Thursday, May 01, 2008

I Shouldn't Be Surprised

Pin It Now! Went to get my "small" cavity filled yesterday afternoon.

I know you all want to grab a cup of hot tea or coffee and share in my tooth woes, right? :)

Before I go any further let me inform that an X-ray is 2 dimensional, so it cannot show the dentist what is underneath a silver filling. I already had one of those in the tooth that was getting worked on.

The dentist, while removing my silver filling, found that my tooth underneath was basically rotten! I shouldn't be surprised b/c I was feeling a twinge in that tooth every time I drank something cold, and usually by the time I feel any pain it is anything but a small cavity we are dealing with. Plus, this very same thing has happened to me before, so it was just like De Ja Vu!!! I guess I can let myself off the hook b/c no amount of brushing, flossing and rinsing could have prevented the decay taking place under my filling.

Fearing the worst and trying to fight back tears over the "big mama" cavity as the assistant called it, I prepared myself to hear the dreaded R word--root canal. Plus, all I could see were dollar signs dancing around in my head. Those things aren't cheap! My dentist, who by the way is a very good one in my opinion, explained everything he had done so far and showed me a few disgusting, color photos of the decay and the huge gaping hole left in my tooth.

Then came the diagnosis: No root canal, thank goodness, BUT b/c the cavity was so gigantic it can't be filled with an ordinary filling. In an effort to save what remained of my tooth and to keep me from having to get a crown, I am getting a permanent porcelain thingy cemented to it. I get to go back again in 10 days. Yea!

I hope I don't have to have anesthesia again. I just can't handle that stuff anymore. Almost immediatley my heart starts to race and I become very jittery. It lasts for hours, too. Makes me feel just awful. Snappy, too!! I also can't stand to hold my mouth open for any length of time, either. Oh, it just really bothers me now!!!

I don't remember that happening as a kid. And I have had TONS of shots in my mouth. I am the girl who had about 7 baby teeth, roots and all, pulled around the age of 7 or 8. In fact I still have them. My kids are dying to see them. When I had my wisdom teeth cut out from under the bone, I refused to be put to sleep for it. I got about 10 shots and was good to go. Oh, the joys of being young!!

I am seriously trying to be thankful in the midst of this trial, but my flesh wants to stress over the extra $600.00 that has to be spent. This came at a time when we need to be paying for home school books not porcelain caps.

I am thankful, though, that I don't have to have a root canal--that would have been much more expensive!

I am thankful that I don't have cancer or some other fatal disease that would keep me from home schooling my kids.

I am thankful that I don't have to get a set of false teeth....yet.



8 comments:

Knitwit said...

Ugh! Not fun! I'll pray God blesses you with extra funds to cover both the tooth job and school books (been there done that).

not up to code said...

You really should stop beating yourself up over your teeth. Sometimes bad health just happens and you can't do stuff to prevent it. I think that is a really hard concept to grasp for people who are really health and nutrition conscious.

You know - you can get implants now! I had a friend in college who cut his finger one night and passed out at the sight of his own blood, fell to the concrete floor and knocked out his two front teeth.(it was nasty) He had them replaced with implants and was good as new. Start saving now though!

Anonymous said...

Implants? Are we still talking about teeth?

HONEY said...

Bummer, but at least you have the right attitude - focus on the good things & that makes the bad a little easier to take. I won't even say what happens to me with the dental anesthesia...Brad & Catie know, but they are sworn to secrecy! :-)

Anonymous said...

What a bummer. I, too,will pray that the Lord will bless you with the funds for both. I also want to recommend that you try Thieves from Young Living. I apply a little bit every night and neither the kids nor I have had cavities for several years. I even had one friend that used it on her daughter after a cavity was detected and it went away...the dentist was amazed.

Montana Mama

Unknown said...

I will say I have had the same experience with the anesthesia, I told my doctor and he said he would try something else or maybe he lowered the doasge, but the next time I was better off. Also try eating before you go. I never used to do that because I didn't want him to say something about having food in there but it helped with the jittery feelings.
I am also allergic to asprin...it has the same affect on me!

I am feeling your woes and I'm right there with you...fortunatley it won't last forever, only God's love and our eternal reward in Heaven! :)

not up to code said...

Hey B, I lost a crown last night! I am so bummed. Off to the dentist today.

not up to code said...

So the story is:

short version - I'm getting a new tooth for mother's day

long version - The crown was put in by a dentist who used substandard materials. The cement has come unglued? allowing bacteria to invade the space under the crown and get to my poor stubby knub of a tooth. And the low quality materials used have irritated my gums.

The good news is the decay is mild and won't require a root canal or a lot of drilling. The bad news is that this is going to cost me a lot of dough. You feel my pain.

For today the dentist cleaned the poor tooth and temporarly cemented the crown on until I can get the works next week.

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...