I'd Rather Deal With Freddy Kreuger When I Sleep

I have bruxism :(

Instagram pic I took a few hrs after surgery. The black stuff are the stitches. The stains on surface of teeth probably blood, as I just took gauze out.

A week ago I had my final wisdom tooth out. Finally.. all 4 gone! The first 2 (on top) I had out were the easiest, just an extraction. I did this about 3 years ago. Everything back to normal the day itself. Didn't even need to take the painkillers after anesthetic wore off.

All my wisdoms always gave me problems, they took turns, every couple of months, one would throb or make my gum red raw. But I never got the bottom two done because they were partially embedded still and would need surgery... and I hate dentists. So scared!

Last year, my bottom right one was hurting so bad, so I braved the surgery and got it out. Surprisingly, even though the procedure itself freaked me out a lot, the recovery was quick, and relatively painless. In fact, the dentists joked as I left his office, that I was going to lose a lot of weight in the next couple of weeks (because cannot eat much I suppose)... and I was like , "Oh Bonus! That's great!"

But when I went in again to get stitches removed the week after... I told him- Shit ah... am I like the only one who gets a wisdom out and GAINS weight?!  Cos I was eating (solid food etc) the day after the surgery even. 

So last week, when I went in again to remove my final one (lower jaw, on left side), it wasn't giving me that much problems but I thought better just get it out in case it acts up closer to my wedding then too late, I have to just put up with it! I also thought it would be a similarly pleasant recovery process, i.e. an almost immediate recovery.

 After the Xray, he said the root for this one is longer, and resting on the nerve, so it's more complicated surgery than the last one. I didn't think much of it, because I thought the last surgery was going to be bad, but turned out VERY ok after all.

But oh boy was I WRONG. The stitches were so uncomfortable this time. My gum had to be sewn to the side of my cheek (it looked like)... to cover the incisions/hole. It had to be done I suppose, 2 sutures, and I guess it worked because there was minimal bleeding after. Then as it healed, I felt like the stitches were gonna rip the inside of my cheek. Could not eat or smile much.  I got the stitches out early, after 5 days because I felt awful.

Now, the actual wisdom tooth wound has healed very nicely, hardly any pain. But the rest of my mouth feels weird! The first few days, my chin and lips and gums kept having tingling feeling... like a real bothersome irritating tingle... kinda like a phantom itch which you can't seem to scratch. Also felt like my lips and teeth didn't feel right together. This was just my nerves getting their sensations back.

Thankfully, now 9 days (or so) after surgery, most of my sensations feel normal... except for my gums, feeling a bit odd. That too will pass, I am sure.

But what I can't stand is that my Bite seems to have gone out of alignment. Like it's uncomfortable to rest my top and bottom teeth together. I think this is why I grind my teeth at night now, and wake up with very painful jaw and teeth :(

It could be the wisdom surgery after effects, and my teeth alignment will sort themselves out in a week or so... especially with all that bloody grinding I do at night.

Or it could be wedding stress that's making me grind at night and has nothing to do with surgery. My fiance mentioned that I grind my teeth when I sleep anyway (like from way back before surgery), and I just am aware of it now because my mouth hurts after surgery.

I don't know. 

I slept sitting up for a couple days, because it puts less pressure on the jaw and it seemed to work so I thought I found the solution (until my mouth healed, or I stopped grinding after wedding). But it was short lived, I now grind while in that position too.

Now when I sleep, I am so scared, because I don't know how to stop grinding. And I wake up in the middle of the night with my jaws painfully clenched together. My teeth hurt (not sensitivity pain.. but more like if you bite all your teeth together really really hard, and then release... that achy feeling.. is what I feel all day. Worst in the morning when I wake up).  So tired and yet so scared to sleep. :(

I have a sleep guard (mouth guard) coming.. but that'll take about a week as I just got it made today. I am afraid I'll damage my teeth or knock my own teeth out grinding in my sleep before then.  :(

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On a happier note:

 ClubCouture is running a 30% off private sale on New Year's Day for 24 hours only. Like their FB page and check it out for the special code you can use for 30% off everything and anything on their site.

(The code will be released on their FB wall an hour before the sale starts. Applicable worldwide :)


Have a Happy New Year everyone! 2013 will be Fabulous!