Originally posted by gaweidert It was a rather weird experience having the dental surgeon take a hammer and punch to my skull while just sitting there like nothing was happening.
After they carve their way into the joint, and dislocate the hip, the femoral head is sawed off.
The acetabular cup is prepared with a hemispherical cheese grater.
The femur is drilled and reamed, and prepped for the stem.
Then the hammering begins.
Originally posted by RoxnDox The internal sound effects must have been terrible though... I can still recall vividly the sound of my wisdom teeth being ripped out with big ass pliers - decades ago, mind you. And an Army dentist.
I was 17.
My wisdom teeth had come in fully, and weren't a problem.
The dentist said they would be difficult to clean, cavities would form, and threaten the integrity of the teeth ahead of them, and referred me to an oral surgeon for extraction. The surgeon said I could have it done with a local or a general anesthetic.
My mom told me about the experience when she had hers removed. The drilled holes, the metal bar placed into the holes, twisted to break the teeth, the hammering with a punch, the yanking out of the bits with pliers.
I chose the general anesthetic.
I arrived at the predetermined time, the assistant inserted an IV in my arm.
A tube with two outlets protruding from it was placed under my nose, the two outlets inserted into my nostrils. I remember not liking it, and the smell was odd, almost nauseating.
The surgeon came in, introduced himself, said some things to the assistant, then asked me to count backwards from 100. I remember getting to 96, then couldn't make my mouth say 95.
After what seemed like an instant, I felt like I do when I wake up each day, but in a very "altered state" and my mouth was full of what seemed like fat cigarette butts. They said a bunch of stuff to me that sounded like the adults talking in the Peanuts cartoons, "Wah, wah, whah, whah. Whah whah wah whah wha.", gave me some papers which included a prescription for antibiotics and Codeine.
After I go home I spit out the cigarette butts, took some pills and went to sleep.
The next morning I felt the empty spaces with my tongue, realizing they were gone.
And I have no recollection of the drilling, breaking, hammering and pulling that goes on.