It's late and I need to get to bed, so I'll keep this as short and sweet as possible.
Last July one of my bottom left molars started bugging. Not all the time, not constant pain, but often enough that I decided to go to the dentist about it. They couldn't find anything wrong with the tooth and sent me on my way with some Sensodyne. A week later and the pain was worse and more frequent.
Root canal time.
I was none too pleased about this, but what are you gonna do? Given my stupid roots that are apparently closer to the surface of the tooth than normal, and since it was a molar, I was sent to and endodontist for the procedure.
Dr. Hart was interesting. He actually casually swore a couple of times during the procedure, just during casual conversation, which was a bit startling. But the man knew what he was doing and I was quickly on my way. (And several hundred dollars poorer for it.)
Fun fact: this endodontist doesn't just use Novocain. They also hooked a little IV into my gums for about 3 minutes. Then the hygienist (nurse? I'm not sure) said "You might feel your heart flutter - it's perfectly normal. It's just a common reaction to the epinephrine." Right then my heart DID start to flutter. It was so weird! It was like my body thought I was super nervous or scared about something, only my brain was like, No, nothing to worry about here.
Anyways, I went to the dentist a week later, got my temporary crown, and then waited several more weeks to get my crown. During this time a tooth on my upper left side started giving me problems. I thought it was a reaction to all the work I had had done, and because my bite was a little off with the temporary crown. My dentist agreed.
But then the pain got worse. And it also got hypersensitive to temperature.
As much as I wanted to deny it, it was root canal time again.
Oh my gosh, I was not happy about this.
By this time it was the mid-September. I just wanted all of this over with!! Fortunately for my wallet and my heart (no epinephrine) my dentist was able to do this root canal. Everything started fine.
Then things were not fine.
I wrote about this in my post about my grandpa's funeral. It was not a fun time. It was, in fact, NOT FUN AT ALL.
But after leaving and resting a bit I figured, okay, the worst is over. I'll get my crown and be on my way!
So I called and set up an appointment for my temporary crown. But the morning of that appointment came and I realized I hadn't gotten any reminder texts or phone calls for it. (My dentist is a little overzealous in that department.) So I called them up and they acted super surprised - they didn't have me on the calendar at all!
Strange.
But whatever. It just so happened that my regular six month cleaning was coming up on the 12, so they told me just to come in then. Cool.
I was the happiest girl this morning, driving out to the dentist, happy as a clam to be done with all of this dental nonsense. Only when I got there I was told, no, I was there to have my root canal finished.
WHAT THE FREAKING WHAT?!??!??!
Apparently they were so freaked out by the complication last time that they hadn't finished the root canal. I thought they had. I swear they didn't tell me they weren't finished. But then again I was all hopped up on adrenaline, Novocain, and frustration with this saga, so my memory is probably fairly unreliable.
And that "forgotten" appointment? The hygienist saw that it was for a crown on the schedule and deleted it, figuring it must be wrong since they hadn't finished the root canal.
Good heavens.
I just about broke down in a fit of laughter and tears at the absurdity of it all. And then told them to go ahead and finish.
So. I had half a root canal this afternoon. And while the procedure itself isn't so bad, I'm pretty sore tonight and probably will be even more so tomorrow. I get my temporary crown on Monday morning, but will probably be gallivanting off to Europe before I can get my permanent crown. (Nothing says "classy American" like a lady with an orange tooth!) ((That was the color of my last temporary crown.)) Then I had my regular cleaning, and the water kept trying to drip out of my numb mouth. Good thing I have Jesus, the awesome hygienist.
To cap off the 2 hour visit, I was told I have a really old filling that needs to be replaced. Fortunately, it can wait until the new year because I have maxed out my stupid/worthless dental insurance. Paying my bill for the first crown and this root canal on the way out of the office was the most painful part of the appointment. Ouch.
Guys, seriously, I'm not even going into all the other weird details this story includes. So many weird little things have happened to me and my teeth and just my life in general over the past few months. Alone they don't really matter that much, but all together and it's getting to be a bit more than I can handle. I feel like I'm becoming hypersensitive to every little glitch in my life right now, which isn't helping matters.
So I'm trying to calm myself down and focus on all the good things in my life. I have a lot of good things.
But I got a reminder letter today that my annual OB/GYN appointment is coming up. While those appointments are never considered any fun, I have to admit I'm a bit nervous about it now. Any bets on how smooth that appointment will go? Sheesh.
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