The story behind the status: baby's first root canal

Earlier today:

Yesterday I woke up with a mild toothache in a tooth that had a filling put in it 10 or 11 years ago, and a second filling 2 years ago. By afternoon, it was aching pretty badly, and I figured that since I have 2 days off next week, I’d swing by the dentist then. Then the pain woke me up at 2am. I took some Extra Strength Tylenol and went back to sleep. At 4 I woke up again, my face throbbing, and realized I’d be calling the dentist first thing, and maybe get an appointment tomorrow.

By the time I called at 9:30, my entire head was pounding and I took a 4:30pm emergency appointment.

Diagnosis: Dead nerve, abscess. Treatment: Root canal.

Sweet merciful crap! I never had extensive dental work done before, and was understandably nervous. Because I’m a wimp when it comes to pain. Luckily, someone punked out on their appointment so my dentist could get the first part done.

Which included 4 novocaine shots (one in the front, three in the roof – I asked for the last one because I still felt pain) and drilling a emm-effing HOLE IN THE BACK OF MY TOOTH, scraping out the dead stuff, injecting medicinal goo, and patching the hole back up.

Cookie crumbs, none of that hurt half as much as the initial pain, so it was all good.

Now I’m home with prescription ibuprofen, penicillin, and some extra strength Ben & Jerry’s. There are few feelings as beautiful as noticing pain slip away.

I go back early October for part two, which involves finishing getting out the dead stuff, injecting goo into where the root was, and permanently patching the hole. Because the tooth is right next to one of my front teeth, it only had one root and the dentist thinks I won’t need a crown.

But all I have to say is: “Really, 40? Really?”