alveolar osteitis.

so i got my wisdom teeth pulled on friday morning, and so far i've had no problems whatsoever. no swelling, very minimal pain, and i quit bleeding after a couple hours. i am, however, unbelievably paranoid that something will start hurting/go wrong.

it is four days after surgery and my stitches have already dissolved/fallen out and i just have big holes in the back of my mouth now. everything is probably all kosher and good, but it is just such a strange feeling that i can't help but wonder if everything is going according to plan. but i imagine that if something was wrong then i'd truly know it. so i'm safe to assume, for now, that there is nothing wrong.

i'm wary of these things called dry sockets (or for you dental freaks, alveolar osteitis). apparently they are an common post-surgery issue with wisdom teeth extraction. wikipedia says it "occurs when the blood clot at the site of a tooth extraction is disrupted prematurely." i'm not sure what that looks like in my mouth though. i've just got a big hole back there and thats it, but wikipedia also says that it is "often extremely unpleasant for the patient, as symptoms include extreme pain (sometimes worse than the toothache that indicated the extraction), a foul taste, bad breath, and swelling in the infected area. There may be lymph-node involvement." i have no pain. my mouth tastes of its usual lovliness, and i assure you, my lymph-nodes are in no way involved. and i'm not even on pain meds. i don't need those. please. i'm a man.

i've been cautious and responsible about it though. jimmy eat world might say i've "done nothing wrong" and green day might ask "am i just paranoid, or am i just stoned?"

thanks guys, being stoned is of equal importance as lymph-nodes for me.

-ap.