I just performed about 45 minutes of oral surgery on myself! ?
Late last week I bit down on something that must have had a little bit of bone in it (probably chicken). A sliver of bone, which turned out to be about 3/16" long, embedded itself into my gum between the only crown I have and the tooth next to it (the crown is the farthest back on my upper right side).
It didn't take long to realize that this thing wasn't going anywhere without some serious persuasion! After giving it a few days to reduce the initial eye-watering pain and swelling, I tried a few basic attempts which all failed miserably. Since I don't have a dental plan, I've been worrying about what to do until, tonight, I just decided to do something about it!
Now, splinters in your view-able body are bad enough, but trying to use two mirrors (a small bathroom one, cocked to see up into my mouth, which then projected onto the main bathroom mirror), a hand-held light and various all-too-sharp objects (toothpicks were a joke so I ended up trying a dental pick and, finally, some really-sharp, medical-grade tweezers).
As if the thought of putting sharp metal into my already tender gum wasn't bad enough, try doing it upside-down and backwards! What's worse, even when I FINALLY maneuvered everything perfectly and was able to grab the splinter, it wouldn't budge! It took several (successfully grabbing the splinter) attempts before I was able to grip it with both hands and pull down HARD, like I was yanking out a tooth, before it came out. Ten minutes later after spitting blood, rinsing with warm salt water (then ice water and mouthwash), I washed and look at the splinter. I can't believe it was that long! That's one operation I definitely don't want to have to do again! ?