Being self-employed we don’t have dental insurance. Luckily, since we live near Houston I’ve been able to go to the UT dental school. The care I’ve received had been top notch at about 1/3 the cost. I first started going there about a year ago. A student was assigned to me said “You still have all your teeth. Wow.” I was kinda surprised by his statement and told him that that was always my plan, keeping them all, that is. He went on to say that that is quite unusual for someone of my age. Who knew? Other students actually looked in my mouth. If I’d known it was so unusual, I’d have put up red ropes around my mouth like they have in a museum.
About three days ago one of my molars started hurting. Every day it got worse and worse. Lucky for me I had some Rx liquid lidocaine which I applied with my finger. By yesterday I had my finger in my mouth more than a toddler who sucks their thumb. I’m sure people thought I was deranged. I didn’t care. That lidocaine was the only thing keeping me sane. Luckily no one tried to take that bottle from me. (They would have met with a most unpleasant end.) Last night the pain was so bad it woke me up at 3:30. I grabbed for my bottle of lidocaine and applied as I had been. This time there was no relief. Fortuitously I had a few Vicodin I had held onto for an emergency. This was an emergency. I took one and waited for relief that didn’t come.
I had an emergency dental appointment this morning at 8:30. Once again, the topic of my full set of teeth was a topic of discussion. That still amazes me. After much discussion it was decided that I needed a root canal. Doug’s had a couple of those. They sounded truly gruesome. (I remembered him being in a lot of pain when the novocaine wore off.) I assumed I be coming back tomorrow for the procedure. (I was wrong.) Before I knew it I was being numbed up; that would’ve been fine, but I needed numbing from the numbing; the gel he used didn’t do the trick. I guess it hurt more because the area was already PO’d. When he stuck that needle in I swear I started speaking in tongues.
I guess I’m really lucky. I’d never had a toothache until 3 days ago or had any kind of major dental work. (I guess not having tooth pain is just another one of those things you just take for granted, til you have it.)
Before I left the dentist today I was told that the nerves in that tooth were gone and that’s what had been causing the pain. With the nerves out I shouldn’t really hurt anymore. Well, nerves out or not, I have pain- a lot of pain. I’ve taken 1 Vicodin and it’s still throbbing. So I’m going to take 1 more, go lay down and try to sleep. Doug smiled and said that one of the 7 curses from Voodoo Priestess Michele backfired on me. Verrry funny.
