Vernon in Virginia~Formerly Alaska
New member
Vernon had a dentist appt. at the VA hospital yesterday morning at 10, I was at work at the school until 3. I kept asking the girls to have him call me when he got home, and by 3 I was a little concerned that he hadn't come home or called. When I got home from work, I tried his cell phone, he had just left the hospital. I heard something about 2 1/2 hours of surgery, stitches, and bone grafts... he couldn't talk, as he had a mouth full of blood, and he said he would tell me when he got home. But I had to run to Lynchburg, and didn't get home until 6:30. By then, the swelling was down and the bleeding had subsided enough that he was able to tell me, slowly, what happened.
He was having a tooth pulled, the base root of an old crown. I figured he would be out of there in 15 minutes... but evidently, and I didn't know this, when you have had a root canal done, over time the surrounding bone then adheres to the tooth. He had 3 dentists working on him, with him nearly upside down, in blue gowns (and he had one on too, plus the cap that covers everything but the face, and glasses). He said blood was splattering over everyone's gowns when they reverted to trying to drill out the root after pulling failed.... its a long story, Vernon can tell you the nitty gritty details sometime. But... while trying to pull that one tooth, they broke off the one beside it. So they cut the gums back from that one too, and put it together temporarily. In the space of the tooth they pulled, they put a "flipper"... a tooth that he can take out, that attaches with wire to surrounding teeth. Plus he has this thick plastic thing behind his other front teeth... oh, did I mention this was the front teeth?! He looks like Frankenstein, with 9 black sutures all over his upper gums, inside and out, and with that tooth out, he really looks scary! The bone graft... I asked him where they got the bone graft? He said they get it either from a cadaver, or bovine. So the doctor went to find out what they had on hand, and came back saying "Bovine!" So now I call him "ManCow"... moooo.
Anyway, this morning, the half of the adjoining tooth that they repaired became loose while Vernon was trying to file it "gently", he assures me. Its not out yet, but when it does, he decided he'll just super glue it back in. He has a follow up next week, maybe they can do something about it then.
The bad news? He has 2 more to do, in April. Eventually all the work they are doing now will end up as a 5 tooth bridge sometime next spring.
SP Vernon here, the photo is what I think I now look like
[attachment 43081 PricillatheHun.jpg]
He was having a tooth pulled, the base root of an old crown. I figured he would be out of there in 15 minutes... but evidently, and I didn't know this, when you have had a root canal done, over time the surrounding bone then adheres to the tooth. He had 3 dentists working on him, with him nearly upside down, in blue gowns (and he had one on too, plus the cap that covers everything but the face, and glasses). He said blood was splattering over everyone's gowns when they reverted to trying to drill out the root after pulling failed.... its a long story, Vernon can tell you the nitty gritty details sometime. But... while trying to pull that one tooth, they broke off the one beside it. So they cut the gums back from that one too, and put it together temporarily. In the space of the tooth they pulled, they put a "flipper"... a tooth that he can take out, that attaches with wire to surrounding teeth. Plus he has this thick plastic thing behind his other front teeth... oh, did I mention this was the front teeth?! He looks like Frankenstein, with 9 black sutures all over his upper gums, inside and out, and with that tooth out, he really looks scary! The bone graft... I asked him where they got the bone graft? He said they get it either from a cadaver, or bovine. So the doctor went to find out what they had on hand, and came back saying "Bovine!" So now I call him "ManCow"... moooo.
Anyway, this morning, the half of the adjoining tooth that they repaired became loose while Vernon was trying to file it "gently", he assures me. Its not out yet, but when it does, he decided he'll just super glue it back in. He has a follow up next week, maybe they can do something about it then.
The bad news? He has 2 more to do, in April. Eventually all the work they are doing now will end up as a 5 tooth bridge sometime next spring.
SP Vernon here, the photo is what I think I now look like
[attachment 43081 PricillatheHun.jpg]
bovine
