Teething

Needles don't seem to bother me much anymore.

When the dentist poked the syringe into my gumline, I felt the slightest of pricks, a little pressure, some movement to another spot of the gums, and that was that. The only real pain came from forcing my mouth to open wider than normal to fit a drill, some fingers, an ultraviolet light (to harden the filling material), and that suction tube. Within the first 5 minutes after my lower lip became thick, the first minor cavity had been drilled and filled.

The second cavity offered more of a problem because of its location on my last remaining wisdom tooth. The one that we decided not to pull because it sat directly on top of the nerve. The dentist stepped away before sticking the drill in my mouth a second time and emailed the x-rays of that area to an oral surgeon to get his opinion. "While we wait for a response, let's get to work on that old crown." She focused a light on the tooth. "Wow! You've really done a number on that one!" I had been grinding my teeth and managed to bore a hole through the porcelain, through the metal, down to the tooth. She ground the drill into the old crown, and at one point, my head jerked as I felt the crown break in two. Like an electric jolt without the electricity. She then brought in the forceps, grabbed hold of the crown and yanked left, right, left, right, up and...POP! The crown loosened but then dropped into my mouth. I would have swallowed it if her assistant hadn't been quick with that suction tube.

The next 30 minutes we spent cleaning the area, biting down on a cool gel to make an impression, and forming a temporary crown as a placeholder. The dentist checked her emails while the assistant worked on the temporary. When she returned, "It looks like we're going to pull the tooth." Ugh! "I'm going to recommend coming in on one of two dates, when the oral surgeon will be here. I'm worried because the root of your tooth has a small hook to it, and I don't want it to snag the nerve."

So....

I return at the end of the month to have that last wisdom tooth pulled and to receive the new crown. I wondered why the wait would be so long for the crown. "The wisdom tooth and the crown are right next to each other. I don't want to set the crown in, then have it come off while we're pulling the tooth. Better to do it all at the same time."

Great.