Dental Disaster

I went to the dentist today..... again.

I hate going to the dentist.   It was an emergency though, so I went.

I have developed issues with the dentist.  Maybe it is because, it seems that not matter what I go in for, I always leave in more pain than I started.  In Alaska, I had a terrible toothache, and finally made it in for a check up.  They did all the x rays and all that stuff, and turns out I needed a root canal.  He couldn't do the whole thing that day, but he decided to do what he call a half root canal, he did all the drilling, then put some medicine stuff in, and sent me on my way with an appointment to finish.  Well, I ended up back in a few days later with one side of my face swollen so much my eye wouldn't open.  He had to drill into the tooth again, but there was so much pressure, he also had to use a laser to cut open the inside of my cheek to relieve the swelling.  Tim got to watch, I think he enjoyed that.  I was quite the sight let me tell you!

Or maybe it's because I never seem to be fully numb when they start working on me, and I can feel what they're doing.  Or maybe because one dentist didn't fix the problem when he did the root canal, which ended up with my tooth breaking apart so bad, they just had to pull the whole darn thing out!  Ugh.  Or maybe because for some reason each of my wisdom teeth have been pulled, one at a time, over 5 years of time.

So this last appointment was a cavity fill, and they offered to take the last wisdom tooth out.  It had been causing some issues, so I said sure, and out it came.  Each time one has been removed before, I've had horrible headaches, and a hard time talking for 3-4 days, and they've always given me some kind of pain killer.  Not this time.  They told me they'd prescribe pain killers if I am still in pain a week later.  Well, let me tell you!  Everything was pretty okay until Sunday. I couldn't make it to church I was in so much pain.  Only when I moved my jaw though, otherwise I was okay.  However, it was getting worse, so I just happen to look up dry socket on the internet, and while the symptoms were similar, I wasn't in what I'd call "excruciating" pain.  That is what all the websites said I would be in.  Monday wasn't any better, and it was a holiday, so I knew I wasn't going to try and hunt down the dentist, but that night, I can safely say I hit excruciating.  Tears running down my face, rocking back and forth, and gripping Tim's hand because it was just wave after wave of pain.  I was finally able to get it manageable and eventually got some sleep, and first thing this morning, I was at the dentist.  Surprise surprise, I indeed have dry socket, with an infection to boot!  He rubbed some numbing cream on, which ended up setting off the pain in the worst way.  He was actually quite shocked at how much it hurt me.  They called in a prescription for the infection, and a special mouthwash, but all the other stuff that I thought they were supposed to do, like pain meds, and packing the extraction site, they didn't do, so hopefully things get healed the right way.  He also said it would take a couple days for the pain to go away.  Joy joy  joy.  Well, now I can say I have some experience with "excruciating" pain (at least for me).  I think the worst part of all this is I can't drink soda until it's fully healed!  Seriously, anyone who knows me, knows how much I love my Dr Pepper..... Oh the horror!  :)