The Way The Cookie Crumbles

Yes, you read that right. I went to the dentist and live to tell the tale. Bless that man. Really. He gave that whole “have your teeth checked out every six months” speech, but not in a degrading way. He was actually very kind about that. Not to mention his assistant(s) (hot!) kept reassuring me that everything was going to be fine. I actually tried to believe her this time.

I showed Paul (first name basis, ha!) the x-rays from the O’Fallon Clinic and he could indeed tell there was a hole in the back tooth and the wisdom tooth lodged behind it. The x-ray was a little fuzzy (because it was a copy) so he had to make two small new ones for that and see what was really going on.

Then came sedation time and they basically sedated the entire right lower side of my mouth/jaw including my tongue. That, I have to tell you, is probably the weirdest thing I’ve ever felt in my mouth. I could lick the upper lip from left to right and feel it on the lip, but only on the left side of my tongue, which is just so wrong.

After that I had to wait a little for it to really start working. They called me back about 5 to 10 minutes later and sat me down on the chair. Well let me tell, nerves shot right up again. He got the damn drill out. He started going at it and at first I only felt pressure on my jaw because he was pressing down to actually make the hole so he could get to the nerve. When he was nearly finished and did the last couple of bits, wow, did I feel that. Everything else didn’t hurt, just that last little bit.

Then he started doing stuff with these needle looking things and poking in there and scraping and scratching away at the nerve (which felt fine most of the time, except for the little ouch one time). He also did something with a syringe filled with what looked water. Then the scraping and scratching again and then he grabbed a tweezer kind of thing and pulled something, which I assumed was the nerve. Well bye bye nerve, can’t say I’ll miss you for the pain you’ve caused (which, yes, was ultimately my own fault).

Then he started cleaning it out with tiny little cottons (I think) and then filled it up and put something over it to close it. But, here comes the big thing, only temporary! I have to go back for a permanent thing so he is going to be scraping and scratching and doing a ton of other stuff, again.

Not to mention that… but I have to get back for several other stuff as well. Like getting a hole fixed I knew was there and might have another root canal for that as well.

Good part in all of this: No wisdom tooth extraction! Go me! And apparently, I only have two of them and I believe both on the right side. The top is out already and the lower is actually quite happy where it is and according to Paul, it is in quite a good position and as long as it does not hurt… no retraction needed!

I had to make 4 new appointments with the Dentist. Every two weeks for the next two months. Paul wants to take care of any little problem now so I’ll have a ‘clean bill of tooth health’ for the normal follow up six months later.

I am so over this dentist thing… until my next appointment.