Mouth Surgery: Why I Had Every Right To Be Nervous

WARNING: If you’re squirmish about blood and sensitive to surgery talk, please don’t read any further

I have had trouble with my teeth for as long as I can remember. My teeth are fairly small, my braces gave me multiple blisters during the time they were in my mouth, and I ended up getting a pretty bad case of dry socket during my wisdom teeth recovery. Needless to say, I have very little luck when it comes to anything dental.

I am currently writing this blog while on pain medication due to my most recent mouth surgery. I had to have what is called “grafting” which is where they take a piece of my gums from the roof of my mouth and sew it in place to cover the root of my front bottom teeth which was exposed. I had to get this done because otherwise, my bottom teeth would fall out.

So, let me tell you the story.

It was the morning of November 5th, and I was more nervous than I had ever been to go to the dentist. This is because they hadn’t given me any type of instructions prior to my appointment. This meant that they were most likely not putting me under, and I would be awake during the entire procedure.

Spoiler alert, I indeed was awake the entire time and the only thing that did to help with the pain was 3 very invasive numbing shots, two near the exposed area, and one on the roof of my mouth. Here is what I wasn’t expecting: I wasn’t expecting to be able to see the needle and stitches coming out of my mouth (and remember I am fully awake), I wasn’t expecting for the numbing on the roof of my mouth to not work (so I felt them cutting away at my skin) and I wasn’t expecting them to then set that piece of skin on my chest for when they needed it later. I saw a lot more than I needed to that morning.

I was not emotionally prepared for anything that occurred that morning. At one point, my dentist was being so aggressive when trying to get the bandages to stick that I had to physically sit up to keep myself from choking. There was also one point where they had left me lying in the chair bleeding into my own cheeks. Overall, they did not seem like they were prepared to have me in that day.

After my appointment was over, they told me to leave. No one walked me out, they didn’t call my dad to pick me up like they said they were going to, so I was left standing out in the rain, bleeding into my mouth, and waiting for my dad. I couldn’t stay in the waiting room because it was full (covid maximum capacity rules).

There isn’t much purpose to me writing this post other than wanting to document it and have it in one place, but I also want it to serve as a reminder to myself. Do not be afraid to tell someone that you are not comfortable with something. Me sitting up in that once instance could have led to further damage. There is nothing wrong with telling them to stop because the pain is too much. You just shutting up and letting them do their jobs doesn’t work in this situation.

I now know that if I am in pain, I have to say something, or else I’m going to look back on moments like this and feel even more scared than I did before I sat in that chair.