my operation story

just after i was given my first round of anesthesia, when my upper lip and even the area below my nose felt numb, my dentist gave me a run down of the implant procedure. i was told that i would hear some hammering but not to worry, that that was standard procedure. oh great, they're going to effin hammer my bone. but since i knew that i would hear drilling, i guess hammering wasn't too unrelated.

all drugged up with my paper smock around my neck and a cloth hair cap over my head--would the proper name be a surgical cap?--i was ushered into the operating room. there were bright lights and lots of tools i had never seen before. all very surgical! after i sat in the chair, they placed a green smock, in two parts, over my entire body. the first part covered my stomach and legs, the second part covered my face to my stomach. yes. they covered my face. and there was a hole allotted for my nose and mouth. at first, i thought, am i okay with this? am i okay with not being able to see everything that they're going to be doing? and then i realized that yes, this was probably better than actually being able to see all the blood gushing out of my gums and going into the suction tube. besides, the sounds i heard were pretty disturbing and disgusting enough on their own.

with my eyes covered, my other senses, taste, touch and definitely sound were on high alert. the first part of the procedure was to open up my gums so they could expose the bone. with my gums completely numb, i couldn't feel a thing, but based on what my dentist told me, i could imagine what was happening. after they cut me up and could assess my bone loss, which was significant, they began to expand my bone. how does one's bone get expanded? with hammering. in order for my bone to support the titanium rods that were to be drilled in my mouth, there needed to be a sufficient amount of bone, but since mine was so thin, they had to stretch it out. they literally hammered into the middle of my bone to expand from the inside out.

when my dentist was hammering into my bone, it sounded like he was hammering my remaining teeth away, which, of course he wasn't, but hey! that's what it sounded like! NASTY! it didn't hurt, but the sound was definitely jarring. and then that's when the drilling began. when you drill into bone, you have to do it at a consistent speed so as to not burn the bone--this is why water is important. while my dentist was drilling, water was being sprayed simultaneously to keep it cool. and then, after the holes were made, the titanium rods were put in their places. my front tooth's rod was placed in straight, but because of my bone loss, my tooth no.7's rod was placed at an angle. then, my dentist did a bone graft to supplement my existing bone and stitched me up. the entire surgery took just about 2 and 1/2 hours, 3 rounds of anesthesia, a bathroom break, and 2 x-rays.

what comes after is a world of pain and some incredible swelling action.