I had my wisdom tooth removed when I was 15. It was too many teeth for my mouth, I didn't really need it so it was extracted by a dentist because he thought it would gradually cause a misalignment.
I was anesthetized for the procedure. I remember inhaling laughing gas and being told to count backwards from a hundred to one while I reclined back in the chair at the dentist's office. I didn't make it beyond 98 before I was out cold. The next thing I remember was trying to murmur 97 as the dental engine was moved. I was now sitting up straight in the chair, and the nurses were cleaning the tools and helping me to my feet. Time had gone by without me noticing. It was all over without me feeling a thing. I felt numb and had zero memory of the actual surgery. I couldn't believe they had taken out my tooth already.
My mom picked me up and drove to the grocery store to get non-solid foods for me to consume while I recuperated. She also got my prescription filled for pain relievers to treat any soreness I had after the procedure. I waited for her in the car. While Initially l didn't feel any pain because I was so numb, there was still some awkwardness. My jaw looked swollen when I glanced in the mirror, and there was gauze in my mouth to stop any potential bleeding. I seemed to be moving slow and felt dreamy.
Towards the end of the car ride the medication was clearly wearing off, and I started feeling some sharp pain in my mouth, and groaned in discomfort while my mom was at the bank ATM.
She heard that I was in pain, and quickly gave me the prescription to stop it, and then she took me home to rest.
The medicine worked really well because once I took that I didn't feel a thing anymore. I don't know exactly what it was, but maybe a drug like codeine? I was instructed to take it daily for a couple of days to prevent any aches and pains.
I wasn't supposed to go to school, and stayed in bed to recover, playing video games and watching movies for a week or too. That was the best part. For the first day it was fun to live on ice cream and milk shakes, but after a few days of that I was ready for some real food. I didn't want anymore soups, mashed potatoes or chicken salad, and began sneaking bites of solid food. I was glad when I could go back to normal. My mouth healed very well on spite of my secret snacking.
I don't miss having that tooth there or really even notice it's absence. Everything seems to look and work just fine without it.
