The day before Christmas Eve last year, I was eating something perfectly tame when I heard this sound from the upper left side. I knew something had happened. My dentist was able to see me Christmas Eve and confirmed that I had indeed broken a tooth. But do I break a piece off the top? No.
I cracked it from top to bottom through the root. Luckily it had been root canaled so it wasn't hurting. But I was going to have to have it out. I wasn't really ready to get that done because I figured it would be painful. It didn't help when my own dentist said that I should see a specialist as the way the tooth was broken and the fact that it had a big root..... Well, he didn't want to try.
So I go to see the specialist and he feels it might take a little bit of work to get it out. We sent the estimate off and the company said they'd cover it. I decided to wait a while.
Fast forward to last week. I call to make an appointment and they ask would I take a cancellation? I said okay and sure enough they called me Tuesday with a time of 2:00 pm Wednesday. Supposed to be at work for 3:30. I went in and asked if they could get someone to cover for my shift and no problem.
So . . . . . . off to the dentist where he sticks a needle in my face, then one right in the gum where the tooth is broken (by now a little piece had come out leaving a perfect spot for him to aim for). He says to me "big pinch" and launches across the room with a friggin javelin and stabs it right into the palate. (roof of the mouth that is not fond of being stabbed and HURTS LIKE HELL)
HOLY CRAP ! ! ! ! ! !
Then he leaves me for the freezing to set in. For another $440.00 I could have been unconscious. What? And miss the fun?
Anyway, he comes in, they put a little gauze catch basin in, in case the tooth breaks up and tries to fall down my throat. He uses vice grips I think, and clamps on to this tooth. Back and forth he rocks it trying to work it loose. I hear a little 'plink' and I knew it had broken again. He finally got the damn thing to come out. It ached more than anything, as he was trying to get it to let go.
Then his assistant says there's a piece broken off inside. He looks concerned but she uses her little irrigation thingy and was able to flush the piece out.
YAY! ! !
They give me instructions and a script for pain meds and off I go to pay the bill. When I get to the desk she says to me that it was less trouble than he thought. The bill is like HALF what they expected.
YAY ! ! !
Before the freezing wore off I wanted to buy myself a couple of new fish for my tank (as the store was very close to the specialist's office) and then head over to the drug store to get my meds. As I am driving across the city I notice the freezing seems to be going away faster than I was expecting.
Okay. Get to the drug store and they say 15 minutes. I sit there sweating and thinking that the freezing is going to be gone before I can get a pill into me and have it start working. BUT, the freezing wore off only so far and I got my pill, took it and headed home. The freezing stayed in the area of the tooth, and one small part of my upper lip (can't figure why), for a total of six hours. Took one more pill before bed, removed the gauze ( O U C H ) and slept pretty good.
Got up this morning and just didn't feel great. The only time the tooth, sorry, place where the tooth was, hurt, was when my heart beat. So I ended up giving another shift away.
And that's why I wasn't at work today.
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