(no subject)

I went, got drugged, left three teeth less.

Aka, I got my wisdom teeth removed (for some reason, I only have three instead of four. I'm not complaining!). The local anesthetic has yet to wear off and the Vicodin has yet to kick in, so hopefully I'm in a good place right now.

I chose to do laughing gas and local anesthetic instead of general anesthetic, mostly because I don't like the thought of being put under, but the place I went to usually does general anesthetic.

The procedure itself was ok -- much pain with the local anesthetic shots, nothing really but pressure when it came to the actual pulling/drilling/whatever was going on in my mouth. It's just the sounds that are incredibly disconcerting! I especially hate the high-pitched dentist drill (having it in your mouth also doesn't make the audio experience better) and the freaky cracking noises. It actually wasn't that unexpected though -- I had two teeth pulled in middle school for braces and it sounded roughly the same.

Alas, no interesting effects from the laughing gas, so no funny LJ entries for everyone.

Though the actual removal went well, there was much to be desired in terms of bedside manner. I was sort of put off the first time I visited because they were so abrupt -- she basically sort of said, "You should have gotten them removed when you had braces" in a very accusing fashion, like it was my fault that middle school me didn't ask for my wisdom teeth to be removed.

Maybe figured they'd be nicer later. So not the case!

I winced and tensed up when the dentist gave me the painkiller shots, and she basically yelled at me for moving and said I should have done the general anesthetic and that it would hurt like bejeezus. And when I was shaking because I dislike being yelled at, particularly when I am in a chair breathing in strange gas and having needles in my mouth, she pretty much just said, "You have to stay still! Or else we'll just put you under!" I got yelled at for pretty much everything.

Halfway through, the gas mask thing got pushed to the side, so I sort of made a noise and asked them to push it back. The reaction was, after pushing it back, "I'm working, don't distract me!"

She'd tell me to open my mouth a little, and I would, and then she'd yell at me for not opening it wide enough or opening it too wide. I mean, seriously, we've all gone to the dentist, right? Who knows exactly how much they mean when they say "Open your mouth a little" or "Tilt your head this way"?! And then afterward, I asked if I should brush my teeth day of -- they'd given me a sheet saying not to rinse, but I wasn't sure if that included brushing or flossing or what. She just snapped at me and said, "Not till the day after! It's all in the sheet" like I was stupid and hadn't read it.

That's how it felt the entire time. And when the assistant asked how old I was after (this is when my mouth is still numb and I have two giant lumps of gauze in there), I showed her on my fingers. And she snapped at me and told me that I had to talk to exercise my jaw muscles!

Ugh. Anyway. If you are in the Bay Area, for the love of god, don't go to Silicon Valley OMS! They are evil! And mean! I mean, I get that they do six bazillion wisdom teeth extractions a day, but this is obviously my first time. And jeez, they could at least ask me to do stuff nicely before berating me like I'm an idiot!

Ugh. Hate them. And have to go back one more time for a checkup too. Will never go back after that.