Should I be grateful for the pain?

[ladyauthor2b]

On Friday morning, as I crunched down on crisp bacon, I felt something a bit hard within my chew. I spat it out. It looked like a small chip, but only white. I felt puzzled and I ran a tongue over my back molar.

"Wow! There's a hole back there," I muttered and then thought I had just lost a filling. Lucky for me there was no pain and no discomfort as I ate and drank that day. I made myself a dental appt and muddled through the weekend.  I was worked in today at 1:00.

They stuck hard plastic into my back tooth to take xrays. Yeah, it doesn't feel right in your mouth. I hate having xrays done! Then they situated me back into the chair. they looked at the xrays and then looked into my mouth. They stuck those long pointed tong things into my tooth.

"Hmm, seems you've lost a bit of  it back there," the dentist murmured and then prodded at the very last tooth, right next to the broken one. Yeah, it needed a crown about a year ago, but finances never let me have it done. So being brave, I asked, "what will it cost me to have them both fixed?"

So his assistant goes up front, wrangles some numbers, and comes back with the estimate, minus what my dental insurance would pay. Depending if I needed a root canal in BOTH teeth, my price would be jacked up to over $1600 up. What??!! Wow! I couldn't afford that today.

But the dentist volunteered to  poke around and hope for the best, because he had to get that "decay" out of that broken tooth.  If it looked like I needed a root canal then they would stop and reschedule me with the dentist in their office who did them for a later time. So I agreed.

 I sat into the chair, allowing that numbing action to work on my teeth. You know they use that nasty tasting cotton swab across your gums first before sticking you in several places with the long needle. I endured all that. I sat in the chair at 2:00 p.m. Then between the assistant and the dentist, they assaulted my poor back molars. They poked at my gums and drilled at my teeth. They used that suction thingy too, and the assistant jabbed it several times onto my gum and then pressed so hard against the skin of my lips.  They were working in a tight space, ya know. The worst is when they put the drill, this air thingy, the suction thingy, and some strange blue light instrument all into my mouth.

The suction of the air made my throat close up. I thought I couldn't breathe. I began to feel panic and then luckily the assistant would move or the dentist. Literally, it was the WORST feeling, having my feet in the air, my head tilted down, and my neck muscles contorting under the pressure they put into handling the drilling into my molars. Then they put some slimy, jelly stuff back there so I could press down with my teeth to make an imprint. YUCK. It tasted nasty and they let me sit there for five minutes just like that, without the benefit of the sucky thingy. I could feel the saliva build up in my mouth. I wanted to swallow, so I did. OH!!! The Taste of that awful gel went down my throat like a slimy worm. It was horrible and I tried not to swallow anymore, but it couldn't be helped. I thought I would turn green! Then the assistant returned to rescue me out of my misery and sucked out my mouth with the sucky thingy.  

Then they assaulted my mouth again to ensure the temporaries would fit. They had even put some kind of "thread" on the gums beside each tooth so when they fit the temps, the gums wouldn't be in the way. I never heard of such a thing, but she poked and poked and poked for at least ten whole minutes. It felt like an eternity. By this time, my mouth and jaw were sore from being held open so long. By the time they got these gold looking temps in my mouth, I had sat in that chair for TWO HOURS!  The fool I was, I had skipped lunch to get to my appt on time and by the time I left their office, I was starved. But with a numb bottom lip and right cheek, I dared not take a chance of biting my tongue. So I zoomed to McDonalds nearby and grabbed a milkshake to suck with a straw. Anything for my poor tummy.

Now, it's 6:10 p.m. The numbing is wearing off and my gums are aching BAD! A constant little annoying throb. It's not the tooth or the nerve underneath- Thank goodness. If it did that , they had warned,  it would mean starting the whole process over and paying a huge expense for a root canal.

That saved me today not needing root canals. So both drilling/ buildup/and temp crowns cost me $950. It's still expensive and luckily I had a credit card where the money is taken out year long out of my paycheck. Otherwise I would not have had it done. Who keeps that sort of emergency money these days when economy is so bad?

So I sit here with a throbbing mouth.  They had told me to take Tylenol or Advil if need be. Lucky for me, I found an old prescription, from this year, of a pain pill. I took it down at 5:30. I'm waiting for it to kick in.  I may have to take another one.   I don't know how I endured keeping my mouth open for two hours. Everything is sore, my jaw, my cheeks, my tongue, my gums! I'm glad my teeth are fixed. I go back to get the crowns put in on June 6th and that will only take 40 minutes.

Should I be grateful for the pain? Right now, I don't think so.

 

[letsgetreal]

May. 18, 2009 at 10:14 PM

Bless your heart. I hope it subsides soon. Prayers and blessings your way.

[Spokenfor]

May. 19, 2009 at 8:56 AM

Oh my goodness, what an ordeal!! I am praying your pain subsides. 

[destiny760]

May. 19, 2009 at 9:56 PM

I feel for you, sister; been there, done that and it sucks. Hope you feel better tomorrow, we miss you.