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The Little Jogger

  By an exercise-loving Registered Dietitian

Gum Surgery

2/26/2012

8 Comments

 
Hi friends! This past weekend was not like other weekends,and here is why: I had gum surgery! Jealous?

I'm so lucky that I still live with my parents, because my mom went to the grocery store on Friday before my surgery and purchased all sorts of soft foods for me to eat for a week. 
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By this time on Sunday, I have cleared out all of the cheese blintzes. 
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They were great with raspberry Chobani yogurt (although they were awkward for me to eat since the outside of the blintz requires some chewing).
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I also got strawberry and green tea mochi ice cream from Trader Joe's.
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And Garden Lites Grilled Zucchini Souffles from Costco. 
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They only require about 4 minutes in the microwave, and they are ready to eat. 
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I'll tell you about my surgery now, but I have to warn you that you may or may not like reading about it. If the idea of oral surgery (or any surgery for that matter) disgusts you, then you shouldn't read any more of this post! If you are curious and want to know more, keep reading. Just don't blame me if you get grossed out since I did warn you!

Thanks to a combination of genetics, brushing my gums way too hard, rotten luck and possibly braces (although I only had them on my bottom teeth for three months), I have gum recession at the age of 25. I knew for a while that this was an issue, but I figured that I could live with it for many more years. I proved myself wrong while brushing my teeth (probably too hard) a few weeks ago and suddenly felt an incredible amount of sensitivity on the bottom of one of my lower left molars. I went to my dentist, and he gave me desensitizing ointment and a referral to a periodontist (a.k.a. the doctor of the gums). 

I saw the periodontist soon after that, and I learned that I had to get surgery. He scheduled me to get two procedures: a free gingival graft and a frenectomy. A free gingival graft involves taking a small piece of donor tissue from the roof of the mouth (which is the same tissue as our gums) and putting it on the areas of the gums with the severe recession. A frenectomy involves surgically reshaping the frenulum. The frenum (plural) in our mouth are the tissues that connect our lips to our gums (there are other types in our mouth besides those). You can feel it in front of your center teeth, top or bottom, with your tongue. My bottom frenulum is very tight and actually pulls down on my gums, so I needed to get it released (or cut). 

I was very calm at the office as we scheduled the first of my appointments (I have to get the procedure two times). I felt great and super excited about having my gums fixed until I went home and browsed the internet for images and horror stories of free gingival grafts. Ooops. I spent the next 13 days pretending that the surgery wasn't going to happen, and I then I got a cold. I was sure that I wouldn't be allowed to get it the next day since I was having a respiratory infection and my mouth was surely a reservoir for spreading disease, but they told me the morning of the procedure that I could come in as long as I wasn't vomiting. Damn. 

After that, my wonderful mother went out and bought me all of that soft food and then she took me to the office. An hour and a half later, I left with a smile on my face. Really. No joke. You would think that over an hour of being awake and alert while this doctor sliced apart my poor mouth would have been brutal, but it really wasn't. I was only scared when he pulled out the Novocaine needle (I've never had it before). That needle was the only pain I ever felt the entire procedure. My doctor was also so funny that I was laughing the entire time. I was never so distracted that I forgot what was going on in my mouth, but he (and his assistant) made the experience so much easier for me. 

It's been almost three days now, and I've hardly been in any pain. The top of my mouth feels like a pizza burn (so not that bad), and my lower gums are only slightly uncomfortable at times. It's really awkward to eat since I can only chew on one side, and I have to make sure not to pull on my lower lip (or brush my teeth down there). The new tissue takes about 3-4 days to attach to the bone, and any tampering with that can make the graft fail. I'm also taking antibiotics three times a day for a week, and I have all sorts of pain meds (that I don't really use).  My face is also a little swollen, but it's nothing terrible (or maybe it's because I'm eating so much ice cream!). 

