Tag: extraction

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Broken tooth saga

The saga of my broken tooth has finally come to an end. This morning the oral surgeon extracted the tooth and applied a bone graft, in preparation for an eventual implant.

The tooth first felt “funny” way back in March, then caused enough painful moments while we were in Europe to make me quite nervous. Even though it stopped actively hurting, it remained precarious.

For various reasons I had to simply work around it while waiting to have it taken out. In fact, that tooth has been on my mind for a full six months and my primary emotion right now is relief.

I’m also feeling spacey and more than ready for an early night.

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Wishful thinking

I’m feeling kind of wistful as I think back to the days of baby teeth and visits from the tooth fairy.

I had a consultation with an oral surgeon today about having a tooth extracted. It can’t be done by a regular dentist because I’ve been on Zometa for the past year.

Zometa is used to treat bone damage caused by multiple myeloma; it works by slowing bone breakdown and increasing bone density. Which is good news except that the increased bone density can make it harder for healing nutrients and blood flow to reach deep into the bone, possibly causing complications in the jaw bone after a tooth extraction.

So, I’m back to learning about things I never thought I’d need to know — like details of tooth extraction; all about bone density; the whys and wherefores of bone grafts; a possible tooth implant — and wishing I could hand the whole thing over to the Tooth Fairy!