I’ve always heard it said that blood in your mouth tastes like pennies, that it’s the copper you are tasting. Actually has me wondering if that is still true, if there is still enough copper in a penny to taste that way. Don’t have any pennies to check, at least not any that are clean enough that I’d want to put in my mouth, but I am tasting blood now.
Been an hour now since I spat the gauze out of my mouth, and hour before that the dental assistant was having me bite down upon the gauze, and an hour before that I was checking into the dentist office a few minutes early for my appointment.
Two teeth were pulled, the first so easy I didn’t even notice it being done. The second had three roots, was broken off down at the gum line, and had to be drilled into pieces and then various tools tried before finally a good grip was gotten and it was pulled free.
Not that I was feeling much at the time, the anesthesia had the right side of my face numb, the only sensation I was feeling was the hinge of my jaw being sore from having to force my mouth open wide enough for the dentist and his tools to reach inside.
What got to me though was the flavors. The taste of blood, of enamel dust hot from the drill lightly coating my tongue, of the antiseptic the tools were cleaned with, of the latex of the glove the doctor was wearing. None of which are pleasant tastes, but the taste of blood is always the worse.
It isn’t too bad during the procedure, the taste of blood, as the dental assistant was constantly rinsing and suctioning the liquid from my mouth. But on the walk home, with the gauze pressed against my gums soaking through with blood, the layer of it coating the back of my mouth, my tongue, tinting my teeth pink as it mixes with my saliva, the taste of blood is strong enough that I have to fight down the urge to vomit.
The gauze has to be in my mouth for an hour, I am supposed to bite down on it for an hour, to give my body time to start clotting the wound. I can’t rinse my mouth for 48 hours, can’t risk rinsing the still forming clot away and opening the wound back up again. I need to drink, but not with a straw as the suction might dislodge the clot, to put fluids back into my system to replace those that I am bleeding or drooling out.
The gauze has been out of my mouth for an hour now, and the soreness is starting to be felt.