scared of the dentist.

Clarity descended upon me today.  It is not the dentist I fear, it is the pain.

After a long time (I can't even admit to myself how long, because I knew all along the longer I waited the worse the outcome was going to be) of enduring pain from my lower, right hand side second molar, I finally went to the dentist.

He asked what the problem was. I said, "Well, I've had this dull ache on the lower right hand side of my jaw, and I can't eat on that side. At all. For a long time now."  Then he asked me to be more specific about the pain. "Uh, it's been there for as long as I can remember, but I never touch, eat or bite down on that side, so it's just a dull ache, not a shooting pain."  He nodded.

In the car on the way to the dentist I mentioned to Scott that really, the worst bit by far was that little metal spikey-pick thing they dig in and out of your teeth looking for trouble.  Of course the drill is the other nasty, but it's that pick that gets me.

So Dr Teeth gets all gloved, masked and suited up, rips open the sterilised packet, and selects this instrument of torture. The Pick.  He asks which tooth it is.  I use my tongue to show him.  He gets the pick, and WHAM! right into the hole.  I jump so forcefully that my shoulder makes contact with his arm, and I sit bolt upright in the chair.

"I think I need to check with an X-ray."

I'm thinking, good that way you can put that damn pick away.

X-ray complete, he shows me a hole in my tooth, that is creating an opening for the pulp/nerves of my teeth to be exposed.

"Root canal. You need a root canal to fix this, or we could extract the molar, but you need it to chew."

Great.

So he numbs my mouth, explains the procedure and we begin.

Lets say after many "supplementary" injections of anaesthetic, I felt the pain so acutely that I started crying and couldn't stop.

Then we had some more anaesthetic.  Then a little lot more pain.  Dr Teeth shakes his head and says - "Never seen this before...maybe need more anaesthetic."

Finally my mouth is numb, and he can finish his business.  It took an hour and a 1/2.

He tells me at the end about the anaesthetic.  He said he usually uses 1/2 cartridge for root canal work.  1 1/2 cartridge for surgical extraction of impacted wisdom tooth.

"Today I had to use 6 1/2 cartridges on your mouth. I never seen that before. Very unusual. Perhaps you have deviated presentation of nerve structure. I note this on your card for future."

great.

posted by: blytheswideshut at August 06, 2005 15:58 | link | comments |

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