Bend in the Weather

Some of you have probably noticed I haven't been around as much as usual in the recent week.

Last Saturday night I discovered a large painful lump in my mouth, just under my eye tooth facing towards my tongue. To say it scared the life outta me is probably is an understatement.

I headed off to the doctor to get it checked out on Sunday, and he immediately referred me off to an Oral and maxillofacial Surgeon on the Monday.

She examined me and all my tooth and diagnosed it as a Tori (Lingual) Mandibularis which is basically a bone growth that attaches to your gum. It unfortunately can get quite inflamed and sore if bumped or eating hard food. This is probably what caused the initial pain. The thing isn't small either, and is probably about the size of a peanut M&M (for comparison).

Whilst there she gave me my entire mouth a good once over. She noted that I was in immediate need to remove my two left wisdom teeth, and wanted me to go off for an xray. (The xray is to confirm how close the facial nerve is to the roots of the wisdom teeth.) Something you don't want to hit!

So off for x-rays on Wednesday and back to see her for the results on Friday.

It appears that all 4 of my wisdom teeth need to come out, in addition the upper left maxillary first pre-molar. The pre-molar is still my baby tooth (I didn't get any secondary tooth -- and it's long past it's expiry and it's root systems have long given way.) This is also the cause of the severe tooth/gum pain I've been experience (but first put down to the tori). A closer inspection of the x-ray has revealed that 3 out of the 4 first pre-molars are baby teeth! One I've already had removed as a teen (upper right), so that probably leaves one in my bottom that will need attention in the future.

I've been scheduled in for surgery under a General Anesthesia for the removal of all 5 teeth on Friday (11^th July). The surgeon explained that having my wisdoms out latter in life normally ensures the gum bone is much tougher and the root systems much more advanced than that of a late-teen (when many people have them removed). This is why she recommends a general over doing them with a local in the chair. (I'm all for knocking me out for the procedure!) Luckily for me the facial nerve is quite a distance away from the tooth so it shouldn't pose any problem.

So at present -- it's been a week of heavy painkillers to take the edge off the pain, that with salt mouth washes and only luke-warm drinks to avoid aggravating it further.

Pauline's also grabbing some full cloves as we've been told that placing them on the tooth also works well for pain relief. At this stage, I'll try anything. Dosing up on codiene based pain killers for any length of time is never the best solution.

So whilst I'll be out of it for a little while, I am hoping after the operation I'll be back to my normal self shortly there after. I've been advised that it will take about 5 days to recover post-op, but I'll pay it by ear. I've already missed a fair bit of work this week. Luckily it falls on a Friday so I'll at least have the weekend to help in the recovery.

So it looks like soups, pureed meals, tinned fruit and jelly will be on the menu later this week! I wonder what a steak and 3 vegies are like through a straw?!

Update: The tori will stay in place. It's apparently extremely painful to remove (they have to drill/chip it away from the bone of the gum), and something they only wish to do as a last resort. The hole created is normally quite large and requires weeks to heal. So this will stay in place. As such I'll have to just be more careful with a toothbrush (so I don't crash into it when brushing) and when eating hard food. It basically just feels like stubbing your toe badly when hitting the tori...besides the unpleasant pain, it's not much to worry about.