3rd Longest Dentist Appointment

I was in the dentist last Thursday from 11:00 am to 6:00 pm, with a 45 minute "lunchbreak".

And during my lunchbeak, I was prepped for crown #2 which means I had a huge hole in my mouth.

I had 3 composite crowns and two fillings.

...and it didn't go nearly as well as I thought it would.

During the first half of the day, we acomplished the crown and filling on the top. Before lunch, he prepped the bottom right molar for the crown and made it while I was gone.

...and I made the mistake of not getting anything to eat before my appointment. So needless to say, by 6:00, I was starving.

Then from 2:30 to 6:00, we did the bottom two crowns and the filling on the front tooth.

Oh! And just for the record: I only had TWO shots of Novicane: and they were just for the fillings, not teh crowns :) So yeah, another great example of making things happen intensive.

It would have been wonderful if it wasn't for a few problems along the way. The bottom right molar was the worse to do, because the wisdom tooth is the most impacted on that particular molar. I'll leave the nasty details out as to what happened... but just so you know: it's the main reason why my mouth hurts like hell right now.

I also... (yikes!)... felt the drill on my bottom left crown.

Oh... it was bad. Reeeeaaaaalllllllllyyyy bad.

By about 5:00, I was just getting stir-crazy and I had to start walking around the office. I was the only patient in there for the majority of the day, and I then found myself (out of sheer boredom) walking around to other rooms and asking the people if I could get them anything.

...and in my drug-inducted, beaten-up mouth state, I suppose it was NOT very appreciated.


So needless to say, my Thursday evening wasn't very productive. I came home on Thursday and ran straight to my bottle of anti-inflammatory medication; took a few; then was posted up on the couch by 7:00 and remained there for the duration of the evening.

Thank God I've had the weekend to recover. I'm still a little swollen, but at least I'm "full steam ahead" at work.

Today is the Day

So I was actually not really that nervous up until, like, 15 minutes ago. I just had the realization that about 1/4 of my teeth are going to be replaced, fixed, or worked on in less than 3 hours from now. Yikes.

Yeah, I know. I'm the "dentist trooper", taking on pretty much anything that comes my way. But damn. This is some intensive stuff going on today.

At 11:00 today, I am having an unusual amount of work done to my teeth. I don't think I've been scheduled to have my teeth worked on for this long since I got my braces put on. He's blocked out his whole afternoon, and I even get an "intermission" because I'll be there for, like, 5 hours.

Please God, let Dr. Morrison have a wide array of bite-rests so my jaw doesn't lock up while I'm in there. How embarrassing would that be?!

I'm getting (finally!) 2 permanent crowns put on my back bottom molars; both of which have had a root canal in the past month. My top right molar is broken of course (another one we can thank the wisdom teeth for), so we're going to put a permanent crown on there as well. Then, right next to that tooth, I have a teeny tiny cavity that we're going to tackle before it gets bigger. Same situation on one of my front teeth...

...and that's a scary endeavor. I've never had a filling on one of my front teeth. How are they going to drill it out?! It's like, not on a molar!?! I've never had a filling on a tooth that's in the front. Kinda nervous about that.

...and after today, me and my dentist will hopefully be finished with Phase I of "LaSha's Molar Nightmare". I don't know what's going to happen today, but all I know is that I've never had my ENTIRE mouth numb all at once before. It's always been the side... or the back... or the top.. or the bottom... now it's everything. 

And after we finish today, I believe I get to rest for about 2-4 weeks, then... onto Phase II!!

Which is.... (drum-roll please!)... "LaSha's Wisdom Teeth Nightmare"!!

Ahhh... I can't even comprehend my wisdom teeth right now. That's a whole other task. We'll handle that down the road, but that scares the shit out of me RIGHT NOW. The thought of "going under" (slash, never waking up) is more terrifying than going through the pain.


I'll see if I can get copies of X-Rays when we get to that point and post them on here. When you see how my wisdom teeth are coming in, your going to crap your pants. 


Here's an example of what mine look like:

Grrrrr......


Yeah.. and all 4 of mine are like that, and therefor: surgical removal of all 4 of them at the same time is my only option to save my teeth that are currently in my mouth from being crushed or shifting to the point where I need braces again.


Actually... that does kind of look like MY teeth... but the only exception is that you would be able to see my root canal on the molar. The molar in this picture only has a filling - no root canal. You'd get the white stuff all the way down to the roots, hence "root canal".


So wish me luck with Phase I today. Hopefully I'll come out of there a brand new woman!! And once the wisdom teeth come out, I should be done seeing the dentist more than I do my own parents.

I'm the BEST Patient Ever!

So.... I had my root canal today!

It fascinates me that everyone cringes when I say "root canal". It's a vacation for me. 


And it was awesome!!!


And no, I wasn't on any type of medication besides Novicane. That's right. No IV or gas.


My appointment was at 12:45, and I would say I got the first shot around 1:15-1:30. And my lucky ass was out of there by 2:45, and back to work at 3:00.

Yeah, that's what we call making things happen INTENSIVE.


And to top off the AWESOME root canal, my endodontist said I was by far the most accommodating patient he's ever had because I was so fascinated with the whole root canal process. He actually offered me a job as his dental assistant!! But I love my job WAY too much to leave.

Then again... I LOVE going to get my teeth worked on.

And I'm thinking... I'd get all my teeth work done for free!! 


Seeing as how I'm just about maxed out on my insurance, which by the way, came into affect 9 days ago... it might not be such a bad proposition.

But...


Then I realized I'm probably the only person on the face of the planet that LOVES root canals and LOVES fillings and LOVES cleanings... and pretty much anything that doesn't involve an IV being stuck in my arm. And I don't have much patience. And I believe I might have to have patience for those people who aren't as lucky as me.

So yeah, I think I'll pass on that for now.

And for those of you who don't really follow the blog: Thursday, March 18th at 11:00am is going to hopefully solve all these problems once and for all. This is when I'm going back to my dentist... Feel free to flip through some older blog posts to know what ALL I'm having done :)

Oh There's Lots More to Come...

The plan for yesterday, obviously, was to do an "suicide" on my mouth - getting everything done at once.

Well... that didn't happen.

You know the molar I broke last Friday?  Well come to find out, that molar has been in bad shape for a while. As a matter of fact, it's been broke for quite some time and I just never noticed it enough until that MUCH larger piece broke off.

After the first X-Ray to determine how we'd fix the top and bottom molar, my dentist discovered a horrible tragedy:

I need another root canal.

Fuck, can you be serious? Just when I thought I was done with Phase I (teeth), it has turned to Phase 1A and 1B. Phase II is Wisdom Teeth, and I am totally farther from that than I thought I was.

So this means I will have had 2 root canals in less than one month... one on the right lower, the other on the left lower. So here's the new plan:

Tuesday, March 9th at 12:45pm: Root Canal on lower right molar.

...antibiotics for a week...

Thursday, March 18th at 11:00am-4:00pm: Finishing Phase 1:

a: Permanent Crown on bottom left Root Canal.

b. Permanent Crown on bottom right Root Canal.

c. Filling on #14.

d. Permanent Cap on #15.

e. Filling on #26.

But I didn't leave there empty-handed: I got my teeth fully cleaned, whitened, and a fluoride treatment. It was quite nice to finally go to the dentist and get pampered instead of having major work done.

Oh well... we'll see... and I'll keep everyone posted! 

My Wonderful Dentist Doesn't Know What's Coming

So those of you that know me... you know that I've done nothing but visit the dentist for a whole slew of dental problems since I've been in middle school. It all started with me needing braces in the 6th grade...

And I wish I could find some "before" pictures of how my mouth was before I got braces (so word to anyone that has OLD SCHOOL pictures of me... I'd love to see myself in my pre-braces days). But anyway, the braces got put on in the 6th grade and stayed in until the summer before 9th grade. My parents made sure that we would have the braces on long enough for them to do their thing, and still have them off before high school. Oh if only we knew at the time what would come....

So, after having braces, I still had lots of problems: over-bite, shrunk pallet, overcrowding...  you name it, I've had surgery or some kind of device for it. I'm actually required to wear a retainer at night for the rest of my life. 

Now here I am... done with everything... and my assumption was totally wrong.


It started with my wisdom teeth back in high school. My dentist saw that a teeny tiny cavity on my back molar was probably caused by my wisdom teeth coming in impacted instead of straight up like most people's. Of course, I've heard the nightmares of wisdom teeth and getting mine taken out - all four at once - was not on my list of priorities.


Since high school, I have taken meticulous care of my teeth: mainly because I feel if my parents can pour over $10,000 in my dental work; the least I could do is continue the process. I've done my annual cleaning and whitening since I've moved out of the state on top of basic fillings and what not. Then all of a sudden... disaster strikes: I wake up in the morning and my face is swollen five times it's normal size. I can't open my mouth and even trying to leaves me doubled over in agonizing pain. Fuck!! Time to go see a dentist.


And keep in mind that during this time... I'm in-between insurance coverage from my current employer, and my previous employer through COBRA. So... of course... I have NO INSURANCE. I walk into the dentist and after countless X-Rays, it has been determined that I had an abscess tooth. 

Why has this never happened to me before? Oh yes... and a side note: 

Due to my wisdom teeth coming in sideways, I've had to deal with the constant battle of overcrowding. Two of my four back molars are actually crowns because my wisdom teeth have literally broken my back molars into pieces. If I just pull the tooth, I have to get braces put back on because of shifting... so getting any teeth pulled for the rest of my life is 100% out of the question. 


Anyway, the abscess was located on tooth #17, which is of course, a crown. So doing a regular root canal wasn't an option. I seem to have found myself in a rather sticky situation. But I love the dentist, endodontist... whatever. We're buds - and if you're ever in Charleston and need to see a dentist, don't go anywhere else but Dr. Morrison on Rivers. He does wonders, his staff is AWESOME, and most importantly: he's a good, Christian man.

So, after a first round of Clindamycin, and a second round of Amoxicillin (both spanning over 2 weeks) combat with Percocets and Lortabs every 4 hours, my infection was gone and my tooth was ready for a root canal!! Finally!! Based on X-Rays from the first visit, we were unclear if the abscess was caused by my wisdom teeth finally saying they've had enough and they're ready to come out, or from the molar. Thank God it was the molar, and thank God it was a root canal. Never before have I been so excited about a root canal, knowing that removing the wisdom teeth was the alternative.


I walked in the endodontists office as chipper and positive as I normally am, so I was rewarded with the huge, private corner office covered in windows overlooking Ashley Phosphate morning traffic. Not trying to be conceited, but I'm a dentists dream patient. I had my own flat-screen TV and massage chair... I was practically falling asleep waiting for the doctor to come in.

First Novicane shot: done. 

He started working... and I felt it. I could go into descriptives here, but I'll save those with a weak stomach from the torture. If you want the details of what I felt, just let me know :)

Second Novicane shot: done.

I was feeling pretty good, and I actually dozed off here and there during the whole three hour process. And no: I didn't receive any type of anesthesia!! I drove myself back to work when it was all said and done.

I've battled with TMJ since middle school (for those new to the concept of TMJ or TMJD: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temporomandibular_joint_disorder), and if it wasn't for the bite rest they gave me, it would have been a nightmare. I left there with a numb mouth and $1,000 poorer, but no more swollen face, and no more pain medication every 4 hours. I was under strict antibiotic orders, and I had rules of what I could and could not do with my root canal. I was also told to make an appointment with my dentist as soon as possible, so I could get a permanent crown to replace my temporary root canal.

So I called my dentist immediately after my root canal, and today at 1:30pm is the soonest that I could get in. But last Friday, all hell broke loose.

I was eating hibachi for lunch and I bit into something hard. Harder than my hibachi was supposed to be. My mind starts racing as I head to the bathroom. "Oh God, not again. If I just broke my root canal my dentist is going to kill me!!" I run to the mirror with my rudimentary dentist tools (a Mag-Lite and a paper clip) and take a look at the damage.

Awesome!! I just broke my molar in half!! Of course, this is the the last real molar I have left on my bottom jaw. I called my dentist right away and told them to add a broken #32 to Tuesday's to-do list. Here's what we're getting accomplished today:

1. Permanent crown on #32 (root canal).

2. Permanent crown on #17 (broken crown from Friday).

3. Filling / Crown (not sure yet) on #1 (another broken crown on the top).

4. Filling on #23 (ha ha... my mom just had the same one done last month).

5. Regular Exam to see what other damage needs to be handled.

6. Regular Cleaning.

7. XTreme Whitening. 

So wish me luck, people. I'll report back with the damage / good news :)