Apparently My Teeth Are Old

Yesterday I had the pleasure of getting an emergency root canal. What made it an emergency you ask? Well the fact that I had to have that day.

Yes, it was just as much fun as you could ever think it was.

6 months ago I had a filling done on this tooth and it took forever to heal. I chalked it up to the fact that I'm getting older and thought nothing of it. My dentist had discussed with me the fact that they had discovered the cavity just before it reached the nerve, but there was a chance I would need a root canal in the future. And the future was yesterday. Blows your mind, doesn't it.

So, about a week ago my jaw starting hurting every once in awhile, but I didn't think anything of it since my allergies have been quite bad lately and when that happens, I get pains in my teeth/jaw/whatever.

But, 3 (I guess now 4 days ago) the pain really stepped it up a notch. I thought I had a gum infection or something so I was taking aspirin every 4 hours on the dot as well as rinsing with Listerine when finally, on Wednesday night, everything stopped working.

Poor Lekowicz was over for a meeting and got to witness first hand just how much pain I was in, I just couldn't think about anything else.

So, yesterday morning I got up and called my dentist first thing. He is out of town at a seminar. So, I called the dentist he referred everyone to on his voicemail. Luckily, the very nice lady that answered the phone worked me in first thing yesterday morning - and they were literally next door to my dentist, so I knew where I was going.

The new dentist did some tests and x-rays and concluded that I needed a root canal. Since I was in so much pain and had been for days, he called the Endodontists that he refers everyone to, and got me an appointment that day.

So, I headed off to work for a couple of hours to try and get my mind off of the pain. At 12:15, I headed to Santa Monica, with the understanding that this was an evaluation visit and I might not be getting a root canal. Luckily for me, the Endodontist was a real pro, he did several tests, the last of which was holding some sort of cold metal pen thing to my teeth to show me that my tooth was in fact dead. It was really freaky realizing that I couldn't feel anything with that tooth.

So, we began the root canal after he explained how much it would cost. Luckily I was already in a ton of pain, so I didn't have time or energy to care. Which is good because I'm also going to need a crown when this is all healed and I have no idea how much that will cost.

I feel the need to point out now that my Endodontist smelled like Aveda products. Being a huge fan and someone that uses Aveda, it was oddly comforting. Plus, it was nice that someone who was going to be so close to me smelled nice and not in a "I bathed in cologne today" way.

Long story short, I had a root canal, was informed that I also have an infection in my jaw, written a prescription for antibiotics and sent home to rest at around 2:30.

Since I had not eaten since a very rushed breakfast around 7:30 am, I was starving. I ate a quick lunch, wherein I bit the crap out of my lip and now I have a really gross bruise on the inside of it. Apparently eating while your mouth is numbed all to heck is not a good idea unless you are paying close attention.

And here is where it gets really bad.

As the numbness wore off, the pain came back in a very bad way. I was literally crying uncontrollably, rocking back and forth to try and alleviate the pain somehow. The Boyfriend was trying everything he could think of to get me to calm down and try to breathe through the pain, but I was having none of it. Crying, of course, was not helping anything since that was making my head hurt worse, but I just could not stop. I've never felt this way before, or at least, in such a long time that I don't remember what it feels like to not be able to control what your body is doing.

This lasted for a couple of hours. I finally calmed down when the aspirin kicked in and started alleviating some of the pain.

Later that night I was treated to a wonderful surprise when Kendra stopped by with a huge stuffed Monkey for me, plus a bag full of treats like an ice-cream bar and Advil. It was so thoughtful I almost starting crying again! Apparently I'm a bit emotional over this.

So, anyway, I'm at work for part of the day today, mostly to get out of the apartment for a bit, before I get too tired and hurty. My jaw is quite sore, but my tooth already feels better.

I've had this conversation many times before, but it's quite sad how it takes something like this happening before you really appreciate your health. Or your teeth.