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Extended Holiday - Thanks Doc!

Friday 14 December 2007 at 09:47 am Several months ago a process was put into motion that has resulted in my Christmas Holidays being quite a bit longer than I had expected them to be.. 25 days long to be exact! A molar was extracted leaving an empty space where the tooth had once been. A few days ago I was in the hospital to have some surgery to remedy the problem. "Surgery?" one might ask.. Yes, I have decided that I didn't want a gaping hole where the tooth once was and that, at 40 years old, I was too young for dentures or a bridge so the decision was made to get a dental implant. It sounds easy enough, right? What could be hard about a dental implant?

As it turns out the bone in the upper part of the jaw is quite thin and needs to be 'beefed up' before an implant can be safely set into it. That was why I was at the hospital for surgery on the 12th. Bone was harvested from my left knee so that two bone grafts could be preformed. One, a sinus lift, on the top of the jawbone and the second on the lower part of the jawbone where the tooth had been extracted.

The staff at the hospital in Truro were great. They made me feel very comfortable and took the time to make sure I understood everything that was about to happen. Some sloppy weather slowed down the doctor a bit.. but less than an hour behind schedule the whole process was underway. The recovery room was lots of fun as I faded in and out of consciousness and everything around me seemed to go on with very little notice. A few hours later I was getting dressed, a big bag of medication in hand, and was sent on my merry way. With the help of Dave, a friend and co-worker, I arrived home a few hours later.

Here I sit, typing on my laptop keyboard barely feeling any pain at all (thanks to the hycodan). I don't need to track the passing time on the clock at all. I know when the pain medication is wearing off and it's time to start the medicated cycle of holiday joy and bliss over again.
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