Guess What I Did!

Guess what I did Thursday! Go ahead. I'll bet you'll never guess. Fine, so I'll tell you. I had a root canal done. Yea!

I started having this horrible, drop to my knees, please somebody shoot me pain in my tooth on the left side of my mouth. When I called the dentist, the closest appointment they had was a week away. Great! The pain wasn't constant, thank God, but it happened enough to really be annoying. It got to one point that the only thing I could do was sleep through it. I know it sounds weird. I took three Motrin, and laid my head down. When I woke up about thirty minutes later, the pain was gone. But that didn't stop it from rearing it's ugly head a few more times in the next week.

I get to the dentist on Thursday and they are doing the exam and ask which tooth. So I tell them. The dentist takes the pick looking thing that scares the bleep out of me and sticks it all the way through my tooth. Come to find out, it's an old filling that has started to decay. And it has started to decay my tooth. All the way to the root. Two options: pull the tooth, or do a root canal with a crown. The root canal was more expensive, like we could really afford it. But I would like to keep as many of my teeth as I can. So we are pulling the money out of our butts to afford it.

It freaked me out a little at first. The dental assisstant was trying to put this tent thing in my mouth and I started freaking out about trying to swallow while this two hour procedure was going on. Because there was no wait period. It was you need a root canal, lay back and let's get started. I wasn't expecting to spend three hours in a dental chair. I had to sit up for a minute and calm myself down before the tent went in. Once I got my heart rate down, it was fine.

I stared at the spots on the tiles in the ceiling. They don't have the tvs or headphones. I think they should have things for your nose so you don't have to smell burning teeth. Ewww! About half way through I realize that if you line up the spot I was looking at with the twp spots above it, it made an angry face. I didn't want to look at an angry face. So I picked another spot. But the dentist kept getting her head in my way. So I picked yet another spot. And again, angry face appeared. I finally found one that made a pretty comical face. That was enough to keep me calm.

After the root canal was the build up for the crown. Great, more time in the chair. At least I got to stand up a little in between. That was nice. I got to flex my back a little. You all know how many back problems I have.

So while we're waiting for the dentist to come back, the assisstant starts talking about all the work I need done on my teeth (sorry, Mom. I know you paid alot of money for these teeth). Like I don't know. Then he starts talking about their finance options. I finally looked at him and told him to stop. I have three kids, a house payment and two car paymets to make. Not to mention the credit cards that are trying to eat us alive. Like I can afford one more bill. Specially since I just shelled out $500 for a root canal and a crown. I told him, one step at a time. Let's get through the crown, then the deep cleaning (shudder, shudder) and then whatever is next. I told him no matter what he says or anyone else, if he isn't paying my bills, he doesn't get a vote. He wasn't real happy, but I don't give a crap.

The best part about the whole thing was the pain pills. Yeah for pain pills! I haven't needed them though. I needed one the first night, but after that, Advil is doing the trick. Thank goodness. But before I left, he did give me a prescription Motrin. I like those, too. But by the next day, all was well.

And it's still pretty good. I'm not eating ibuprofen like candy, whoohoo. I like that part the best. I never knew when it was going to hurt, how bad it was going to hurt, or how long. I'm just glad it's over. Except for the crown. But I still have three weeks before that happens. Hopefully, if you ever have to have a root canal, it will go fairly easily for you, too. And don't be afraid to tell the dental assisstant to hush.

Have a great day!