
I had a decaying molar that I was terrified to get looked at. Reddit posts helped me sooo much when I was researching for my anxiety so I just wanted to make a post sharing my molar extraction story. I have horrible horrible dentist anxiety. Like. I’d rather *anything* else be wrong. But this tooth brought pain like I’ve never experienced. The last time I needed a tooth extraction, I was put under general, but I couldn’t afford it. So anyway, this tooth caused immense pain due to the decay and abscess. My cheek was swollen and the only thing that helped the pain was keeping ice cold water in my mouth for small periods of time. 

The first dentist I went to told me I needed to pay $600 for a cleaning before they would extract it. The second dentist I went to prescribed an antibiotic and Motrin but wanted to schedule extraction for May (this was end of Feb). Finally, I went to a different dentist who wasn’t messing around. They xrayed the tooth and immediately were like “yeah let’s get this out.” Now, the shots were what I was terrified of. The assistant held my hands and I closed my eyes while he injected the medicine. Honestly, it was not NEARLY as bad as I thought. Truly. I got through it and you can too. He left me for around 10 mins and came back to see if I needed more but I felt numb. He said we’d start and he’d stop if I felt pain. I didn’t. He wiggled the tooth to loosen it and then took his dental pliers and pulled it out. I had my eyes closed the whole time. It took less than 3 minutes. The assistant immediately put gauze in my mouth and told me I did a great job 🥰 I got a script for Motrin 800 and went home. 

It’s been two weeks since then so this is my experience with recovery until now. The first few days I ate soft foods. Yogurt, pudding, ice cream, mashed potatoes - nothing with lumps or small anything. I had to take Motrin regularly for less than a week. I did not smoke, vape, use a straw or rinse vigorously for a week. My clot stayed in and is still there. I still have an open hole and I do salt water rinses multiple times a day to keep it clean. My pain is like a 1-2, sometimes small twinges of pain and a little soreness but nothing crazy. 

Anyway, that’s my experience and I hope it helps someone. I’ll answer any questions too 😊