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As the day went on, the sensation went from, "Hhmm, what's that?" to "Damn it, that hurts." So I got on the phone to my dentist and managed to book an appointment for Friday morning. The pain was controllable with over the counter meds, so I wasn't that concerned. This toothache, as toothaches go, wasn't "that bad."
Was it not good? Oh yes, meine Kinder, it was very not good, but it was tolerable.
I slept fairly well Thursday night, well, except for the moment around 0400 where I bit down in my sleep and irritated the tooth in question. A couple of Advil settled it down and back to bed I went.
At the dentist an x-ray was taken and the dentist announced, "You're going to need a root canal." (I assume by now that you've puzzled out that opening photo.)
This, not being my first "root canal rodeo" meant that I was not surprised. Which seemed to take the dentist by surprise. "I've had five of these Doc, last one though was twenty years ago." I'm hoping the technology has advanced in that time. Because I am something of a sissy when it comes to dentistry.
Unfortunately the next available appointment with the specialist was the 28th of December, when I had planned on being in Maryland. No, the specialist is not in Maryland, but in Little Rhody. That's also over a week away. I expressed my concern, the doc said that the amoxicillin should calm things now (infected nerve dontcha know is what's causing the, ahem, discomfort).
The lady making the appointment with the specialist exchanged words with her counterpart on the other end of the phone line. I was told that "people are always cancelling appointments just before Christmas, if someone cancels do you want a call?"
"Why yes, yes I do."
So here's hoping someone chickens out early next week and I can get in and get this bloody tooth fixed. Then I can go to Maryland and enjoy myself. If not? Then it will be a short trip for Christmas.
I love it when a plan comes together ...
Don't you?
A friend had the same thing happen just before Thanksgiving, she had a temp cap put on until the permanent canal job a week later. Fingers crossed for that phone call Sarge.
ReplyDeleteIt's still tolerable. But my tolerance is rapidly diminishing!
DeleteOuch - I hate it when that happens. I had a root canal a couple of years ago, and I do NOT want to do that again if I can help,it. To top it off, after all the pain, the endodontist announced the the tooth was cracked so badly that I'd have to go to an oral surgeon, have it taken out and do an implant. At least that was done under sedation... best wishes for a positive outcome, Sarge!
ReplyDeleteNo fun, no fun at all!
DeleteYes sir, that is pain of a different color. I had number 25 die when I was 18. Wow did that hurt. Redone a few years ago when the mercury filing started to fail. it's not so gray anymore.
ReplyDeleteI had a tooth calve once eating a hotdog. The dentist said it couldn't be fixed due to the side wall splitting off. I groked it easily, structural failure. She asked what I was eating, and the hot dog made her blink. I said it couldn't have been all the ice I munched on in my life. We discussed what was the longest lasting, least maintenance replacement, so I got a gold tooth. After she finished the install she was beaming. I said, "That's the last time that tooth will be cold until I am!" She went from sunny` to cloudy in an instant. I guess she never thought of that. I really like my Dentist. She's really sharp and caring. Doesn't hurt that she is as pretty as a model either.
As to a tooth "calving," yup, been there, done that.
DeleteI've never broken a tooth or lost a filling chewing something hard. Something soft that creates suction when eating? Ayup. Though, like you, the damage may have occurred during an ice-crunching episode or some other hard-food eating. But it's always the soft, suction-creating food that does it.
DeleteNot sure of the cause of this, probably an old filling.
DeleteSarge, wishing the best of luck for an early appointment (It seems very odd to phrase is that way). If of any confidence building at all, The Ravishing Mrs. TB had to have this done two years ago. She absolutely despises dental work but found it not...terrible?, so I am confident that it has advanced a great deal in the twenty years since your last encounter with it.
ReplyDeleteNow that is good news indeed!
Delete"Adventures in Dentistry" said it all... Luck!
ReplyDeleteThanks!
DeleteAh, yes! How else do you expect the poor endodontist to feed his starving children (pay maintenance on his Maserati).
ReplyDeleteWith the good local anesthetics available today, only the claustrophobes find a bit of discomfort (rubber dam) with the procedure.
Good to know!
