dental adventures

I kind of hesitate to share my dental dismay, but it's what's going on with me right now...and for the next several weeks.

A couple of weeks ago, when I ended up only going in for a cleaning, I was told a root canal might be in order. That has almost been ruled out, but we'll see. So, yesterday was two fillings: replacing one old one and getting a new one. Next week will be more work on the upper right quadrant, the following week the lower left and the following week the lower right. At least I think that's the plan.

I ended up going with just Pic yesterday, as Cardo couldn't join us. (We didn't get lost on our bus trip!) She quietly sat in the corner, drawing pictures, using a clipboard given to her by one of the assistants. I sat quietly trying to not freak out on the reclined seat. It's not that easy, as I felt like I was suffocating what with hands and equipment in my mouth. I kept trying to close up my throat, but that made breathing through my nose very difficult.

When all was finished, I hadn't felt much pain, but I was still very shaky and on the verge of tears. The latter typical for me and visits to the dentist's office. However, five hours later, when my mouth was...unnumbing (there has to be a more elegant word for that, but I cannot think of anything right now), oh buddy, there was pain. My jaw still aches a bit, but my tooth hurts. Rather, I'm sure, my gum hurts. I'm finally putting to use the gigantic bottle of Tylenol we bought at Costco a million months ago.

It's going to take a lot of will power for me to continue going to the dentist as scheduled.

One more note: Let me just say, as I have repeated again and again, I'm so very grateful that we have insurance; that's something I definitely don't take for granted.