A few months ago (November 11th to be exact) I had all four of my wisdom teeth removed. For most people this wouldn't have been a big deal - but for me it was a HUGE deal for several reasons:
- I had all four teeth removed at the same time
- 3 of the 4 were impacted and 2 of them were bony impactions
- I had been in mass amounts of pain due to my lovely wisdom teeth (which in my opinion had given me NO WISDOM).
- I am only truly afraid of two things in this world - snakes and the dentist (I think this is because they're the same species)
I guess I was lucky - I was referred to a WONDERFUL oral surgeon Dr. Robbin's in Citrus Heights. I met with him the day before my surgery and had the pleasure of watching the oral surgery equivalent to Red Asphalt. If I wasn't afraid to have my teeth pulled before - I certainly was now. However no worries - when I left their office that day they armed me with 3 (that's right I said 3!) valium (WOOHOO!) and instructions to take one that night and two the next morning before coming in. Having never taken valium before this was a new drug for me and let me tell they really calm ya down!
The next afternoon I showed up and was taken off to my gloom. In the room they strapped me to the chair did my IV (Thankfully I was having a general anesthesia for my procedure), put heart monitors on my ankle and a snuffalupagus hose on my nose where I was then instructed to breath deeply. Next thing I know they're waking me up and I am laughing laughing laughing and my mouth is full of gauze. My husband and mother are brought in to escort me out and I can't stop giggling (thank heaven for whatever was in that nose hose)!
I get home and have an excellent if not speed recovery. I experience little swelling and with the aid of vicodin, ice packs & later tylenol, no pain. Once the stitches are removed a week later and my tongue is able to explore my now missing teeth area I notice that my top left gum area there is a flap. Nothing major but none the less a flap.
For the next 5 months I find my tongue inadvertently playing with this flap. I know I know GROSS. I even find my self annoyed with it. Fast forward to yesterday. My gum in that area was a little tender last night - no real reason why. Then this morning, after running late to work, I was sitting at my computer when I noticed my flap felt funny. And then much to my wonderment - the flap fell off!
Now I am staring down this little piece of tissue that has entertained and annoyed me since November and I wonder 'what will I ever do with this'? Being the inquisitive and tomboyish girl I am - I of course decide to immediately email my hubby with the news and we both decide that the best idea would be to of course keep the fallen flap and watch what happens to it. In essence we are doing a science project. As such - here is our lab paper:
1. Observation and description of a phenomenon or group of phenomena.
Unattatched gum flap removed from mouth at 9:30pst. Upon removal and observation, gum flap began to dry out. At time of removal gum flap measured 1cm (size of pomegranate seed), left alone, gum flap dried to .25cm (size of tomato seed). Phenomena to be tested is once submerged in water, will gum flap return to original size at time of removal.
2. Formulation of an hypothesis to explain the phenomena. In physics, the hypothesis often takes the form of a causal mechanism or a mathematical relation. Due to rapid dehydration at time of removal, gum flap reduced in size exponentially. If submerged again, re-hydration will cause the flap to restore to normal size.
3. Use of the hypothesis to predict the existence of other phenomena, or to predict quantitatively the results of new observations. Flap may even get larger if allowed to consume an excess amount of water.
4. Performance of experimental tests of the predictions by several independent experimenters and properly performed experiments.
- 13:26pst flap is resubmerged in water to test hypothesis
- 13:52pst flap has increased in size and color has changed along the outer edge and has become lighter in shade
- 14:22pst flap is now double the size of when first emerged into water and is returning to the same color of light pink. Secimen has used all the water first put in experiement causing more water to be added.
Stay tuned for updates as to the status of "The Flap".
