More Dental Woes . . . And More To Come

I’ve written before about my dentophobia. Unfortunately, I’ve had more dental problems recently.

My upper left teeth started hurting sometime before spring began this year. When I mentioned it at my cleaning in May, the dentist thought I had a cracked filling in #14 on the upper left side.

It is a mark of how many times I’ve been to the dentist this year, that I can now know how to number my teeth. At one appointment, I said something like “The surface of #14 feels a little rough.” The dental technician laughed at me, and said, “You sound like a pro.” So I understood when the dentist said, “The cracked filling in #14 should be replaced.”

But my husband and I were building a house. Then moving. I didn’t have time for dental problems, and I decided to put off treatment. I could chew all right, though it wasn’t comfortable.

My dentist concurred—this could wait until it caused me more pain. We scheduled a lengthier than normal cleaning appointment for this coming November and agreed he would replace the filling then. Unless I felt I needed it sooner.

Unfortunately, through the summer months the pain got worse, as these things typically do. I didn’t think I should would wait until November, particularly because I had a family wedding planned in mid-October. So after we moved to our new home, I scheduled an appointment to have the filling replaced.

“Let’s take some x-rays,” he said. “We’ll see if we can just replace the filling, or if you need a crown.”

This was the first he’d mentioned the potential for my needing a crown. That didn’t make me happy.

But the verdict came back—I needed a crown. It wasn’t just the filling that had cracked, the tooth had also. So that day he put on a temporary crown and fit me for the permanent crown. Getting that work done took five shots of novocaine and other anesthetics to numb my jaw so I didn’t feel what he was doing. So much anesthetic I couldn’t talk or chew for the rest of the day.

And the pain didn’t go away with the placement of the temporary crown. I still was taking over the counter pain meds two weeks later when he replaced the temporary crown with the permanent one. He said that should resolve the pain.

It didn’t. My jaw still hurt a week later and I still couldn’t chew on the left side. So the dentist sent me to the endodontist to see if the root canal on #15 (the tooth next to the one with the new crown) was failing.

The endodontist diagnosed two problems. First, the new crown on #14 hadn’t taken care of that problem, and that tooth needed a root canal.

And second, #15 had a crack below the gum line, meaning that the root canal on that tooth could not be redone. #15 would have to be extracted.

Extracted!

Even the word sent chills down my spine. That’s a permanent solution, if I ever heard one. And he would do it with a local anesthetic.

“But my son is getting married,” I said. “I don’t have time for all this.” I never have time for unplanned catastrophes. Until they happen, and I have to make the time.

The dentist and endodontist discussed my situation and developed a plan. First would come the root canal on #14, and then the extraction of #15. There would barely be time to do both before the wedding, or, if I felt better after the root canal on #14, I could wait until after the wedding for the extraction.

So, just ten days after the permanent crown went on #14, I had a root canal on that same tooth.

Thankfully, it did improve the pain. I still can’t chew well on the left side of my mouth, but it doesn’t shoot daggers into my sinuses if I do bite down there.

Nevertheless, I am bound and determined to wait on the extraction, which is scheduled for late October. I hope I make it.

The wedding is this next weekend. Surely I will make it at least through that. I’ll just have to be careful what I eat.

When have you had to deal with inconvenient medical or dental woes?