feeling that I might need jaw surgery, as honestly I couldn't see how my lower jaw could be brought forward so much by braces alone, especially as an adult. I did not know however, that you are only eligible for braces as an adult on the NHS if your case is bad enough to warrant jaw surgery. I was given leaflets, and a DVD to watch about the surgery and told to make another appointment for moulds to be made. I headed downstairs to give my letter to the appointment area where they told me that there was actually an appointment available for next week. They looked as surprised as I was!
At my next appointment I had moulds and photos taken. I then had to take another letter downstairs ready for my next appointment. This time my appointment was for 4 months in the future. Not quite as speedy as last time, but I had expected the progress to be very slow seeing as this was on the NHS. Plus, the next appointment was the one where I was to tell them whether I want to move ahead with the process or not. As this is not a decision to take lightly, a few months to research is not a bad thing. However, a little later I got a letter saying that my next appointment had been pushed back another month. I was disappointed, especially as I had already made the decision that I wanted to move forward so was itching to get started.
Finally my next appointment rolled around. I spoke again to the orthodontist and the surgeon, who were both brilliant. It is so good to be able to meet the team that will be working on you. I told them that I was ready to get moving, and by the time I left the hospital I had three appointments booked over the next 5 weeks! One to discuss my wisdom tooth removal (the incisions for jaw surgery are made where the wisdom teeth are, so if you still have them they need to be removed in preparation for surgery, and at least 6 months in advance to let the bone heal) and two appointments a week apart for the orthodontist.
Well last week I went for my wisdom tooth appointment. The dentist there was very nice and said that he had worked with a lot of the surgeons who perform the jaw surgeries and they are brilliant. He said it really as life changing and he was very excited for me. That was nice and really put me at ease. He asked me if I was nervous about having my wisdom tooth removed, which of course I was, so we decided that the best course of action for me was IV sedation rather than a general anaesthetic. With an IV Sedation you are still awake when the operation happens, but you are so doped up that you don;t remember a thing. You get very sleepy and relaxed, and don't have the recovery of a general anaesthetic. Sounds good to me! I left the room with my usual slip of paper to take to the reception to get my appointment set. Keep in mind that my first orthodontist appointment was set for two weeks time, not he 16th June. The receptionist asked if the 13th was ok for my wisdom tooth removal! I told her that I had an orthodontist appointment a few days later, so no, not really! She asked what is was for. I said I didn't know, but surely it would be something to do with my mouth! She told me that the next appointment after that wasn't for ages, so pushed me into booking in a few days earlier, the 10th, which would give me a week to heal. The 10th?! That's only a couple of weeks away! Wow, this is really starting to move fast.
As the appointment for my wisdom tooth removal is so soon, and so close to my next few appointments, I called the hospital this morning to check everything was ok with having my tooth removed a week before my first orthodontist appointment. Nope! The woman said that there should be at least two weeks o recover after the wisdom tooth removal to allow the swelling to go down. That made a lot of sense to me, and I was thinking that that would be the case. So now my June orthodontist appointments have been moved back to August. I'm a little disappointed I must admit, as I wanted to get my braces on as soon as possible, but honestly, this process seems to be moving much faster than I anticipated so I can't grumble.
Phew! What a long post! At least we are up to date now with my journey so far, so any appointments in the future will get their own posts.
I got to the point in my life where I realised that I wanted to get my teeth fixed. I'm 28 and at the stage where I'm in a secure enough place that I can handle braces. At this point in time I thought that I would have to go private and pay for the braces, as most of us know that braces on the NHS are usually only for those under the age of 18. My first point of call was booking in for a check up with my dentist. I went along to my appointment where they did the usual thing of checking my teeth and giving me a polish and scale. I mentioned to him that I wanted to get braces. He told me "You know you'll probably have to go private for that?" he said, to which I said that I had expected that and it was fine. He then started measuring my teeth and bite and told me that it would be covered by the NHS. He explained that it's all to do with measurements. If you are over those measurements then you will be covered by the NHS, whatever your age or employment status. At 12mm overjet I was well within those measurements. He told me that he would send a referral letter to Kings College Hospital.
It took a few months for my referral letter to come through but eventually I headed over to Kings College Hospital to have my assessment. This is the point where they had a look at my teeth, gave me x-rays and let me know that I would need lower jaw surgery. I had a feeling that I might need jaw surgery, as honestly I couldn't see how my lower jaw could be brought forward so much by braces alone, especially as an adult. I did not know however, that you are only eligible for braces as an adult on the NHS if your case is bad enough to warrant jaw surgery. I was given leaflets, and a DVD to watch about the surgery and told to make another appointment for moulds to be made. I headed downstairs to give my letter to the appointment area where they told me that there was actually an appointment available for next week. They looked as surprised as I was!
At my next appointment I had moulds and photos taken. I then had to take another letter downstairs ready for my next appointment. This time my appointment was for 4 months in the future. Not quite as speedy as last time, but I had expected the progress to be very slow seeing as this was on the NHS. Plus, the next appointment was the one where I was to tell them whether I want to move ahead with the process or not. As this is not a decision to take lightly, a few months to research is not a bad thing. However, a little later I got a letter saying that my next appointment had been pushed back another month. I was disappointed, especially as I had already made the decision that I wanted to move forward so was itching to get started.
