geh. This is so gross.

This morning, i went for a gum graft, which has to top the list of unnecessary surgeries made necessary by the medicalization of dentistry.

if there was such a list.

they froze the top of my mouth, chopped out a chunk, and then scraped all the skin off the gums of my lower teeth and sewed the transplant chunk in there. It hurts as much as it sounds like it would. The peridontist kept making analogies to bald grass patches and the need for new turf for resodding.

Thank you, labret stud.

I kind of thought they would extract a little stringy piece... like when you scrape your mouth on a biscotti or a lifesaver and you've got those stringy gum bits hanging down. Instead, they froze all the blood vessels (turning my gums WHITE, weird), and chopped a NICKLE SIZED CHUNK of the colour, thickness, and texture of a scallop out of the roof of my mouth. This has now been sewn just below my front teeth, giving me a smile that will definitely stop people in their tracks.

It looks like someone took a chainsaw to my mouth: bloody gaping holes everywhere (and i mean bloody. I'm not british).

I was awake and alert for the whole thing. My favorite part is when you can FEEL them cutting your mouth open with a scalpel, but it doesn't actually hurt cause of the freezing.

All was well, until the freezing wore off... Even law and order couldn't stop my whining. On the plus side... these meatball-sized tranquillizers make everything interesting, and my mom made me pumpkin soup.

3:37 p.m. - 2004-01-28