DeleteI've had that procedure done twice, both times by the same Dr. He is a former Air Force dentist whose practice is about half-way to your place of employment by the Oyster palace on West Main Road. The first time was uncomfortable, the second much better due to some changes in the tooling. I wouldn't classify it as something you would want to have done on your way to work or the way home but it is quite a bit better than seven years ago. OG
ReplyDeleteThat's the guy I have an appointment with! Good to know.
DeleteDue to weird interactions with anesthesia and high-powered pain meds, I get to do dental surgery wide awake and only slightly numbed up (Novocaine and its ilk only numbs my tongue and cheeks, does nothing really to stop the pain down deep.) So, well, been lucky as all my real dental surgery (so far) happened when I was young and able to barely tolerate jackhammers and small explosive charges going off in my mouth.
ReplyDeleteIt was interesting that two weeks after getting the braces off taking a trip to the operating room and having all four exploded wisdom teeth removed. They did it at the hospital and did the whole complete anesthesia stuff and, like my brothers, Death was close but not close enough. At least they didn't try any of the morphines or codones on me.
Worst tooth recently was a rear molar that split in half along the plane of the jaw. Took a long time for me to get to a dentist, and she turned green when I mentioned that if I had a pair of drop needle-nosed pliers, well, I wouldn't be sitting in the chair. She thought I was joking. I was not. I could wiggle each piece back and forth, just couldn't get a good enough grip to do the yanking. And I got her to do minimal novocaine so I could talk and drink afterwards without feeling like I had Bell's Palsy.
Bleh.
Good luck on getting an appointment before Christmas. I hope it works out.
And... this is the part of retirement nobody talks about. Ah, pieces-parts start acting weird and you are in and out of doctors' offices and clinics and waiting on the medical system. Not a fun part of life. What did you do today, Beans? "Well, I renewed prescriptions which required me to navigate the medical switchboard at medical factory #143, then followed up with the pharmacy, then back to the medical switchboard at MF#143, then followed up with getting labs for to prove she/I need the medicine and aren't taking any street pharmaceuticals or taking current meds at above-prescribed levels and then called and waded through the switchboard at BigInsuranceCompany." That's all? "Yeah, only took 4 hours, didn't know what to do with the extra time."
Yay. Doctor's offices. You know, Mrs. Andrew goes to two doctors who could easily have seen her over vid system or on the phone during the Covidiocracy but somehow she never got the chance. Yet some back-woods woodsman in India gets to go to general docs and followups via phone, internet, satphone, semiphores, colored smoke, whatever. Dangit. Hates having to go to doctors offices where sick people are...
Dentistry and I have often been at odds with each other.
DeleteAny endodontist who practices in a location (think mid-town Manhattan) where the average patient has an minimum annual income easily 10x hhw (his/her/whatever) learns (and employs) the differing effects of the various local anesthetics (as well as the levels of gaseous (N₂O/O₂) and chemical sedation) as well as a board-certified hospital anesthesiologist. The (practice-limited-to) endodontists I've met at continuing ed courses from the rural areas of states like North Dakota or Mississippi are just as good: it's a certain pride, as well as being severely OCD which comes with the specialty.
DeleteOCD is good in a medico, least that would be my take. Attention to detail is kinda important.
DeleteAh, "Dentistry." Grumble and grouch all we like, but let that be overwhelmed by immense gratitude for today's dentistry available to all (even with a few days' delay).
ReplyDeleteDid you know that "Doc" Holliday of OK Corral fame was actually a dentist?
Did you know that Edward Maynard, inventor of the "roll of caps" tape priming system for U.S. small arms in 1855, and the eponymous Civil War cavalry carbine was actually a dentist? A rather good one, who pioneered filling of the nerve cavity and root canal with gold foil in the early 1840s. He spent a year or two in Russia circa 1845 as dentist for the royal court (and others) while marking time awaiting a decision on possible Russian adoption of his firearm patents. They declined the gun ideas, but offered him a commission as a dental officer if he would stay!
Being a total history nerd, while researching Maynard and his gun stuff, I read (completely!) "A History of Dentistry in the U.S. Army to World War II" which actually was pretty interesting OMG, we do not realize how lucky we are today. Up to the 1870s, the Army had basically ZERO dentists, and the only treatment was some guy with a pair of pliers to yank out any troublesome teeth. With most of the army at scatted posts, even that was seldom available, and troops had to pay for the local civilian quack to do whatever they could.
