First Truth-I had no choice in the matter about the "pain killer", after lateraling hiding the needle on me, they gave me a topical whish I thought OK! Then when I turned away for a second there was the "Doc" with needle in hand, I was
DOOMED!!!
As it turned out the tooth was in worst shape then we initially thought last Monday. The cavity had penetrated a crack in the filling and was having a well,
and you know what's coming, yes it was having a
inside there.
2 hours later we were done we've built a sturdy foundation and we'll cap it in two weeks from today.
And yes the shot "stressed" me out but I didn't
however I hate all needles even the ones I've had in my eyes and behind the ear lobe, you see was
so mature for my age at a young
24 (
) that someone decided I needed Glaucoma (I was a
USN test case for many years after.) and my Cataracts sooner in life. So I was a partially blind (Left Eye) "navigator" until I retired. But I'm an "Expert" rated shooter by USN standards to this day. What can I say!?!
Second part
ARE YOU KNDING ME!!! I think I would've beat the crap out of them, well, except for the that might be a violation of the UCMJ under "
Conduct prejudicial to good order and discipline" they cover it all in there. I'd bet there's something in there about Not WIPING YOUR AXX in a proper military manner under Article XYZ! Just a guess on my part of course.
Now to the serous question. I've heard this before, during and after my military career. Based on your Dental health and now a days family history to some extent, the longer you keep them in the
more you risk things such as abscess teeth or worse. Also from my last post as happened with my
first wisdom teeth pull, the root growing around the jaw bone can have it's own health issues.
Our Corpsmen aboard Subs are very highly trained due to our operational environment. Suhiir can back me up on this, our Corpsmen that volunteer (generally) to be "Field Corpsmen" for the USMC are trained to do minor surgical procedures in the field such as removing an appendicitis and such. Those are the
only ones we have onboard Subs once they've received further
RADCON Medical training.
As I mentioned above, wisdom teeth are susceptible to becoming abscess, left untreated it will usually become septic in your blood stream. Bottom-line there are to many variables and risks associated with wisdom teeth. Pulling it
might not be enough depending on when it's caught.
Everyone's pain level is different. I should've been in
extreme pain and
throwing up everywhere because the pressure in left eye was so
extremely high when they found I had Glaucoma.
My pain threshold almost cost me that eye.
Operationally speaking it's one headache (Wisdom Teeth) the Submarine Force refuses to deal with, for something as easy as pulling them out.
I've been Onboard and had Staff duty to where we had to navigate/or coordinate getting a "
boat" to the nearest port facility where we could
MEDEVAC someone via
BSP. Once we almost lost someone to a simple but "
advanced" case of appendicitis, that one we did off the AZORES where once stabilized, he was sent to a NAVHOSP we have in Spain, my Marine friend might know where I speak of.
We still keep in touch (And his wife.) now for almost 31 years now among others.
We try to get them off for immediate
HUMEVAC's as well for serious issues concerning immediate family health or death situations.
We sometimes will use helos as well.
And there are times,
rarely, we've brought people home in a "
bag", it hasn't happened on a "
boat" I've ever been on, but I know it has during and after my career on other ones. We're a very "
tight" community because we asked to do the job, but at those times, you really realize how
big the ocean can be especially when you've known someone that came home that way.
And now I need to stop. Have a good night.
Regards,
Pat