4/02/2009

Teeth..or tooth

Finally I come back to my blog. Mostly because I am annoyed. Not a great reason to blog, I know this, but...

So on January 30th I had an appt to get my (#14) molar pulled. It broke/cracked, and the filling fell out. Without dental insurance, the cheapest easiest route was to have it pulled...

I researched/googled, and my brother's girlfriend reccomended a "cheaper than most" dentist.. so I get nervous, go see him, expecting to have my tooth out. Good thing I already take anxiety meds, so I can take one before I go.

He can't pull it out. He says it will break, and he is not set up for that in his office. He puts me on an antibiotic and refers me to an oral surgeon. How thankful I will be for this, I do not yet know.

They refer me to a couple of local oral surgery places. I call around and find out about prices. Fixing teeth is not the least expensive thing to do, is what I figured out. We decided on a place, and made the appt for Feb 25. The broken tooth was now starting to be pretty painful when I ate.. so I was eating mostly softer things, on the other side of my mouth.. waiting for this appt so that the pain would be done...

I went into the dentist chair on the 25th of Feb.. he tells me that he could do a root canal to save the tooth. I decline (its very expensive and not always effective). He asks me if I want to be IV sedated for my procedure. I say no, just hte local. He makes me sign a paper that says that pulling upper molars can sometimes cause a "communication" between your sinus and your....nose? Well, ok, if they have a paper typed up about it to sign I figure it is not a big deal... I sign...

He puts all the novacaine shots in and I tap on my teeth because it feels weird and I want to tell Jimbo about it... the Dr comes back in after a few mins and checks if I can feel anything. I can't. He says we are ready to go and gets out ... pliers? Well a surgical instrument that looked like pliers to me. He says I will feel pulling and pressure but no pain. He is right.. a LOT LOT LOT of pulling and a LOT of pressure. But I did not actually feel pain. Just fear and hopes that it would be over soon... there might have been tears, I am pretty sure there were tears.. P O P.
The tooth broke the dr says (but to me it felt/sounded like an explosion. Well then he is taking out small parts of bone, and drilling.. not pleasant, but I am happy it is finally done.

He told me then that there was a small hole in my sinus so I would need to follow "sinus precautions" ... take an antihistamine every day 3xs a day and no blowing the nose for 2 weeks and no straws, no anything like sneezing that would possibly make pressure, and keep the sinus hole open. Ok, I get home in pain, and take the pain medicine. By the 4th or so day I was almost out of pain medicine, and Jim called the on call Dr. They said it should not still be hurting too much, and to come in for my check up appt early. So we make the appt and go in.

The Dr sees a (I am not certain, but pretty sure) 5mm hole. Shows it to Jimbo on the little dentist mirror. He says that it should have healed up by now, and that I will have to come back in 2 days for the "buckle flap closure." More pain medicine and more antibiotics.. and we go back 2 days later...

This time I opted for the conscious sedation.. iv drug (versed I think) and nitrous oxide to make me not remember. After they take a really cool xray of my teeth/sinus, he starts the surgery, and thankfully this time I dont remember ANYTHING about it. I went and sat in some recliner while they went to get Jim, and after a little excess bleeding, was out of there after 30 mins...

Now I am home, on pain killers, antihistamine, no sneezing, no nose blowing, no straws etc.. after the first full week it didn't hurt so much, so I was not on soft foods anymore (yay).. so after that 2 weeks of minor sometimes pain.

Then I wake up Tuesday night with bad "sinus" pain on that side. I take some medicine and wait it out and call on wed afternoon to move up my next appt, due to the pain. So we go in today, and he takes a new xray and says that things look closed, and healing well. He is not sure what is causing the pain, but thinks it is probably a sinus infection starting and gives me my (fourth) round of antibiotics. I see him again next week. If everything is fine, then the misadventure is over, if not, then he will refer me to an Ear Nose and Throat Dr, to look at my sinus.

I guess I laid out this whole ordeal becuase of a few things. 1. I didn't know until the age of 30 that I have a healthy about of fear of the dentist. That fear is pretty HUGE now. 2. I believed everyone who told me that you "go in, get the tooth out, feel better, easy peasy" 3. I have not felt this sick or not human, or dependent since I was a small child. Without Jim's help, support and taking care of me, I would have been sad and scared for weeks. 4. The oral surgeon is a great guy, and very reassuring and smart, yet he scares the CRAP out of me. 5. I am vain. I had a back molar taken out, I don't think anyone would know it if I didn't tell them... but to me it feels like a huge crevice, embarrassing and gross. I never knew I was this way... The things the dentist can teach you about yourself.....

If you have read this post, you deserve cookies and ice cold milk :)

Angel

1 comment:

Dr. Deb said...

I always check to see if you've posted. So....hooray. You did!

I don't have dental insurance either. It is so frustrating. I have a similar-ish problem and right now I am doing absolutely nothing about it.

Good luck.