Now I Remember Why I Hate the Dentist

This next picture is not for the lite-stomached!
So I could not take the pain anymore. I have been putting off an abscessed tooth extraction since July. Yes, July. The pain became very unbearable this weekend, so at 8am this morning, I was in line at the OSU College of Dentistry ER clinic. Yes, I promised myself months ago that I would never go back... but I needed a quick fix, and I knew they were the only ones that would look at it (for the first time) and pull it out on the same day.

Triage was *pretty much* (said very loosely) routine: They ask what's wrong, I tell them and they look. However, since it is a college (I am making assumptions here), they like to do every test known to man, all in the name of figuring out what's not wrong. I told them which tooth (#30) was bothering me and I even told them the diagnosis. Yet, they still ran a hot/cold sensitive test, a biting/pressure test and finally a test to see which tooth hurts more when hit with a tool. The conclusion was that #30 needed to be pulled (DUH) or have the root canal re-done. Um, no. You are not 're-doing' a 20 year old root canal. Sigh. They offered to save the tooth... meaning, do the root canal and re-crown it... for only $610.00. Yeah- at the moment I owe OSU $2700.00, I am not about to add another $610.00 to a new department. So I opted to have a gaping hole in my mouth. I guess when I am rich I can buy an implant :)

So after signing my life away-well at least my tooth- we headed up to Maxillofacial and Oral Surgery. I was OK until I sat in the chair...awake. The grad-student gave me 2 rounds of novocaine. That was fine and dandy, but I was still tense. She had a very hard time getting the crown off my tooth, and since I was so tense, she offered me Nitrous Oxide (N2O). I have never had nitrous, so it was interesting. Felt kinda lala'ie and drunk... without all the negative effects of being drunk. I guess. After that kicked in, she went digging into my crown again. It finally popped off... but that is when it got ugly. Whenever she made an attempt to pull up my tooth, I could feel the pain at the root of the tooth (where the nerve is located). I cried to myself. When she noticed, she asked if I was crying from the pressure or pain. When she asked why I hadn't said anything, I could only reply, "I was hoping it would be over soon". But we were nowhere near the end...so she gave me another novocaine shot and up'ed the N2O! By that time, I was sailing on cloud nine. She pulled the tooth out and said (and I quote), "She's a beauty". That is just wrong. Wrong!

To spare you from the remaining details, just know that I am now in pain and am hungry. The resident dentist didn't feel that I needed anything for pain and that I should just take ibuprofen instead. Yeah, cause we all have the same pain. I'm sorry, when it comes to tooth pain, I am a sissy. I would rather give birth again, and again, and again than have tooth pain... or phantom tooth pain. So here I sit. In agony, because they will not give me anything to treat the pain. If I had any wine, I would drink it! But that is not the case. I do have some headache meds... but I don't think that they work. Tried it.

OK, that is all... the picture is to come. It's not bad (I don't think)... it is the whole tooth, root and all. It is actually very pretty...if you are into that kinda thing. Oh, and heavy. Hum, I should have weighed it at work today. O'well :)



WARNING!!!!!!!
The small cap is the crown that went over the head of the tooth after the first root canal (done sometime in '89). The large part is obviously the tooth. There are fibrous materials on the tooth because it was wrapped up in gauze, and stuck to it. Yummmmy! Kidding. Nasty!