Day 20: Post-Wisdom Tooth Extraction

Day 20! I will have had braces for three weeks tomorrow. Now that I think about it, it's moved pretty quickly. The first two weeks dragged but I don't even notice my braces anymore, except when I see myself in a reflection or look in a mirror - then I'm all up in my own grill examining them for issues!
So I got my wisdom tooth out as scheduled yesterday, pretty awful time but it's out now and that's all that matters. My last remaining wisdom tooth (I thought I had two left to get out, both the top ones, but apparently I only have one) is so far up, underneath my eye socket, that it will probably never cause me any worry and they may not even be able to take it out in the surgery because it's so inaccessible, so that's good (I guess)!
Anyway, I had my first wisdom tooth out earlier this year and while the pain was pretty terrible, I didn't have any swelling. This time, though, it took them a lot longer to get the tooth out (about half an hour) so I have a bit of swelling this time...

Post-wisdom tooth extraction swelling

It looks like I'm puffing one of my cheeks up with air! Or that I have a golf ball hidden in my mouth. I also look about 14 in this photo because I'm not wearing any makeup and I haven't brushed my hair (I'm 22), so just ignore that. But anyway, it's not as painful as it looks because I'm on 1-2x panadeine forte, 1-2x nurofen zavance and 1x antibiotic (metronidazole) every six hours, so I'm a bit numbed up! I can't open my mouth very wide (I have to eat my soup with a teaspoon, tablespoons and soup spoons are too big and I can't open my mouth enough). 

Apparently after jaw surgery, older patients swell less and bruise more, and younger patients swell more and bruise less. I think I'm on the cusp of being an older patient so I don't know if I'll swell more or less or bruise more or less. If this is anything to go by, I think I'll swell a fair amount!

<3