Ok, had the extraction/implants placed yesterday. I'm not going to lie it was rough! For some reason I always forget I have hard teeth/bones-most dentists equate it to drilling rocks. It took around an 45-a hour to get out, he had to cut it into several pieces, and one point was like you have absolutely amazing bone strength, tough for extractions, but great for implants. He had to stop like 5 times to give me more shots, but he did get me numb and try to keep me numb. He said the nerve (spot?) they have to hit is very, very, deep/far back in my jaw, and that even with the long needle it's hard to get to. I did forget to ask for the debridement, but at one point between the extraction and implant he was using some instruments and a lot of fluid in a syringe. I asked why he said he had to clean very, very well because the root canal and that if any bacteria was left it would cause problems long term.

With narcotic pain meds and alternating Advil its fine though. Waiting for the prednisone to kick in as well (my rheumatologist and him coordinated and felt it would be helpful considering the lupus piece, and I'm grateful they worked to figure out what would help me most).

I'm on straight liquid diet until tomorrow. Lots of lukewarm soup for me!

Thank you again for all the advice, happy it's done until around January when I'll do the same thing on the other side-I have a cracked molar there too, and am already missing the second molar.