Update on the dentist

So... apparently I have two options for my wisdom tooth extraction nightmare.

1. Get a needle jabbed into my gums a few times so I can be awake for the bone-crunching, gum-ripping surgery, which will last about 40 minutes, but not feel any pain.
2. Get an IV and be sedated--that is, thrown into the freaky, dark nothingness of unconsciousness--then wake up 40 minutes later acting like a goofball.

Hmm.... Is there an option #3? I really can't decide which scary, intimidating, unattractive path to choose. My fears for the local anaesthesia (option 1) are that it won't completely dull the pain and I'll be trying not to scream for the whole 40 minutes. I have a low pain tolerance. Like, kinda really low, unless I'm working out. Just ask my mom. And my roommate. And my basketball teacher from my sophomore year of high school. And the lady who rescued me in her van when I crashed my bike in March. Yeah... I think I might be okay with being awake to feel them pressing on my jaw and whatnot (as long as there is no pain!), but I'm not sure.

My fears for the IV sedation (option #2) are that I will be too freaked out by the IV needle (if they put it in my hand, that is. I'd be okay with it in my arm.) and that I'll be sick when I wake up from the surgery. People in my family have had bad experiences with being violently ill after waking up from a general anaesthesia. I also don't know if I'd like the feeling of being completely and totally unconscious of everything that is happening to me for nearly an hour. Hmm...

Anyway, I still haven't decided. I suppose that getting teeth ripped out of your gums can't really be a "good" experience no matter what happens. I'll be "out of commission" for at least two days. Ooo, I won't even be able to go to the gym. That bites... I hate it when my routine is thrown off!! (Por ejemplo, I had yogurt for breakfast instead of oatmeal this morning, and now I feel like a little piece of my universe is out of place. Bah.)

Some of you have said that your wisdom teefers experiences weren't all that bad, so I'm hoping mine will be the same way! Apparently my oral surgeon is pretty talented, so hopefully it won't be too traumatic. :)

Death by dentist

I have an appointment at the dreaded dentist's office today. It's allegedly a "consultation" in "preparation" for the "removal" of my wisdom teeth. Riiiiight. I am, and have been for quite some time now, suspicious of dentists, oral surgeons, orthodontists, and other breeds of tooth-related professionals. I wasn't always this way, nay--not before I had braces, that is. After enduring the dreaded mouth stretcher, annoying little rubber bands that break in your mouth and act like little bull-whips against your lips, tooth cement, permanent retainer (that thing will be in my mouth until I'm DEAD. And it'll still be there AFTER I'm dead.), and other such horrors, I now have a healthily flourishing fear of going to the dentist. And NO, this fear is not irrational. Braces are far too traumatic for a seventh-grader. I practically have dental PTSD.

I really don't like people touching my teeth. Seriously, how scary is it to have someone digging around inside your mouth while you stare bug-eyed into a bright examination lamp, all the while hoping that you won't gag on Dentist's fingers and up-chuck into her/his face? Meanwhile, you're feeling like a disgusting freak because a pool of spittle is slowly collecting beneath your tongue, and you are completely powerless because you can't swallow when someone's nasty rubber-gloved hands are poking at your molars. Humiliatingly enough, you have to wait for the dentist to realize that there's about to be a deluge of saliva, and then allow her/him to suck out the moisture with a vacuum-powered straw. Lovely. Just lovely.

Anyway, hopefully this "consulation" won't be too horrible. Wish me luck. Actually, save the wishing of luck for later. I'll need it a lot more when I actually have to get the blasted wisdom teeth ripped from my skull.