The quiet ramblings of a young scientist

Ok, so on Thursday I finally “man’d” up and went and got my wisdom teeth extracted by the team at Mt Eden Dental… needless to say, for those who know me, I was certainly not looking forward to it =)

So, for this procedure I decided to go with so-called “twilight sedation” (TS), which sits somewhere between local and general – basically, they use the same drugs, but at much lower doses. The last time I had TS was about 13 years ago in Hamilton – I don’t remember much, but I do remember at one stage saying to the dentist that something really hurt (I don’t remember any pain though) and I remember I went home and slept for 4h afterwards… so I was a bit worried about this time, but *meh* better than general or local…

So, the day finally arrived… since I couldn’t eat for 4 hours before, I was up before dawn to have a light breakfast… then back to bed to contemplate the surgery. My surgeon was just awesome – and he had a fancy HP tablet, so you know, I had to like him from then on… he went through everything, explained in great detail what to expect etc. and drew lots of fancy pictures to explain what was going to happen. He expressed a bit of concern about my 2 lower teeth – because of their proximity to the main nerve in my jaw, he said I should expect pain and swelling – yay, that’s exactly what you want to hear when you’re strapped to the chair (“oh btw, this is really going to hurt afterwards”). So, then he introduced his two nurses – that was also a relief: for a second I thought he was going to do everything himself, which I would have preferred he not do (rather concentrate on my teeth). Anyway, the nurses hooked me up to an IV and also to blood pressure, and also attached an EEG-type device. This was a new one for me – the last time I had TS, I didn’t have any EEG, so I was curious about it =) Apparently, the EEG monitors your brain state so you remain “just unconcious”, so I was hoping that would work out okay….

So, the drug that is used in TS is propofol, recently made famous by Michael Jackson =/ It’s a white substance, lovingly called the “milk of amnesia” by anesthetists. I was a bit nervous about what effect it would have on me =) So, when they started the drug they told me the world would spin – I was looking at an air vent which had lots of concentric circles… spin it did… wow, that was an amazing effect =) Of course, the mathematician in me was trying to work out the equations of the curves created when the circles intersected each other! Needless to say, I reckon I was asleep in under 30 seconds but quite honestly I don’t remember anything beyond the spinning circles =)

So, in my timeframe, about 5 minutes later I woke up – but in real time it was about 50 minutes apparently. Now, here’s where it gets really interesting for me… I can remember everything after the surgery. I can remember waking up, remember going home and remember that afternoon. I reckon that TS has gotten so good that they can put you out for the exact period they want… nothing more, nothing less =) I was genuinely surprised – I had thought I’d need hours to recuperate, but no, I was bright-eyed and bushy tailed from the get go =)

So, here I am, 4 days post-op and feeling good – still got stitches in my mouth, but the swelling is coming down and I feel quite good… my jaw is a bit stiff, but otherwise all good… all thanks must go to my surgeon, Dr Don McAlister – the man is a genius and an artisan. I truly beleive that it is because of him that my wisdom tooth extraction ranks as one of my best dental experiences – thanks Don! =)

~ by robp on September 28, 2009 .