I'm going back to the office on Friday for a check-up and to remove any sutures that have not already dissolved. Then, I'll go back in a few months for one more graft on one of my upper teeth. I'm not scared about it, because this procedure was basically a piece of cake. Trust me, it sounds much scarier than it really is. 

You just have to make sure that you have a good doctor. If anybody needs a recommendation for a good periodontist in the suburbs of Chicago, let me know! 
8 Comments
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6/19/2012 08:25:31 pm

You are lucky to have such a mom now enjoy rest recover from this and eat well .

Reply
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9/20/2012 09:27:27 am

I was very pleased to find this site. I wanted to thank you for this great read!! I definitely enjoying every little bit of it and I have you bookmarked to check out new stuff you post.

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1/1/2013 03:56:14 pm

Hi,
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Lilianna
4/30/2013 10:30:38 am

Thanks so much for sharing your experience. My 15 year old son needs to get this done and I was terribly frightned for him and really questioning the whole procedure. You definately eased my fears a bit.

Reply
Jen link
4/30/2013 12:08:32 pm

I'm glad that I could help a little bit! The whole process and recovery was fine for me, and I'm sure that it will be for your son too!

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7/27/2013 01:25:08 am

How did it pass. I may need to do the same and I am a bit afraid.

Reply
Lillian Smith
11/10/2016 04:51:04 pm

Around 4 times a year I go to the dentist and he looks at my mouth. The last time that I went to the dentist he told me that I need gum surgery and should see a periodontist. He gave me a name and address of the periodontist that he recommended and sent me on my way.

About a mouth later I went to the periodontist and he scheduled a date and he told me everything about what he was going to do. I was not freaked out at all and I wasn't worried about it.

That night I went on the internet and searched horror stories and by the next day I was hoping that everyone would just forget about it and that my gums would magically heal themselves.

The day of the surgery I was so scared. I walked into that little room and sat down, I brought my headphones and my iPod and played music the entire time. The only time that I felt pain was when he gave me the shots and that was about it. They gave us a little paper that had all of my instructions on it and read some of it over with us. After I left it really bad because they didn't give me anything because I was so little (I am 11 by the way) and they didn't want to risk anything. I was bleeding like crazy and I didn't know if this was normal or not so I didn't really worry.

When I got home I took nap, when I woke up my mom made me mash potatoes because it was one of the things that I could eat. I was standing at my counter eating when all of the sudden I fainted. When I woke up my mom was standing over me, looking scared to death. She told me I had been passed out for around 20 seconds and she brought me to a couch. While my mom called my periodontist I looked through the little paper that said all of my instructions on it. On the back of the page there was a line that read "If bleeding has not stopped in 20 minutes, call us.". I showed my mom the paper and she then told the periodontist that I had been bleeding the entire time since we left and I was still bleeding then.

When I got to the periodontist he looked at my mouth and said I had a liver clot. He gave me more numbing medicine and cleaned up my mouth. I didn't have anything over the top of my mouth because he said it would heal faster, but I had this type of puddy stuff on the bottom of my mouth, where the tissue had been placed. He took that off and replaced it with a new one. He then told me to stay on a 6 hour schedule with medicine and he (again) sent me on my way.

It has been two days since I got the surgery and I feel fine. The roof of my mouth doesn't hurt at all and it seems to be almost healed because the roof of my mouth seems pretty smooth. It still is hard to eat but not to bad. I hope it stays this way and there will be no more pain!!!

Reply
Liz
1/2/2021 01:46:20 pm

How is your gum graft doing now?

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    ABOUT jennifer Martin, MS, RD, LDN

    I am  a Chicago-based Registered Dietitian working primarily in Acute Clinical Care. I started this blog in 2010, before I even knew that I wanted to be an RD! Now, as an active dietitian, this blog will become part of my life again. Read about my current healthy habits, but please peruse my old posts (from 2014 and before) to read about life as an RD student and my previous years in Australia!


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