Bekah has been regaling us for the past 10 days or so about her teeth, and the root canal she's ending up getting. Last month, Crystal told us all about her adventures with nitrous oxide at the dentist's office (oh, so much better than I ever could! If you've never read her, go NOW!). Today, it's my turn!
Once upon a time, maybe 25-30 years ago, my dad filled my lower left molar. The one that dentists call "#18". I'm sure it hurt like hell, and he looked at his baby boy, and enjoyed every moment of it! Somewhere over the past 15-20 years, I have, on numerous occasions, told him that I thought that the filling had cracked or something. I can't eat on the left side of my mouth, and if something happens to wander over there, and I bite it, it makes me climb the walls. Even if it's something soft like bread. I've had a popcorn kernel over there--not a very pretty site... Dad never could find the problem, and surmised that I was really a wimp.
Fast forward to this past Mother's Day. I'm sitting at home, eating my cold fried rice from the night before, and felt a couple of hard bits of something... Turns out, #18 was falling apart on me. I saved the two pieces (see below...). It didn't really bother me, other than the gaping hole left there that my tongue seemed to have a fascination with. Until Saturday. I'm sitting at the computer, and take a swig of diet Coke. Oh, sweet Mary, Jesus and Joseph. It only got worse during the day. To the point of keeping me up that night. You can read the rest of the weekend in my post from a couple of days ago.
Monday, I went in to see the dentist. He took a quick look at the x-ray and gave me my two options. The first that he suggested was to do a root canal, and then get a crown put on. There was still plenty of good tooth left--just the inside was decayed beyond salvage (due, of course, to the cracked filling that Dad never found...). The cost for this fun? About $2K. Option two--extract the tooth. At a fraction of the cost. After checking my dental insurance (also known as "how much money is in my checking account?), I obviously went with option 2. Because of the roots that were twisted around, I was referred to an oral surgeon, with an appointment for this morning.
(the second tooth from the left is a "good" filling), and the roots that seem to be almost crossing.
This morning, I went in for the extraction. Dad took me, since I wouldn't be allowed to drive (general anesthesia). It only took about 20 minutes for them to find a vein to tap. Deep, deep veins. But once they did, it took all of 30 seconds to knock me out dead cold. I have no idea how long I was under, but they hit me up with some Novocaine, used the "lower molar forceps", and packed me with gauze. They may have done other unspeakable things to me, but I sort of doubt it. I came to, Dad got my prescriptions--penicillin (to prevent a STD? what DID they do???), and a nice supply of Tylenol 4 (didn't know they went past 3!), and I spent the afternoon napping. Either I'm a glutton for pain, or it just hasn't hit yet. I haven't cracked open the Tylenol yet. Probably will before I go to bed. And then save the rest (I'm taking bids...).
The disappointing thing about all of this--I wasn't allowed to take the tooth (or all the pieces) home with me. A biohazard, I guess. I had hoped to at least get a picture of it, or some of the procedure. Even had the camera with me. Nothing. But don't despair! I've got a couple of pics for you from home. WARNING!--these aren't pretty! And they're really big. Only click if you're a weird duck! This is the gauze after about 45 minutes. And this is what an extraction looks like while I could still open up this wide before the Novocaine wore off.
All things considered, an exciting and educational day!
This week's Mystery Guest is another one of the long-time HNTers to finally show up here. The angelic Mystery Guest this week is Zoely! Stop by her site and check out the Goth side of her!
Seems like the guys like to get their anonymous shots in before the gals for "...the Other HNT". As always, it's NSFW, but if you visit, please leave a comment! Your fellow HNTers would appreciate it!
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