The physical examination requirement for recruits to have a minimum of two opposing teeth to bite off the end of a paper cartridge for muzzle loading arms was in place through that period.
By the Spanish American War, the Army finally managed to get up to about 25 dentists (total) and the misery and suffering was just the way it was for most troops (and civilians) at the time. Pain killers were not widely available, and they just drilled away (heck they were still doing that when I was a kid- OUCH!). Drilling for cavities was with a foot powered drill rig. The army ended up with primitive portable dental kits by WW1 for routine stuff.
Dental surgeons proved to be extremely valuable in treating and saving, and later rehabilitating, the huge number of casualties with facial/cranial/mandibular injuries in WW1.
So, yeah, root canals are still not a lot of fun, or waiting a few days to get them fixed, but it ain't nothing like it was in "the good old days."
I am surprised that none of Sarge's fictional characters suffered from debilitating dental problems during their adventures.
Hope they get it fixed soon.
Merry Christmas to all.
John Blackshoe
Wow! You know your dentistry. One of my dentists in Germany (military ya know, you get whoever is available) was named Holliday. A relative of "the" Doc Holliday. He was a really good dentist and a really good guy. His son played soccer for me one year.
DeleteI was terrified of dentists for a long time, the one I had as a kid was horrible. All I remember was pain whenever we had to go there.
I asked my dentist once, if dentists fear going to the dentist, and he said, " Oh, yes, because we know what he is going to do! "
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DeleteI would feel different about dentistry if my earliest memories of the dentist weren't a waiting room filled with cigarette smoke, a dentist drill powered by string and pulleys, and not enough Novocain.
ReplyDeleteAs much as I don't usually wish ill upon the dead, I hope that individual is spending all of eternity in Hades experiencing how it felt on my end.
Dentistry tools and pain control are hugely better now than the bad old days, but shy of a memory sector wipe, I cannot escape the memories of my early experiences in the late fifties or very early sixties.
My dad had great teeth, I got his thick head of wavy hair, his short height, most of his great skills with his hands, and the whole blood pressure issues. But I didn't inherit the teeth. Long sigh................
We grew up in the same era, dentistry has advanced by leaps and bounds since those days. But still, say the word "dentist" and I start to sweat.
Deleteor as it is said:
ReplyDelete"it's all in your head"
Hahaha!
DeleteTry Oil of clove for pain helpfulness until your appt. It really does work!! And good luck getting an early appointment...try calling and asking, nicely, if they have any cancellations...even though you are on the list, it helps to be the squeaky wheel so the booking gal REALLY KNOWS ya want to get in PDQ...it's a busy time of year and folks are focusing on other things besides filling the schedule so they can get out of Dodge early...just a pro-tip from the medical office side.
ReplyDeleteGuess I was very fortunate as a kid--Dr Schrader was a good dentist, and my current guy is great! As a matter of fact, my routine 6 month visit is the Monday after Christmas.
Actually the amoxicillin has really knocked the infection back quite a bit. If I chomp down on that tooth, I notice. A lot. That only seems to happen around four in the morning. A couple of Advil and I'm back to sleep.
DeleteI'll be on the phone to the endodontist on Monday, see if I can't squeak in soon.
(Don McCollor)...Having gotten a job after graduate school, I went in for some deferred dental maintenance. First session starting at 07:30 Two large cavities filled, three wisdom teeth pulled (fourth was absent), root canal and temporary crown put in place. Then I went to work for the rest of the day...
ReplyDeleteYou're a better man than me!
DeleteAug 8th, root canal in #6 also but then Sept 9th root canal in #30. I know your pain and the 800mg Amoxicillin ripped my colon out.
ReplyDeleteOuch.
DeleteGeorge Washington's dental solutions:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwiY0Zm1hO_0AhXGQs0KHXjcCyAQFnoECA4QAw&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.smithsonianmag.com%2Fsmart-news%2Fgeorge-washington-didnt-have-wooden-teeth-they-were-ivory-180953273%2F&usg=AOvVaw0nDLJ7vYq54iKBnr0akCs7
JB
Dang!
DeleteThat opening picture makes for an excellent Dad joke. I'm impressed! Here's one for you, what's the difference between a Christmas alphabet and the regular alphabet? The Christmas alphabet has Noel.
ReplyDelete🤣🤣🤣
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