More Toothiness

I could just cry. And this time, it’s not from the pain.

I just came back from the dentist. For the record, I really like this dentist. He caters to cowards. Even crazy middle-aged women who are terrified of needles and just want to go to sleep and wake up when it’s all done. See why we get along?

Recently, he did yet another root canal and crown thing. Each one of these is pretty pricey, because I need $1,000 of sedation (seriously – 4 appointments’ worth). I cannot be awake. I seriously can’t. I’ve tried and he’s stopped and rescheduled because I tried and I’m not making it up when I say I can’t. Sedation is my friend. (He told me I was really brave for trying.)

Well, we got through this last root canal and the world was golden! I could eat again! Yippee ki yay! I was so happy!

And then Thursday morning the pain started in an unbelievable way. By Thursday night I was on antibiotics and vicodin.

It is now Monday morning and the pain is not necessarily when I bite, but it’s all over the place. In the upper gums. Feels like the sinuses. Whee. So at this morning’s appointment, he poked and prodded and percussed and asked a lot of questions. Took some x-rays. Asked some more questions. And then he explained things to me.

I need an apicoectomy. The root canal I had is really a misnomer. I had a nerve removal. The roots are just cleaned out; they’re still there. And the roots in some people are porous and those porous pockets can hold a lot of infection. He needs to cut open my gum and snip off the bad root parts. This happens in 3 to 4 % of the population. It’s a genetic mutation.

Hi! Guess who’s a genetic mutant?

While I don’t mind being a genetic mutant, it is expensive. Like ANOTHER $1,300. Um, yeah, where am I gonna find that?

All I want for Christmas is pain-free teeth.