Nightmare on Dental Street

The bets are brewin’ at the dentist’s office, I know it.  There’s a pot with my name on it!  The pot that all the hygienists, office personnel, and even the dentist herself is throwing money into…

I’ll bet you anything she will be back!

Unfortunately, they’re RIGHT! 

Let’s rewind a bit.  A few weeks ago my very back molar on the bottom left started to hurt when I chewed on it.  Not like a toothache kind of pain.  It was a sharp pain whenever I would bite down. 

Trusty ol’ Google to the rescue…

Fracture! 

No way!!  I don’t chew ice (ok, maybe when I’m pregnant but that doesn’t count)… I just eat.  FOOD!  Food can’t do that, can it? 

More research revealed that bruxism is often to blame.  Darn bruxism!!  Why do you plague me? 

Then it was on to study the tooth itself.  I turned on the flashlight on my phone and began investigating.  Sure enough, I could see the break.

And the next day… it still hadn’t healed.  What!?  I can hope… that it might heal… overnight.  A good night’s sleep can do wonders for one’s body.  It just doesn’t seem to heal teeth. 

STUPID BRUXISM!  Did I say that already?

I called the dentist, got in within a couple of days and really hoped that they would let me in on some groundbreaking new way of fixing broken teeth.  Put it in a cast for six weeks?  I could live with that!  Teeth are bones… bones heal, right?

Um, no.  Teeth are dumb.  They didn’t get the memo.

And all the dentist did was confirm my fears.  ROOT CANAL!  I’ve never had a root canal before.  Scary!!  Plus I had SIX cavities!!  SIX!!  I went years… 12 years or more without a single one and now I have SIX???  Ugh! 

I promise I brush my teeth!

The torture began….

1st visit – Confirm my fears

2nd visit – Root canal performed.  Not as bad as I anticipated during the process but the aftermath was a nightmare.  I have a hard time numbing on the bottom usually because the anatomy of my jaw is different according to every dentist.  And my tooth had a hard to reach root.  Anatomy… who needs ya?  And the hygienist left the temporary filling too high, so…

3rd visit – same day as the second visit.  Had them drill it down a TON so I could actually close my mouth.  That tooth and the one above it were the only ones that would touch.  OUCH!!  That tooth was SO sensitive.

4th visit – prepare the tooth for a crown

5th visit – molds for crown

6th visit – right side cavities filled by endodontist who listened when I told him the fillings felt wrong.  Filed them down accordingly.  (Fillings don’t match my teeth… good thing they’re all on molars.  Isn’t that the whole point of white fillings?)

7th visit – Crown placed… WAY too high and after drilling it down to fit so I could close my mouth again, she had drilled all the way down to my real tooth.  Appointment set to try remove that crown and start over.

8th visit – left side cavities filled by the dentist this time who doesn’t believe me that they feel too high because her ‘special blue paper thing’ says it’s fine.  Oh, I’m sorry.  I didn’t realize that you ARE my mouth and you KNOW how it should feel.  IT’S TOO HIGH!!  FIX IT!   **Sigh**  (Once again they don’t match.)  Also, first crown removed and new molds taken.

9th visit – back the same day as the 8th visit to make her file the fillings down more.  She wanted me to wait until the numbing wore off to ‘make sure’.  Pretty sure I know they don’t feel right when only that side of my teeth will clench together.  I didn’t wait for the numbing to wear off, either.  I got home from the previous visit and called right away to get in.  Still too high but better… she DOESN’T LISTEN!!  Can I get the endodontist back?

10th visit – Got my second crown placed.  It’s a much better fit than the first but still a little high in the back… which is why I’ll be going back…. for an 11th visit. 

Can’t……… wait……….. woohoo.  **Said in an Eeyore-ish kind of way** 

And when I come through that door, they’ll put on their cheesy smiles while rolling their eyes behind my back.  It’s written all over their faces and I don’t care!!  You’re getting paid good money and I want it done right!! 

That’s all I have to say about that…… I don’t wanna talk about it anymore.  NIGHTMARE I tell you!  STUPID BRUXISM!!

On to happier dental news. 

This little snow princess just lost the second of her two front teeth. 

And if you can believe it, the Tooth Fairy forgot to come 5 NIGHTS IN A ROW!  We figured it was all the snow storms we were getting :).  When she finally did show up guess what she did… she left H a dollar that was already hers!!  (How was I supposed to know the dollar with the small blue ink smudge from the dryer was the one she had in her back pocket?)  WHOOPS! 

And these two handsome devils just completed their first SUCCESSFUL dental visit (different dentist, thank goodness)!  C has been a few times before this but this was the first time they were able to actually clean his teeth and get some x-rays.  He was so nervous about certain parts of it that he would literally shake.  Being the mean mom that I am I laughed.  B was nervous at first but he got over it pretty quickly.  No cavities for either of them!

 

Any dental nightmares you’ve had to deal with?