Today is the happiest Monday I have had in a long long time. Why? It's all over. Last week I had my last dental surgery and I am now the proud owner of a set of adult teeth. I am tired and relieved eating everything that is crunchy. I know this isn't a terribly pretty post but I know that I love reading honest posts when I see blogs so I thought I would throw caution to the wind and share.
Just in case you're a little confused at this point I'll fill you in. Ever since I was a little kid the dentists knew that I hadn't grown many adult teeth; I had my front two (which is why they're so glaringly obvious on the photo on the left) but the four at the sides were missing. This wasn't a huge problem at first but when I got older having baby teeth beside adult ones started to look a little bit weird. Also eventually they started wobbling a little bit. Usually baby teeth will never last much longer than about 7years old but seeing as nothing was pushing them out they hung on in there.
Last year they started the first course of my surgery. They took out my teeth and gave me false teeth. It was really hard at first. It's a massive ego hit to wear false teeth when you're a teenager. Eating in them was uncomfortable so I had to learn to sort of secretly remove them while no one was looking and then stay incrediably quiet the entire meal. It was really nerve-wracking. Also at first I could sleep in them and they just felt so clunky. It felt so odd to have a big plate covering the top of my mouth and it was horrible to think that I would have that for about a year.
After a few months when the gums had healed I went in for my surgery. There isn't a whole lot to say about this except this. If you are about to have this operation, if there is any possible chance that you can be knocked out, take it. They didn't offer me this and it was possibly the most traumatising thing to sit through hours and hours of student dentists drilling and cutting into my face under only local anaesthetic. It was also incrediably hard because it is almost impossible to distance yourself from something if it is happening to your face. I could imagine sitting through a surgery on my foot or perhaps my hand because you can keep detatched from it at least for a while but for some reason your face feels s oconnected to your conciousness that it was impossible to be at all distracted and think anything but OH MY GOD WHAT ARE THEY DOING TO MY FACE!?!?!?! Honestly, just horrific.
So after that I had some healing time, about a week and things started to move on really nicely. I had another minor operation but it was a whole lot smaller and I was prepared for it this time and I was getting really used to my false teeth. I'd started to sleep in them and eat with them in; I could eat apples and everything! It was a huge boost to feel so comfortable with them and not be constantly fiddling.
Things only got bad (as luck would have it) on my first day of university. I was really nervous about university but I had never thought to be worried about my teeth because they seemed so comfortable now. So I plucked up the courage when I arrived to go and talk to my first person; I said hi, we were getting on well and then all of a sudden two teeth just snapped off. Completely off. I must have looked like the weirdest person in the entire world. I picked up my teeth and just ran back to my room. It was horrendous. I couldn't believe how unlucky I felt; had this happened a few days earlier I could have fixed it but no it had to happen when I should be going out and meeting people. After calls to my dentist and googling I worked out that I could use super glue to fix them and so I did.
After that they broke possibly every day. It was back to being uncomfortable. I had to take them out to eat or I knew they would snap. I had to take them out to sleep because (and I didn't know this before) when I woke up I gritted my teeth and they would snap. I would have to pile super glue on them just to look reltively normal but that soon built up and became incredibly uncomfortable. I swear if I hadn't've made the most amazing friends those few weeks would have just been a nightmare.
But I got through it and last week I had my last surgery to screw my new adult teeth into the screw thread they had implanted a year ago. It was uncomfortable and bled loads but it was the biggest relief of my life. Ever since I have just been beaming. It is so amazing to have the roof of my mouth back again; I can taste everything so much better, my toungue doesn't seem awkward, I love it. And every now and then I start to smile at something and then find my self quickly covering my mouth because it feels like I don't have my false teeth in and I can promise you it is the most amazing thing ever to be able to take that hand away and beaam!!! I still haven't eaten any apples yet because I'm taking it easy but oh my goodness TEETH ARE GREAT!
