Dental Woes

Well, I've gone and lost another tooth!  I lost 2 teeth about 15-20 years ago due to a cherry pit, and it has happened again...

The 2 teeth years ago were because I was cutting a cantelope into cubes while eating cherries and I forgot what I was eating.  Thinking "cantelope", I just bit down.  Crushed a molar.  PAIN!  I could only get an appointment with my then-dentist 3 days later, so I had fun sucking soup through a straw for 3 days.

The dentist said it couldn't be saved and had to come out.  And during the extraction, he found the roots were entangled with the wisdom tooth, so it had to come out to.  Fortunately, the extractions themselves didn't hurt.  But the pulling was brutal.  They were upper teeth, so he had to pull down.  

I could barely hold my head up to counter the down-pull.  Now I understand the phrase "like pulling teeth"!  My recollection is that there were no healing problems after, and it seems to me that I chewed normally after a few days.

So Wed 6-29, I was eating cherries.  Given my previous experience, I am careful.  But I still managed a glancing scrape with a pit.  I froze in place, expecting pain.  None.  Two days later, I was eating chocolate chip ice cream and suddenly felt a jolt.  I guess those frozen chips are HARD!

It was a tooth with a filling.  I could tell something was slightly loose, but nothing actually came out.  It wasn't temperature-sensitive but it was pressure-sensitive.  Naturally, that was Friday evening before a 3 day holiday weekend.  My current dentist's office was closed until Tuesday July 5.  There is an emergency number, but I wasn't actually in any pain (so long as I didn't chew on it).

I overslept a bit Tuesday, but called the dentist as soon as I got up.  Oh, cruelty of oversleeping!  Had I called an hour earlier, they could have gotten me in that day.  As it was, they were fully booked until July 11.  But they said they would call if there was a cancellation.

There was.  I got in Thurs 7-7.  And it was for my preference of the 3 dentists there.  I say that because the other 2 are "you are just a jaw to me; sit there and shut up".  The other talks, explains, encourages patience, shows the x-rays on a monitor, etc.

I hate the x-rays!  I have a small jaw (and therefore crowded teeth) and the film insert cuts my gum (like I said, small jaw).  But when the dentist came in, he complimented his assistant (and me) for the very clear x-rays.  

That's where things went downhill.  He could tell if the tooth was chipped on one side or split down to the root.  He called a partner in to look at it and he couldn't decide either.

If a chip on the side, the tooth could be saved with a crown or root canal drilling.  If not, it had to be removed.  He doesn't do root canals because there are several specialist here who he says are more expert at it (he's honest).

So my choice was to go to a specialist (maybe waiting a week or 2) or having him extract it then and there.  It is a forward pre-molar.  He said extraction would affect my chewing for the rest of my life, so he recommended seeing a specialist and left my for a few minutes to decide.  

Talk about bad choices!  I initially decided to visit the specialists, but as I sat there, I lost confidence that the tooth could be saved.  And so I expected that, in 2 weeks of possible specialist drilling and pain and temporary fillings, I would be back in the same chair for an extraction anyway.

I opted to have it pulled.

Now, you have to understand that the previous 2 extracted teeth were removed rather easily.  Lots of pulling, but they came out rather easily.  And the dentist said a premolar was easier and there were no root entanglements.

So we went about the process of novacaine shots and waiting for it to take effect.  I should mention that I am a bit resistant to most medications.  I usually need an extra novacaine shot before my jaw is numb to the point where the dentist is satisfied.  But I was finally numb at the spot the dentist wanted.  And apparently he had to use a "special" one;  "carbo-something".

It got bad...  The tooth would not come out.  I could feel it move in the jaw, but it refused to release.  He had to drill and break it all the way down.  He apologized every step of the way.  I was shaking from the sounds of my tooth being broken apart and in anticipation of a sudden jolt of pain (never happened).  

45 minutes of fear and worry.  I have a mantra from the book 'Dune' that helped:  

“I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.”

I had to repeat it often...  

Eventually, he said, OK, we're done".  He explained to me afterwards that the tooth was both split to the roots (so it couldn't have been saved by a specialist) and that the roots were unusually deeply anchored (which was probably why it had a filling rather than a crown).

And then there was the healing.  First, he had had to cut at the gum to get the last of the deep roots out and chip some bone away, which required (dissolving) stitches.  He gave me prescriptions for pain (Tylenol 3) and an antibiotic.  And a long list of things not to do...  

They gave me a thick pad of little 2" gauze pads and doubled the usual amount because they expected I would need it.  It was to be folded and held on the wound by light tooth pressure.  I guess that was for the gum cuts on the sides.  I actually had to use a lot of those.  I normally stop bleeding fast, but enough of a wound does need help.  It took a whole day for the bleeding to stop.

The rules they gave me said to ice my cheek every hour, eat only the softest of foods (DUH!), rinse my mouth with salty water several times a day, take an antibiotic pill every 24 hours and Tylenol 3 as needed.  I didn't need the Tylenol 3 or ice.  In fact, I felt no pain at all after the novacaine wore off.  I'm taking the antibiotics as required of course.

I bought a cherry-pitter (I do love cherries).  I've been eating eggs, spaghetti, bananas, soup, boiled veggies, and potatoes, etc, for over a week.  But this too shall pass away.  The jaw bone will heal, the gums will toughen, etc in time.

I know this is a minor problem compared to those of many people.  I'm not trying to seem unusual, brave or stoic or anything.  But it was my rather bad week.

If that is the worst thing that happens to me this year, I will be grateful.  As I slowly slide into my elder years, I expect to experience worse, gradually but inevitably.  Mom always said "growing old isn't for sissies".