It's been a few days now and I thought I'd make another update in case anyone else is going through the same thing. Today is day 5 after having the procedure. The drug given to me honestly makes you relax. I can't stress to you how relieved I was. I really thought I was going to freak out when it started to kick in and that I was going to start panicking but that didn't happen. You don't feel drowsy afterwards, it's just a bit difficult to walk in a straight line.

As for the gauze, I seem to remember having one in my mouth when I started coming round after the medicine, but I felt (I couldn't see very well as my glasses were off) one of the nurses take it out. I was given a pack with a clean one in but they said to only use it if necessary. They said that there would be a bit of blood in your spit for a while but if it starts shooting out then bite down on the clean gauze (or a teabag) for 20 minutes. Thankfully, it never came down to that.

The bleeding was my main cause for concern because I was worried about swallowing too much of it. I had heard many horror stories online of people who were s*ck after swallowing too much blood. The bleeding looks worse than it actually is because it is mixed with your saliva. When I woke up the following morning, there was still a bit of blood in my saliva but by midday it had stopped and I've not had any trouble with it since.

In terms of food, a blender is your best friend. Breakfast has been consisting of Weetabix, dinner was potato, broccoli and fish blended up, and at teatime I had some cold jelly and angel delight. As time passes, I was able to start moving on to more solid foods. Now I'm almost back to my usual food intake.

As for pain relief medication, they never gave me any. They simply told me to take usual paracetamol to stop the discomfort. I've been using the ones from Tesco without any problems. The pain always seems worse in the morning. It's really hard to swallow and I'm still not able to open my mouth very wide. The dentist also recommended rinsing my mouth with salt water 2-3 times a day from the second day until the end of the week.

Day five now, and the pain is slowly diminishing. The area where the tooth was extracted has healed and doesn't hurt. I am able to chew a little bit on that side. The worst part is not being able to open your mouth very wide and also the fact that the pain has now spread into the other lower teeth. I have a constant urge to bite down hard on them but I've been trying my hardest to resist.

I'll make another update soon.