Dentists Have Lasers!

Every day I learn something new and what I learned yesterday is that dentists have lasers!  I'm talking ones they can perform surgical type procedures and I now know what that is like...and it is not fun. I can say that it doesn't hurt, but the experience was not what I would have wanted to endure. I think for me, it is the thought of not knowing what was going to happen. So I had braces for 6 months and once I got them off, the doctor put permanent retainers in behind my front teeth and my bottom teeth.  This way, I don't have to wear that annoying retainer that MANY people do not do after a while and their teeth grow back to before they had braces.  I like the convenience of having these permanent retainers so I don't have to worry about it! Well, about 2 weeks after I had the permanent retainers put in, my top gums had started to swell really bad. So bad that I couldn't eat for about 2 weeks and I did not even attempt to brush up there during that time because it would bleed.  I know this is graphic, but to give you an example. I was eating cheerios and I bit down and all of a sudden my milk was now strawberry milk. Ew!  So I went to the doc yesterday and he said he was going to have to take some off.  I immediately said 'take some WHAT off'? and he said 'your gums'. I was thinking what! How? Why? Ouch!  And that is exactly what he did. The funny part is after he was numbing it which seemed like forever and in my head a bit painful (although it truly wasn't), I said 'is it over' and he just started laughing and said, 'no dear, that was just numbing it up'. Ha!  So next thing I know, he puts these fancy glasses on all of us and brings this utensil into my mouth with a bright red tip.  I couldn't feel anything, but subconsciously, IT HURT...even though physically I didn't feel a thing.  I was so afraid to rub my tongue up there because he had essentially burned the roof of my mouth off. The gum was growing over the retainer and it had started to heal that way, so he had to remove the excess gums.  I had never heard of it and I learned that even dentists have lasers!  He said it would feel like a pizza burn and it does, but I hate the every now and then burnt taste I get from time to time.  Last night about an hour after the procedure, the numbness started to wear off and boy did that hurt!  Now, it has been about 15 hours since the procedure and now it is a bit sore.  And I think it is puffy again...does that mean he'll have to it again. He did say that the front of my gum is also puffy and swollen and that if it wasn't healed and down within a week, he'd have to do it on the front too. UGH!!!!