Finally my next appointment rolled around. I spoke again to the orthodontist and the surgeon, who were both brilliant. It is so good to be able to meet the team that will be working on you. I told them that I was ready to get moving, and by the time I left the hospital I had three appointments booked over the next 5 weeks! One to discuss my wisdom tooth removal (the incisions for jaw surgery are made where the wisdom teeth are, so if you still have them they need to be removed in preparation for surgery, and at least 6 months in advance to let the bone heal) and two appointments a week apart for the orthodontist.
Well last week I went for my wisdom tooth appointment. The dentist there was very nice and said that he had worked with a lot of the surgeons who perform the jaw surgeries and they are brilliant. He said it really as life changing and he was very excited for me. That was nice and really put me at ease. He asked me if I was nervous about having my wisdom tooth removed, which of course I was, so we decided that the best course of action for me was IV sedation rather than a general anaesthetic. With an IV Sedation you are still awake when the operation happens, but you are so doped up that you don;t remember a thing. You get very sleepy and relaxed, and don't have the recovery of a general anaesthetic. Sounds good to me! I left the room with my usual slip of paper to take to the reception to get my appointment set. Keep in mind that my first orthodontist appointment was set for two weeks time, not he 16th June. The receptionist asked if the 13th was ok for my wisdom tooth removal! I told her that I had an orthodontist appointment a few days later, so no, not really! She asked what is was for. I said I didn't know, but surely it would be something to do with my mouth! She told me that the next appointment after that wasn't for ages, so pushed me into booking in a few days earlier, the 10th, which would give me a week to heal. The 10th?! That's only a couple of weeks away! Wow, this is really starting to move fast.
As the appointment for my wisdom tooth removal is so soon, and so close to my next few appointments, I called the hospital this morning to check everything was ok with having my tooth removed a week before my first orthodontist appointment. Nope! The woman said that there should be at least two weeks o recover after the wisdom tooth removal to allow the swelling to go down. That made a lot of sense to me, and I was thinking that that would be the case. So now my June orthodontist appointments have been moved back to August. I'm a little disappointed I must admit, as I wanted to get my braces on as soon as possible, but honestly, this process seems to be moving much faster than I anticipated so I can't grumble.
Phew! What a long post! At least we are up to date now with my journey so far, so any appointments in the future will get their own posts.
And so it begins...
Where to start? Well, I guess with why I've started this blog. I'm 28 and just starting on the wonderful path of braces and dental surgery, courtesy of the NHS. Deciding to go through with this has been a really difficult thing for me, and I've found myself scouring the internet for blogs from people who have been through this journey. There are a lot of them, but I can honestly say that every one helped me when coming to a decision, so I felt that I may as well document my journey too. Particularly as a lot of the blogs I found were based on dental procedures in the US. In the UK the process is quite different so I really think that taking you guys along the journey with me will help you if you are in the Uk and are considering braces and jaw surgery.
I'll start by telling you what's up (doc) with my teeth. I have gappy teeth but also a large overbite. I had braces when I was younger, just to correct the gaps, but unfortunately back then the information given about wearing retainers was different to how it is now. Now we know that retainers have to be worn as long as you want your teeth to stay in the same position (I.E. the rest of you life). When I had my retainer I was told to gradually phase it out, which resulted in my teeth moving back to how they were. These braces however were not to correct my overbite.
Why do I want to go through years of braces and jaw surgery? It's a bloody big decision. I guess my main reason would have to be for the eating aspect. When you have a large overbite such as I do, eating can be difficult. Because my teeth don't shut together biting through food is impossible, so anything I need to bite through (like pizza or a sandwich) I kind of have to grasp food between my teeth and sort of tear it like a dog. This can get very messy as you can imagine! It also leaves me with the roof of my mouth feeling sore and burnt if I'm eating something hot. It means my teeth are wearing down in a way that they wouldn't normally. Plus I grind my teeth at night, although that may or may not be due to the position of my teeth. Plus, my teeth are something that have always embarrassed me. Just little things like avoiding having my photo taken, being really unhappy with my profile. It's not nice and something I would like to fix. I'm so lucky to be offered this treatment on the NHS that I feel it is something I should do.
That's it for my first post. A little (a lot) of information on how I'm starting out. I will probably post some pictures at a later date of how my bite looks at the moment.
I'll start by telling you what's up (doc) with my teeth. I have gappy teeth but also a large overbite. I had braces when I was younger, just to correct the gaps, but unfortunately back then the information given about wearing retainers was different to how it is now. Now we know that retainers have to be worn as long as you want your teeth to stay in the same position (I.E. the rest of you life). When I had my retainer I was told to gradually phase it out, which resulted in my teeth moving back to how they were. These braces however were not to correct my overbite.
Why do I want to go through years of braces and jaw surgery? It's a bloody big decision. I guess my main reason would have to be for the eating aspect. When you have a large overbite such as I do, eating can be difficult. Because my teeth don't shut together biting through food is impossible, so anything I need to bite through (like pizza or a sandwich) I kind of have to grasp food between my teeth and sort of tear it like a dog. This can get very messy as you can imagine! It also leaves me with the roof of my mouth feeling sore and burnt if I'm eating something hot. It means my teeth are wearing down in a way that they wouldn't normally. Plus I grind my teeth at night, although that may or may not be due to the position of my teeth. Plus, my teeth are something that have always embarrassed me. Just little things like avoiding having my photo taken, being really unhappy with my profile. It's not nice and something I would like to fix. I'm so lucky to be offered this treatment on the NHS that I feel it is something I should do.
That's it for my first post. A little (a lot) of information on how I'm starting out. I will probably post some pictures at a later date of how my bite looks at the moment.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)