It wasn't, as it turned out.
Conveniently, my daughter was already seeing the dentist, so it was easy for me to add on an appointment for me. The dentist confirmed that I had infection and prescribed me antibiotics.
After finishing the antibiotics, I went back for a check up. The infection was definitely improved, but still there and the area was still tender. The dentist had to cut out the infection. It was fairly quick and simple, but pretty painful, as she had to press hard to get the pus out and I had a fairly deep cut to heal afterwards. Again, I was given antibiotics to try and finish off the infection for good.
Things were improved by cutting the abscess, but my gums were still painful at the next check-up. The dentist took some x-rays and showed me that what I had was pericoronitis - an abscess caused by my wisdom tooth having erupted only partially. I was nervous about extracting the tooth, so the dentist told me to try brushing it really well - under the gums - with a small brush and we arranged another check-up.
But there was still no improvement. She advised for me to have the tooth removed. But the tooth was horizontal and impacted, so it would be a bit of a difficult surgery. I'd never had a tooth removed, let alone surgically, so I was quite nervous to do it. She told me it would be for the best, because otherwise the tooth would continue to cause infections, which would melt the bone underneath. I agreed to the surgery. She wrote a letter of referral for a dental surgeon at Tottori Hospital.
I went to the hospital first for a consultation. The dentist explained mostly the same things as my own dentist had. She then sent me to get full x-rays taken in the hospital. I did that, came back, and finished the consultation. She showed me that the tooth was almost entirely horizontal. We booked an appointment for after Golden Week. But because there was still pain, first I had to take another round of antibiotics (yay...). The antibiotics seemed to work well this time, and I was able to have a nice Golden Week with no discomfort (phew!).
On the day of the surgery, I was super nervous. I went to work in the morning, rushed home to eat by noon (I wasn't allowed to eat after noon), and then left with my supervisor at 1pm for my appointment at 2. When we got to the hospital there wasn't much of a wait before they called my name. The dentist sat me down and re-explained what she was going to do. She gave me a consent form to sign, which she had helpfully translated into English.
They lay the chair back and administered the local anaesthetic into several areas. It didn't take long to kick in. They covered my face with a cloth to protect me and went straight to work.
First, she cut open the gums. Then she began to drill away at the bone and tooth. It was very loud and the vibrations were quite strong, but I didn't mind that half as much as the next step - actually getting the tooth out. It may sound ridiculous, but up until this point I had no idea the surgery had actually begun. I somehow thought the drill was just a cleaning tool (I don't know why...denial? At least the anesthetic was working!). So when the dentist said, "Okay! I push your tooth!" and jammed her finger into my tooth with a sickening crack, I nearly jumped out of the chair! I was expecting a little more time for mental preparation!
The next part took the longest, as the dentist drilled and pried at my tooth. A few times she had to inject a little more anaesthetic, but the tooth removal itself didn't actually hurt very much. It was the pressure, sensation and sound of breaking tooth, and taste of bone dust which bothered me the most. I also recall the sensation of the roots being pulled out, like a huge release of pressure. To my ears it sounded like it must have been shattered into tiny splinters, but in the end, the tooth had been broken into about 6 pieces (as they showed me afterwards).
The dentist told me it was done (I weakly gave her a thumbs up) and that she would stitch the gums. There was some uncomfortableness as she pulled the thread tight, but I still couldn't really feel much at all, thankfully. Overall, I was quite impressed and relieved at how well the local anaesthetic worked.
They put gauze in my mouth over the stitched gums and sat me upright. Immediately I felt dizzy and called for the dentist because I honestly feared I might pass out. After some confusion they realized the issue and quickly lay me back down and propped up my legs with some towels. A nurse took my blood pressure. I felt ridiculous - a few tears grew in the corners of my eyes and I hyperventilated a bit, but I guess it was just the shock. After laying for about 5 minutes I felt better, so slowly sat up. The dentist gave me a translated paper about aftercare. One thing I thought was interesting is that I wasn't supposed to use cold because it apparently slows healing; seems quite opposite to the Western advice of using ice packs on your cheeks to help swelling). I felt pretty awful and exhausted at that point, and I was drooling a lot. I was also beginning to every so often feel a dull ache in my jaw.
Once I felt alright, I went out with my supervisor, collected my documents, and went to pay. It cost me Y4,700 to have the one wisdom tooth out. About $55 CAD at the current exchange rate, which is quite the deal!! Part of why I decided to have the surgery here was because of the great insurance coverage.
Overall, the whole thing took about an hour.
The next day I went to my local dentist for sterilization. I'm pretty sure she just blotted my incisions with iodine (tasted awful). It was quick and painless.
I had my surgery on Thursday, but by Monday I was still having pain and had finished my painkillers. So I stopped at the dentist in Chizu to ask for a new prescription (as they had instructed me to). The usual dentist was out, so some old guy dentist looked at my mouth and wrote me a prescription.
On Thursday, exactly a week after the surgery, I had to go back to Tottori Hospital to get the stitches removed. It was actually quite painful because the dentist was pushing on the gums. The removal of the stitches themselves didn't hurt much, it was just the pushing that did. I told the dentist it still hurt and she checked and said I still had an infection. So she prescribed me MORE antibiotics and more painkillers. She said if I still had pain by Tuesday, I should contact her. She also sent a letter about it to my local dentist in Chizu. It cost me 350 yen for the stitches to be removed.
[Addendum: It took a while, but eventually my infection went away and my jaw seems to have been healing well. I visited the dentist here in Canada about a year after the surgery, and there was still a deep pocket around the gums of the tooth on the end, but they said that should continue to heal. One strange thing is that while still in Japan I developed oral candida around the site of the extraction. My dentist prescribed me anti fungal gel, which seemed to do the trick, but sometimes I notice it recurring when my immune system is stressed - odd, since I've never had it before in my life.]
