Well, it's been a week since the tooth was extracted. All in all, it has gone rather well. The dentist said I was in for a miserable 48 hours, a week of annoyance, would be a left-side chewer the rest of my life, and would feel a "Grand Canyon" for a long time where the tooth was. And that I could expect my outer cheek to be bruised and sensitive.
He recommended ice on my cheek, Tylenol 3 for the pain, and soft food for a month. Considering the way he had to drill and break the tooth (a horrible sound), I expected that would be true.
The truth is that I seem to have gotten off easy. I took a Tylenol 3 pill as the novocaine was wearing off, but I didn't really need it. I never bothered to take another. I never bothered with the ice. I had no bruised or sensitive cheek.
The cut gum did take a couple days to stop seeping some blood. The seemingly-over-abundance of gauze pads they gave me to fold and keep over the extraction point were actually barely enough. He admitted that he had to do more cutting than he expected, so that makes sense.
The gap does feel huge. My tongue says it is an inch wide, but it is really only about 1/4". It was the most forward pre-molar and those are not very large.
The gap may even become smaller over time. A dentist from a few decades ago wanted to remove a couple teeth just so the remaining ones could spread out. I have a small jaw and it forced some teeth slightly crooked. Apparently, teeth can actually move slightly, given some space. That seems a bit odd (since they are in bone), but I had read about that a couple of times elsewhere. Well, bone is actually living tissue, so I suppose it's possible. I really hope that is correct, because my lower right incisor is a bit out of place and if the new empty spot allows it to straighten some, that would be good.
The dissolving stitches did indeed dissolve. Monday (4 days to the minute after the extraction LOL) I felt a slight stringy sensation sort of like a celery string between 2 teeth. I was careful about it. But a 1/4 inch piece of "something" came loose onto my tongue and it was a thread. Touching the spot carefully, they were all loose and I removed them.
So it could have been a lot worse. I remember co-workers talking about how horrible their extraction was. Pain for days in spite of medications, etc.
I'm probably not doomed to left-side chewing forever. After the 2 lower right back molars (wisdom tooth and the one next to it) were removed 20 years ago, it eventually didn't bother me to chew in that area after a month. I hope this new gap eventually toughens up like those did.
If not, well, getting older sucks and things start to go wrong. You adjust as best you can. My right knee is not great sometimes, my lower back hurts sometimes, I get leg muscle cramps laying in bed and rib muscle cramps when I twist around reaching for things behind me. I get finger-clenches if I grip tools too long doing yardwork (it occurs a few hours later while doing knife-work preparing dinner). I really should remember to wear my padded garden gloves routinely.
Regarding that, I have a good supply of aspirin-infused ointment, lidocaine gel, and ibuprofen tablets. But that is not about the dental work, so I will let that go for now.
I'm just glad the tooth extraction (bad as it was in the dentist's chair) went well afterwards.
