1. It turned out that the root of the molar the dentist extracted today was fractured and brittle and was not supporting that tooth well any more at all.
Like me, it had aged.
The root's brittleness made it difficult to remove. The lower part of the tooth, as expected, required the dentist to apply pressure and he tugged and pulled and removed it and then he patiently went to work on the root with different tools, including his drill, and succeeded in completing the extraction.
I cannot overstate how grateful I am for whatever numbing agent the dentist uses in 2025.
The upper right side of my mouth was comfortably numb the whole time, making it possible for me to endure all the effort it took to extract this tooth with very little discomfort.
2. The dentist put bone particles in the socket to help my body grow new bone in the empty space and he placed a thin barrier, called a membrane, over the bone graft material. It acts as a protective shield. Then he sewed up the area to hold the membrane and bone graft material in place.
The dentist did not give his work a chef's kiss, but he was happy with how things went.
He gave me simple instructions: to ward off possible infection, begin a five day, ten dose course of antibiotics this evening and assured me he had used surface antibiotics during the procedure -- I had also taken a large dose of antibiotics at home before going to the office.
I am to chew food on the left side of my mouth only.
I am to follow up all eating and drinking with a salt water rinse.
I return in two weeks to have the stitches removed.
I return in eight weeks to have the membrane removed.
Then, at some point later, I'll have a bridge or implant put in.
3. When the comfortable numbness wore off, I could tell the region of my face above my mouth and below my eye socket felt offended by all the pushing, pulling, yanking, and pressure the procedure subjected it to.
I wasn't miserable or in anything like agony, but I was uncomfortable enough that I found it difficult to sleep steadily until about 3 a.m.
My patience combined with some Regular Strength Tylenol paid off eventually and I slept comfortably for about four hours and, on Wednesday, I plan to rest, maybe grab some more sleep, and enjoy having my mouth and face return to feeling close to normal again, even with a gaping crater in the back of my mouth!
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