Its been a busy few days. For the Memorial day weekend, the troops and I went to visit family and just escape for a few days. It was nice to catch up with people back home. There were a lot of good memories made this time around. My son went on his first train ride (Thomas was in town so we did that with my husband's family) and we spent time visiting with my husband's grandparents which was fantastic, and I got to spend some good time with my Dad so overall it was really nice. We also had a nice little fire at my parents and my son didn't set himself on fire so it was a win all around!
The most recent and exciting update though is Root Canal- Part Deux!
For those of you out there who have never experienced a root canal, you're not missing much. I will share my story and advice with you now so you can be in the know!
The back story is I have very bad enamel on my teeth. Despite my OCD flossing and brushing, I just get cavities and never have a nice clean dental check up. Its a fact of life that I will live with until I die. Dentists ask me what I would like to change about my smile and I respond, "Nothing, I think its lovely. Just make it last until I'm in the ground please..." and then they laugh.
Well, my teeth got really weak when I was pregnant with my son. The kid just drained all the calcium out of my body. I cracked two teeth when I was pregnant with him. For those of you who know tooth numbering, I cracked my 2nd and 3rd molars (Upper right back 2 molars). I had to have crowns placed on them but the back most molar always gave me issues with pain. Being the GENIUS I am, I ignored it and chalked it up to clenching too much when I sleep.
ADVICE NUMBER 1: If you have tooth pain, don't be an idiot like me and ignore it!
Well the pain continued on and off until about the middle of this past March when it became constant. Due to scheduling issues, I kept putting off the doctor until I woke up one morning and my gum was swollen, pussy, and the tooth felt loose.
ADVICE NUMBER 2: Make sure you go to your regular check ups!
I went to my normal dentist (where the best dental hygienist on the face of the planet works FYI) and they did x-rays and essentially wouldn't touch my tooth until and Endodontist did a root canal. Endodontists are specialized in inflicting the most aggravating and annoying dental work imaginable on the general public. The infection in this tooth was so large that it was just a giant black shadow around the root.
ADVICE NUMBER 3: Really, DON'T IGNORE ADVICE NUMBER 1!
So Dr. Root Canal sat me back in the chair, put this blue, plastic suffocating device over my mouth and began work. When the words "wow... umm.... just... this is just a lot of puss..." and "I haven't had one drain like this in forever" come out of a dentist's mouth, its pretty impressive and I did feel quite proud of myself. That was until he told me that the extent of infection meant he needed to let it drain for longer and that I would have to come back.
ADVICE NUMBER 4: Floss regularly.
So I went through 2 rounds of antibiotics (which physically just wiped me out) and 10 days of "draining" and I didn't have any pain. I saw the light. Until the tooth started pussing again. The light turned off. So I went back for root canal part deux and Dr. Root Canal starts working. At one point in time, he was sucking infection out of the gum and said he removed about 2 tablespoons of puss. Once again, I felt proud of myself. UNTIL, he started cementing up the root canals and sticking every instrument he had in my mouth.
ADVICE NUMBER 5: If you need a root canal, I suggested for the days prior, do some jaw exercises to strengthen your jaw in preparation for keeping it wide open for 2 plus hours.
Once Dr. Root Canal was done torturing me, he took a final x-ray. We compared the before and after. Before it was a big, black, shadowy mess. After, it was a smaller black, shadowy mess but this time, the cement in my root canals showed up so I look like I have a bionic tooth! Apparently, the infection in my tooth was so bad it ate at the bone and went into my sinuses. I won't be fully healed for a few months as the bone - yes I said BONE - starts to grow back.
ADVICE NUMBER 6: Be nice to your dentists. Its not their fault your teeth are a mess and they have the ability to either be gentle with you or not. Butter them up and make them laugh before they start your procedure. They could be having a rough day and you don't want that taken out on you...
I am glad that the majority of the work is over. This root canal and infected tooth is symbolic, representative, evidence (etc.) of a really rough time that I've been through and from which I am still healing. It quite literally is the straw - as in the straw and the camel's back. Has it broken my back? Not quite. I'm still kicking. I've very slowly found my humor again. But the straw is still there. And its a constant reminder of what has happened. I think I'll be able to talk about it some more in the near future but not quite yet. I will say that I am very blessed to have the people in my life - my dentists with awesome hygienists, my root canal dentist that thankfully appreciated my humor and was as gentle as he could be, my regular doctors who make sure I'm healthy, and my family who support me, love me, and pray for me.
So until later, have a great day and GO BRUSH YOUR TEETH!
Kathy
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