Getting back to my roots

Canal, that is. I have a molar on the left lower side of my mouth that’s had a HUGE filling in it since I was a kid. About two years ago the dentist said he thought the filling might be getting loose and need replaced, since occasionally I’d bite down and it would hurt for a second. 

About a year ago, he said that since it’s such a large filling he wouldn’t be able to replace it and that I should get a crown put on it. Since it wasn’t extremely painful and the cost of a crown is, I put it off for yet another year.

About two weeks ago the tooth started hurting over the weekend so my dentist worked me in on Monday. He said that the tooth would definitely need a root canal and prescribed me vicodin to hold me over until I could get in. He said he didn’t think I needed any antibiotics since it didn’t seem infected.

About a week ago, the tooth was getting more painful so I decided to take my son’s antibiotics instead.

Last night, I was in so much pain that the vicodin only calmed it enough to allow me to sleep a little.

This morning, I woke up and my jaw was quite swollen and the pain horrid. My root canal appointment was for tomorrow but I figured the tooth had absessed and that they would give me antibiotics and reschedule. I called work and told them that I’d be late as I was going to the dentist first to see what they wanted to do.

The staff at the dentists said that they didn’t want to wait til tomorrow since it was obviously infected and the endontist worked me in at 11:30.

This afternoon, root canal done and mouth still quite numb I was feeling pretty good.

This evening, the numbness has worn off and I’m in pain again. They said I would still be in pain when the anesthetic wore off but that it should get better over the next few days and to call should the pain worsen instead of get better.

The worst part is that after they got the root canal done, they drilled out the center of the tooth and discovered not one, but four cracks with at least one going down the root. The dentist said that if it was cracked down into the root they would probably have to extract it, however, the endotist said that although we’re not out of the woods, he may still be able to save the tooth.

I’m saying that if this doesn’t start feeling better soon, tooth be danged, they can yank that baby out!!!!

Other than that, everything’s going pretty good…..except that I had to cancel several appointments and reschedule them on an already busy schedule….wonder where they fit them in.

For the record, the root canal wasn’t really that bad….took nearly 2 hours total but was pretty painless. Of course that may be due to the fact that he numbed me in the regular way and then when I could feel something on the gum around the tooth he gave me 4 quick shots of Lodine right at the tooth….lol

Right now I’m back in Vicodin land….although I must say I don’t see what the big deal is, cause it sure isn’t doing much for me!