What I considered to be the most difficult part of the process was over and done. I had ten teeth extracted and upper and lower dentures put in place. The rest should be a cakewalk, right? Little did I know what I was in store for over the next couple of weeks.
My daughter allowed me to stay with her over the next several days. I slept for much of that first day and honestly don’t remember a whole lot. I did have a lot of drainage of blood and saliva, but all that was to be expected. I was told to keep the dentures in my mouth for seventy-two hours. This would help in controlling bleeding and aid in healing. There was gauze in my mouth that also had to be changed periodically. My daughter was a most-excellent nurse.
Most of what I ate for the next week consisted of foods like jello, pudding, yogurt, and ice cream. I was on both Hydrocodone and Prednisone, as well as penicillin. I won’t say it was totally pain-free, but certainly nothing major. I honestly don’t remember much about those next three days. There was a lot of sleeping involved and I was appreciate of the quiet rest I was getting.
The next big day was the end of the waiting period to leave the dentures in my mouth. I will have to admit I was somewhat tense about taking them out. But that seemingly went off without a hitch. I would take them out each evening and clean them off before putting them in a water-filled container. I would take them out the following day and put them back in place.
The biggest hurdle that I faced during that first week was the psychological effect that the whole process was having on me. I didn’t feel that I could eat anything that I was used to eating before the surgery. I tried unsuccessfully to eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I decided with the next sandwich it would be best if I removed the crust. There are several local restaurants that I frequented each week and at each of those places, I couldn’t think of anything on their menu I thought I’d be able to eat.
There was a whole different feel with these prosthetic teeth. They made me feel like I had a mouth full of hardware. The most noticeable feature was the part of the upper denture that covered the roof of my mouth. They also had a big effect on sounding out words and speaking. It definitely wasn’t like anything I had experienced before.
I could tell that this transition to wearing a full set of dentures would not be any walk in the park. My journey had only begun.
Part Four: The Recovery Period Continues…
David Lee 