It's amazing what you will do when you have to...

[craigb]

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! ?

[Wibbles]

1 hour ago, craigb said:

try doing it upside-down and backwards! 

I've tried doing it every way I can think of. Upside-down and backwards is one of my favourites. 

[PhonoBrainer]

Bacon is less perilous.

[paulo]

 

 

 

[S.L.I.P.]

[Starise]

Glad you were able to pull that off ok Craig. Ouch.

True story. I had a cyst in my jaw. I am convinced it was caused by the dentist who performed a root canal on me not long before that. He let some of the stuff he used get deep into my jaw....anyways they seen it on the x-ray and decided they had to remove it. Only problem being two perfectly healthy teeth were in the way. I was told it had to be done for my health and the two teeth needed to be removed, so two perfectly healthy back teeth were pulled so the surgeon could get to the cyst. Fast forward 6 months and I had titanium implant stubs placed into my jaw. They take months to grow into place, so for a long time my mouth looked like the terminator in the back. Kinda cool looking on the x-ray though. A few weeks ago they began the process to secure teeth to the stubs. 6000 dollars (out of pocket)later I can say they did a great job. The teeth are zircon and harder than my real teeth. You can't tell they aren't my real teeth and most importantly I can now chew on that side of my mouth again....now for the other part of the story.  Not two days after all of that work was done I was eating from a bag of granola and must have bitten down on a particularly hard piece. One of my front incisors broke right in half. That tooth had been filled so nothing hurts, just looks bad.  My dental benefits have expired for 2019, so I guess I'll just have to live with it a few at least another month or two......it never ends.

[bitflipper]

I just save up all the little chewy candies that come in every Sweetwater shipment, then eat them until one finally grabs the foreign object. It's not always easy. Sometimes, it can take more than one bong hit before I can truly get the job done.

[InstrEd]

1 hour ago, bitflipper said:

I just save up all the little chewy candies that come in every Sweetwater shipment, then eat them until one finally grabs the foreign object. It's not always easy. Sometimes, it can take more than one bong hit before I can truly get the job done.

I like your thinking Dave.

[craigb]

10 hours ago, Starise said:

Glad you were able to pull that off ok Craig. Ouch.

True story. I had a cyst in my jaw. I am convinced it was caused by the dentist who performed a root canal on me not long before that. He let some of the stuff he used get deep into my jaw....anyways they seen it on the x-ray and decided they had to remove it. Only problem being two perfectly healthy teeth were in the way. I was told it had to be done for my health and the two teeth needed to be removed, so two perfectly healthy back teeth were pulled so the surgeon could get to the cyst. Fast forward 6 months and I had titanium implant stubs placed into my jaw. They take months to grow into place, so for a long time my mouth looked like the terminator in the back. Kinda cool looking on the x-ray though. A few weeks ago they began the process to secure teeth to the stubs. 6000 dollars (out of pocket)later I can say they did a great job. The teeth are zircon and harder than my real teeth. You can't tell they aren't my real teeth and most importantly I can now chew on that side of my mouth again....now for the other part of the story.  Not two days after all of that work was done I was eating from a bag of granola and must have bitten down on a particularly hard piece. One of my front incisors broke right in half. That tooth had been filled so nothing hurts, just looks bad.  My dental benefits have expired for 2019, so I guess I'll just have to live with it a few at least another month or two......it never ends.

Exactly the kind of dark path I didn't want to go down!  Ouch indeed!

[InstrEd]

Next time don't have the chicken ?

[craigb]

[InstrEd]

You believe everything you read ?  ?