Wisdom Tooth Extraction

I finally gritted my teeth and agreed to have my impacted wisdom tooth extracted. I've had a trauma of dentists since I was in kindergarten, when a surly dentist at the UP Infirmary pulled out both of my front incisors in one go because I wouldn't behave. Those were just milk teeth but without the benefit of anesthesia.

Since then I've always avoided going to the dentist which wreaked havoc on my teeth.



(panoramic X-ray image of the evil tooth; I just held up the X-ray to the light and took a photo with my cellphone camera, hence the visible background)

I've always heard how painful wisdom tooth extractions are so I kept putting it off. However this particular tooth caused the good tooth in front of it to develop caries in an area that can't be restored unless the impacted tooth was removed. And I can't afford to lose more teeth! with dental implants going for $2,000 a pop..

Anyway, all in that wisdom tooth took three hours of surgery, six ampoules of anesthetic, and a lot of painful cutting and re-sectioning.

And now, two days later, my face is still mis-shapen like a gourd.