I started having some pain Thursday night. Just a bit, not too bad. Friday morning it was worse, and I called the dentist, only to find that their office is closed on Fridays. Having recently changed dentists, I thought I'd try to see if I could get into my previous dentists office. Apparently, they are closed Fridays as well. Starting to sense a trend, I think "Well it's not THAT bad. I'll be OK getting it taken care of on Monday." The pain comes and goes, and each time it comes, it gets a little worse. Later in the day on Friday, when it gets bad, I look up emergency dentists, thinking maybe I should get in there ASAP because if it keeps getting worse like this all weekend, that won't be good. I see what they charge to do work outside of normal office hours, and think "I'm not paying that! I'd rather suffer with the toothache!". So, I take a regular-dosage cocktail of pain medicine (just over-the-counter stuff). Preparing for what could end up being a long weekend (and not in a good way), I also stop at the store on my way home and buy two different kinds of toothache reliever medicine.
OK, so that's all good, and I finish out the day Friday, being pretty OK. I find when I go to bed, if I take just the right medicine, slather a generous amount Orajel on my tooth and gums, and then go to bed, applying slight pressure to just the right spot on my jaw, I don't have any trouble falling asleep. Of course, to anyone that knows me and some of the people I'm related to, it should come as no surprise that sleeping is never something I have trouble with. If I'm awake like 3 minutes after I lay down, I think "Man, I'm having a hard time getting to sleep!" But I digress.
Anyway, so Saturday, I get up, repeat the process (pain medication + Orajel) and go throughout the day, secretly slipping away to apply more Orajel. I had a great time going to a number of events on Saturday, and got to see some old friends, and hang out with some family. All the while, wishing I could enjoy it more and really trying to act "normal" (if you can call how I typically would behave normal), hoping I'm fooling people. That night we get home late, and I'm supposed to teach a lesson and prepare for a meeting I have in the morning, neither of which I'm very prepared for at all. So I sit there trying to concentrate on that stuff. Meanwhile, I'm very tired and very much in pain. I think it was Saturday night that I told my wife that maybe what I need is an ice skate and a rock. (Sorry for the old movie reference. That scene from Castaway was so vivid!)
Sunday comes. I usually love Sunday. It is my family day. I go to work so much Monday through Saturday, and I get to spend almost all day Sunday every Sunday with them. Now, I go to my meeting. 4 people show up out of about 10-11 people that could be there. I guess that's pretty normal. Church is good, but again, I'm wishing I could enjoy it more than I really am. We go to other family's house and same story. I do have a good time, but it's tainted by my tooth. Anyway, so I'm able to make it through OK, using the same techniques. By the end of the night, I'm just so looking forward to calling the dentist Monday morning and getting an appointment.
Monday morning, the dentist opens at 8am. I call at 8:03. They tell me that they can get me in at 3:30 that afternoon. I must have sounded a little disappointed as I told her that would work, because she said, "Or, if you can make it in before 8:30 this morning, that would work too". Um, yeah. I can.
I sit down at the dentist, and he comes in telling me "I thought for sure that the other tooth would give you trouble first". Great. Something to look forward too.
Anyway, so he says "I'm gonna try a couple of tests". He pokes at it, and then taps on it. Whoa. That hurt. Then he says "I'm going to put this cold thing on there, and you raise your hand as soon as it feels a little cold and I'll take it off." I'm thinking that sounds just terrible. I steel myself for the pain. He proceeds to stick something cold on the tooth, and SURPRISE! I didn't feel it! "It's completely dead", he says, and "Taps" starts playing in my head, while I'm thinking "Then why does it hurt so much?"
So a ROOT CANAL it is. Got that done. Got to watch part of a movie in the ceiling while they worked just like my kids do when they go to their dentist. Awesome!. All the while thinking "It is going to make it feel SO MUCH BETTER!!!!" Which it did, especially while it was numb. Dentist gives me a prescription for some pain meds and antibiotics (yep, infected).
Fast-forward to work a few hours later. Being the
Today, Tuesday, I guess we've made some progress. I woke up and the toothache itself was minimal. I guess over 24 hours of antibiotic will help take care of that. However, it feels like I've been PUNCHED IN THE FACE. Or maybe been on the wrong end of a ROUNDHOUSE or something. With how I feel, I look in the mirror expecting to see some bruising along my jaw line, or swelling or something. No, it looks normal. So I guess we're on the way out of feeling that way. I can handle a bruised, swollen feeling a lot easier than I can handle a toothache.
Here's the moral of the story: When I go in to the dentist for a checkup, and he says something like "You probably ought to get those two teeth taken care of as soon as you can." I think in my mind, "Yeah, OK. I'll get that taken care of sometime", but that's pretty much it. He just ends up reminding me every 6 months. Who would have thought that he meant "Get them fixed some time in the next 3 weeks?"
5 comments:
Yeah...just one more reason I drive all the way to Holliday to see the dentist where my mother-in-law works...She looks at the chart after my teeth are cleaned, and says, "Here's your next appointment." Nice. Sorry you have stupid Crabb teeth...
Yeah, I don't know about this newer dentist, since I just started going to him, but my old dentist would just schedule your 6-month check up and send you a postcard a couple weeks in advance. That was nice.
Yeah, I think that's pretty standard that they expect YOU to call and make appointments for you to fix teeth. Whatever. I think they need to be more blunt. "Hey, if you don't schedule a time to come back today, you won't make it until your next cleaning before your mouth is on fire." "Oh, thanks, I'd like to set something up..."
See? Better.
True.
My biggest complaint is the method of payment. I think I'd be more inclined to get all the dental work done that I need if I didn't have to pay my portion (which is significant because I have kinda crappy dental insurance) right there as I walk out. They kind of stick it to you at both ends: your mouth and your wallet. If it was more like regular health insurance, where you pay a measley copay, and then fall over weeks later when you get the EOB and the bill, I'd get everything done right when I first need to. In fact, I'd probably avoid a lot of dental work. Like this one, for example, was a tooth I needed a crown on and never got one because of the cost. Now I have to pay for the root canal and the crown, and you can bet I'm going to get the crown done ASAP this time!
You of course have a HUGE amount of sympathy from me, since I hate getting my teeth checked, let alone fixed. Last time I went to the dentist, it had been about 10 years since I'd gone, and I had 13 cavities that had to be dealt with. Now it's been too long again, and one of my teeth is broken, and now I've waited long enough it's going to be another bad visit... Yeah, maybe I also need a dentist who reminds me to visit. Or maybe who makes house calls and just surprises me every 6 months at home...
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