A long day

Yesterday was a long day for me.  I had a day off from watching the kids but instead of doing something fun, I got to spend about 4 hours at 2 different dentists.  It was basically torture in my book. :)  Ehren took a day off from work and ran a daddy daycare for me.  He did really great with all the kids.  First, I drove an hour away to the gum specialist who also does implants.  He pulled my 2 teeth out and screwed in the implants which pretty much looked like very thin and very long screws.  I hate getting my teeth pulled so I was as nervous as can be and this dentist doesn't give patients gas or anything, just a shot of novacane.  But he was really nice and we had nice conversations about how I came here and about his family.  He was pulling the teeth out really slow and that helped because I've had them pulled quick before and that was awful, like having your jaw ripped out.

After the teeth were out he had to cut my gums all around and find 2 spots for the implants to go.  He couldn't put them in the holes where my teeth were because then the fake teeth wouldn't be spaced correctly.  So he had to put some tissue and bone inside the holes and then drill new holes.  The drilling actually wasn't that bad but it was strange getting the implants in there because it felt just like putting a screw into a piece of wood and he put them way deep into the jaw.  He said it's a good thing they were hard to screw in because that means the bone is strong.

So I was done with that dentist, wrote a big fat check and headed out to my local dentist who was going to cut down some more of my side teeth and have the retainer look ok.  By the time I got there my mouth was hurting because the anesthetic was wearing off.  So he put in a couple more injections and when he was putting it into my stitched up gums it was very painful.  He basically made fake looking teeth inside the retainer to fill in the gaps.  He may make something temporary for me later so I don't have to wear the retainer but we'll see.  We won't get the final teeth done until sometime next year to split the cost into 2 years.


When I woke up this morning I felt pretty shaky and weak.  I know it was from barely eating anything all day yesterday so I have to fuel up today.  It is just not easy to bite because I have to be careful for where the stitches are.  So I have to cut up all my food and put it in the back of my mouth because I can't just bite into food.  I'll be glad once those stitches are out.


So that is it for now.  It is done and I move on.  Here are some pretty gross pictures from before and after but I don't want to scare you with pictures without the retainer. :)


BEFORE:

AFTER: