The Tooth Fairy Cometh

This has absolutely nothing to do with the 52in52 but I thought it might be fun to write about!

For the past few months, I have been in agony.  Any time I ate something, anything from pasta to carrots, the zing that passed through my system was torture!

I finally broke down and went to the dentist.  He suggested that the tooth was in need of a root canal. Thud!  That was me after he said this.  I don't like the dentist (no offence to any dental workers out there) and I don't like the thought of root canal even more!  But the pain was too much.  I booked the root canal consultation. The root canal guy said yes, no prob, it was routine.  If I was really nervous, he'd give me a pretty little white pill to help me calm down.  OK, I'm game.  But not really.  I was concerned that the root canal option came up too quickly so I bogged the guy down with a tonne of questions.  Key was, what happens after the root canal?  Well ... that leads to a crown which is done by my own dentist.  Hmm.  OK.

Weeks later (yes, weeks!) I pop my nerves in a pocket and off I toddle to the root canal guy.  BUT in the time between the last visit and this one, my tooth has changed.  I can feel a sharp edge to it when I bite down.  Right, so up in the chair I go but I say to root canal guy that something is different with the tooth - care to have a look before you kill the nerves in it? Yessir the tooth is actually BROKEN!  He fiddles a bit and off pops one of the corners of the tooth!  It has a technical name but I can't remember what it is!  Now what?  No need for root canal, go back to your dentist to see if he can save it.  Right and off I go!

The tooth might be able to be saved.  But, I'd have to go to a surgeon to scrape away at the gum line because the break is under the gum line ... he thinks.  Then, a crown can be put on it. So, surgery by one dentist and a crown by another.  Can you hear the dollar signs just falling from the heavens??  So, what are my other options?  Have the tooth extracted.  Then, if desired, I can have a bridge or an implant put in.  All done by different degrees of dentist and all costing a fortune.  Did I mention, I don't have tooth insurance?

How about this option?  I keep my broken tooth intact (as much as it is) until the little devil wants to fall out on its own?  No, according to the dentist because highly likely bacteria will get in, an infection will occur and surgery would be the only option.

Right.  Off I go to the extraction dentist to get his take on things.  Easy peasy to pull it out.  Then what, I ask? After it heals, a bridge can be put in (the grinding of the two adjacent teeth and a plank (!) put across the empty tooth space), an implant (creating a hole in the jaw to pop a titanium rod into the toothless hole - guaranteed to last longer than my lifetime) or do nothing. I'm keen on the last option!

The broken tooth is annoying so I made up my mind to have it out. My daughter had to have 2 teeth out for braces just after Christmas.  She was so brave and the procedure was no ordeal at all.  She gave me the courage to do the same.  I was going to have the knock-out stuff but I changed my mind (numerous times) to just go with the freezing.  I was a bag of nerves for a week before the due date.

January 15, 2011.  T Day!  Extraction guy gave me a stick that tasted of cherry to bite on.  Then he said, you may feel a pinch when the freezing needle goes in.  Ready?  I didn't feel a thing.  OK, you may feel another (!) pinch with this needle.  Ready?  Again, I felt nothing.  The assistant says to wait a few minutes and that was as much pain as I would feel!  OK .... I haven't felt anything yet.  This is weird.  Back comes extraction guy - says I will feel pressure, as if someone was pushing my shoulder.  OK?  Five, let me say that again, five minutes later, the tooth was out!!! 

Lesson learned

 

Never listen to the mutterings of your mind.

It will ruin your day!!