I "love" Dentists!

So 6 years ago I had a root canal and a crown done on the very back tooth on the upper right of my mouth (the tooth right in front of your wisdom teeth). Well my wisdom teeth were in but they were impacted so the dentist kind of ignored them. He said I should have them pulled at some point but nothing too really rush into. So I didn't. I didn't really want to have them pulled and they weren't bothering me.

Jump ahead to November of 2010...new dentist because the other one's office staff was horrible...my new dentist tells me that in her opinion before anything else is done in my mouth the wisdom teeth must be pulled. Apparently there was some decay in one of the wisdom teeth that had come through and she wanted them out. So in January of 2011 I had them pulled.

Then later that year I had to have my teeth deeply cleaned (as in the give you shots of Novocaine to numb you kinda cleaning). They took some x-rays and told me that I had about 10 things that needed to be done in my mouth. Including putting a crown on a tooth that had had root canal, a number of fillings, and that there was decay under the crown on my back tooth. So this year I had the crown put on and a couple fillings done. I tell them I keep getting food caught by the other tooth with a crown. They look and decided they need to replace the crown.

So yesterday I went to have them start the work on the crown and replace two fillings on the teeth in front of it. When they got the crown off they discovered the tooth under it was too far decayed to put a crown back on and it needs to be pulled. So now I have decide if I want to pull it and leave it open or if I want to pull it and have a implant put in. But there are some concerns about putting an implant in on the top so I may not have an option. I get to go back to the oral surgeon who pulled my wisdom teeth to see what he thinks about the implant and to find out what my insurance will cover. In the meantime my face feels like I've been hit because my mouth was open so long and stretched so much yesterday. Not too thrilled about the idea of a tooth being pulled but I guess it is better than having a bad tooth.

Wisdom Teeth

 

So I have put it off and put it off but I can't put it off any longer. I'm having my wisdom teeth pulled today at 10:30 AM. Whoo hoo. Good news is I only have three and only one of those is on the bottom. Everyone tells me it will go fine but I'm still nervous. So say a prayer for me. And I'll see you next week...puffiness and all.

I'd rather have a root canal...

source: thedentistreviews.com

I used to use this line often when refering to something horrible I didn't want to do...until I had a root canal...then I stopped saying it.

Last Monday I woke up with a tooth ache. I kind of thought I just got something caught so I ignored it. It was dull but with some swelling. So Wednesday I dreadingly called the base dentist only to learn they only see active duty people. And furthermore I should have enrolled in Tricare Dental already but since I haven't it won't be active until June 1st. So I ask about my toothache. They can see me for emergency care. So I go in...they think one tooth may be dead but the tests are inconclusive. So I have to take Advil and come back on Tuesday of this week.

Yesterday I go in and see a very pleasant resident (its a training clinic) who does some tests but still inconclusive. So she calls in one of the upper dentists. Who does the same tests. And apparently I'd been responding to stimulus that wasn't there. So he decided the smart thing is to yell at me about it..."You have got to work with me, we're trying to make sure we work on the right tooth because otherwise we drill the wrong tooth. You're giving me a bunch of malarkey here. If you keep it up I'll be sending you home in pain and not doing anything for you even though you obviously need help." So we tried again. And I did ok and then I responded when he hadn't hit the tooth again. So another lecture. Finally they determined that the tooth behind my canine tooth was dead and would need root canal. But they couldn't do that until today so they were going to send me home. Well the fabulous doctor determined that my resident needed to cut my gum and get the infection out. And proceeded to go into detail about what to do to my gum in the room with me...I about jumped out of the chair at the description. Whoo hoo that was fun! Soft diet for the night (but I'm ok with that Spaghettios here we come) and return at 0700 for the root canal.

So this morning I get up with J for work...and head to the dentist. Two hours later my root canal isn't quite done but they send me out so they can get to the next appointment. And I'll have to go back later to finish it. So I come to work with half my face (all the way up to my eyelid) numb. That wasn't so bad...but now three hours later the novicane is wearing off and the pain is coming back and I can't take another dose of pain meds until 2:30 this afternoon. I'm happy!!

I will say this whole experience has made me remember why I loved going from military dentists to private dentists when Dad retired. I know the military is nice to give us health care for free but it has its issues too.

J was a dream last night - fixing dinner, clean-up afterwords, etc.