Wednesday, August 19, 2009

What time is the best time for a dentist appointment?

Tooth Hurty! hee hee

You may have noticed a lull over here at the blog that gingham built. I've been in pain. My tooth, the one I broke while eating rice, broke again a couple of weeks ago. I decided it was time to see the dentist. I made an appointment for last Friday early in the morning, but since the boss was on vacation and I didn't know what they'd do to the tooth, I took the day off. Boy am I glad I did.

This dentist is new to me and this visit my first, so it was a long one. X-rays, medical history, a couple of pokes and prods and then I saw the first doctor. He looked it over, poked some more and declared, "This tooth needs a root canal!" Nooooooooooooo! Okay, honestly, I've never had a root canal, nor did I know what it was, exactly, but I've always heard people talking about it and how awful they were. Also, along with the root canal, it needs a crown--as do two other teeth. And, hey, while I'm here, I might as well have the super deluxe cleaning that requires them to shoot me full of Novocaine. The first visit consisted of the doctor prepping my tooth and putting on a temporary crown. When the Novocaine finally wore off, I was in so much pain. The tooth didn't hurt at all when I went in.

On Tuesday, they did the actual root canal. Still no permanent crown, which will be done tomorrow. But Oh MY GOD!!! The pain!! Seriously, I have a really high pain threshold and hardly ever take pain medication unless it's a blinding migraine or a limb is hanging off. Yesterday, I was begging co-workers for Vicodin. I could feel each beat of my heart throb in the roots of my tooth. Needless to say, I didn't get much work done and was less than pleasant to be around. Today is much better, although I still can't eat food that requires actual chewing. I hope after tomorrow, when the permanent crown is in place, the pain subsides because quite frankly, I am so over this shit.

Moral of the story: Don't ignore that broken tooth because root canals suck ass.

Also, my dental insurance is a joke. My co-worker's dentist told her it wasn't insurance, it was a discount coupon. So much for a new car or new apartment this year.

5 comments:

Annika said...

Apparently most dental insurance is so bad that you're better off without it. I guess because most dentists will give you a discount if you're uninsured, which ends up being less than most co-pays. FUCKING INSURANCE COMPANIES. I need a cleaning but I'm so sure I'm going to need fillings and I don't want to get them while I'm preggers so I keep putting it off. At least I don't have dental insurance.

Unknown said...

dude, your tooth should NOT hurt!
a root canal removes the root, therefore no nerve. therefore no pain!
the pain often associated with root canals is the pain the tooth experiences prior to the procedure (letting you know you need the procedure).
AND there shouldn't be blood vessels in the tooth anymore, so hopefully your heartbeat was misplaced. that's why you need the crown; the enamel weakens over time without blood supply, leading to breakage.

in the past four years i've had three teeth pulled (because i couldn't afford the root canals and couldn't deal with the pain) and three root canals (for two of those, i've been getting away without crowns, shhhhhh...).
i'm a redneck, or pennsyltuckian, as you may say, so i'm not supposed to have a full set anyway.

Anonymous said...

U shared u r experience... U written nicely... Nice English...


john

Dentist in chennai

MonkeyGurrrrrl said...

Hunny. Ditto what Jessica said. Your (affected) tooth should not hurt. Hopefully, it's just the surrounding teeth (those nerves are weird and sometimes pain that feels like it's originating at one location is actually at another. I know it don't make no sense, but it's true.)

And also, yes. DENTAL INS SUCKS. I work for a fat cat law firm, and we are supposedly getting the "best" dental ins there is, and yet, I still pay THOUSANDS of dollars/year (in addition to the premium). Be glad you don't have kids.

I hope you feel much better soon!

garydrew01 said...

I am really ashamed when it talks about dentistry. I hate to go to the dentist. I am searching for the best dentist in Newport Beach for my dental but I think though I find the best, I would still be ashamed to have my teeth cleaned.