Don’t forget to floss…

Well today was a fun thing. I came how and Debily asked how I was was. My response was a quote from Galaxyquest: “That was a helluva thing.”

The procedure was technically called a ‘connective tissue graft.’ The periodontist has some really cool cgi quicktime videos that really explain what he will do. I searched for the videos and could not find them. The only one I could find were on real people. Sorry, ain’t gonna post that.

My gums had receded pretty badly on a couple of teeth.  The solution is to graft health tissue onto where good tissue is supposed to be.  So the cut gum at the tooth, peel back the flap of gum, place good tissue there, put the flap back, suture it up and you are all done.  The good tissue comes from the roof of your mouth.  This procedure took five shots of litocaine and two shots of marcaine.  The worst, by far, was the one shot to numb the roof of my mouth.  Doc did a really good job and turned Bill Cosby during the procedure.  Let’s see, I have two fingers, a mirror, scalpel, suction device, and gauze inside my numbed up mouth and he asks, “So, have you quit beating your wife yet?”  My answer was, “mphffflootttvvvv.”  I am sure he understood.  I will likely have to have this same procedure on the other side of my mouth at a later date.  Much later.

I need to go take some more pain meds.  The roof of my mouth feels like it has a really bad burn from very hot pizza.  The actual grafting site has just a dull throb, not too bad for now.  I started by stating, “Don’t forget to floss.”  Well, my mother had bad teeth.  I think this is mainly genetic, but I could be wrong.  I was also supposed to have an osseous done on another tooth.  That is a similar procedure, just no graft.  They do a really deep cleaning though.  That had been put on hold because I may need a root canal on that tooth first.  You know all that landscaping we want to do?  I am not putting my money where my mouth is, I am putting into my mouth.  It is not very satisfying.

The only consolation was that I had noodle soup for dinner.  Noodles are a big no-no right now on the South Beach Diet.  I think I prefer South Beach to the periodontical diet.