Thursday, May 7, 2009

What Pain Threshold?

So...for the past day I've had the worst toothache of my life. It actually wasn't too bad yesterday, but last night I woke up at 4am with excruciating pain. On a scale from 1-10 it was a 9.5.

See, I hate going to the dentist and I've had a tooth that was damaged from when I had braces. My dentist in my hometown did a temporary fix on it and told me it needed to be crowned. Well, I moved away to Louisiana and never had it worked on. Now I fear that my time has come for this tooth and it's gotten bad. Bad as in I'm pretty sure they are either going to want to pull it or do a root canal on it.

I'm off to the dentist today to see what can be done. Knowing the Army, I won't even get in to see anyone until next week. Oh and did I mention that I'm such a procrastinator with visiting the dentist that I have yet to even turn my records in? I'm also not sure if I was supposed to switch my coverage area on my dental insurance through the Army either. If so and I'm 99% sure I was then I might have to pay out of pocket until it's switched. I knew my loathing of the dentist would get me in the end!

A few of you might wonder why exactly I hate going to the dentist so much. Well, it's not the dentist himself, because growing up I had a fantastic dentist. He was always nice to me and gently chided me when I wasn't doing something I should be. I have weak enamel though, as in very weak and I always had something wrong with my teeth. Didn't matter how much I flossed or brushed, I still always had something wrong. That and the sound of the drill are enough to make me shudder every time I think of going to the dentist.

So...now it's off to post to figure out what they can do and I suspect I'll be buying Orajel and some whiskey. To rub on my gums...of course.

*UPDATE* I got into the dentist and they did an exam and some x-rays. As I suspected my back tooth is dying. They are going to pull it...in 3 weeks. Yep, you heard me right. The next available appointment they have is the 28th of May. The upside is he gave me a prescription for Percoset. I may or may not have been a little too enthusiastic when he told me that.

24 comments:

Jon and Steph said...

I seriously hate going to the dentist too, I get all panicky and sweaty.

But at the end of the day it's not so bad once you get in there and they get to work. It's all the anticipation and procrastination that makes it so scary...... I think.

Good luck!

SarahEileen said...

Bride Wars was cute I thought...sorta predictable, but a good girly movie nonetheless.

Keep up the C25K...it's worked for me so far even when I didn't think it would.

I've had a total of 11 teeth pulled in my life (including wisdom teeth)...I have a ridic. mouth-pain tolerance. I feel for you tho!

J.L.S. said...

I absolutely detest the dentist. I have had one too many teeth pulled in my childhood... 16 to be exact... it will be 20 when I finally break down and have my wisdom teeth cut out. :( I'm glad all he has to do is pull it... and no root canal! And yay for the Rx!!

d.a.r. said...

Oh no, I am so sorry!!! Honestly, I was terrified of my root canal, but it wasn't really all that bad. Now I am crapping my pants at the thought of having a crown put on it. Ick, that will be at the end of the month. The same day you are getting yours yanked, actually!!

Hopefully the drugs help!!

Fidgeting Gidget said...

I hate the dentist, too....I had a great one when we were living in MI and now that we're in Canada, I'm afraid to find a new one because I know all he's going to do is want to fill my teeth and give me a mouth guard since I grind mine and yell at me because I don't floss enough...and I just hate that. Good luck!

Meg said...

Ew dentist. I haven't been there in more years than I care to count. You're brave! :) Have you had percocet before? If not, be careful. It's makes me and a very large number of people who have taken it have a very sick stomach. Eck.

Abbie said...

Oh no! That sucks they can't get you in for another 3 weeks! But at least they were nice enough to give you something for the pain.

I used to hate going to the dentist too until my best friend graduated from dental school...now it's just a walk in the park.

Big hugs to you!

Anonymous said...

oh no fun! Good luck!

Amber said...

ugh, I HATE the dentist too...it's all the scraping. Enjoy the percs! :)

Meg said...

Ugh, I'm not a big fan of dentists either. I hope the meds help and it doesn't bother you too much until they can pull it.

Jenny said...

Oh no!! I felt for you the entire way through reading this; procrastinating on teeth, check, losing records, check, horrible pain, chech, check, check!! But you scored with the percocet, much better than vicodin. (I know I sound like a junky, but it's just that with all the tooth work I've done, I know what pain medication actually works!) Will they be able to put you under?

Random Musings said...

Ugg I HATE the dentist too.. I go every 3 years and I just had my first cavity...

3 weeks of percocet... WEEHHOOO

Sassy Engineer said...

Oh no! I have never been a fan of the dentist, but that was my fault. I was not a good steward of my teeth when growing up. Now I try really hard and my appointments are much happier :)

Good luck, and I hope the pain lessens!

Casey (@ Chaos and Cardboard) said...

Um, the dentist sucks. Big time. I have to get my mouth numbed to get my teeth clean AND I bring an Ipod so I can't hear the tools. Ugh.

Crazy Shenanigans-JMO said...

Oh man! That's not good, I bet it was that tooth giving you the headache. Hopefully those meds will help you until they pull it.

The 28th is when Matt comes home for leave!!!

TJ said...

Eeek! Pain pills make me sick so they would have to have me in sooner hahah. I hope you feel better! :)

Becca said...

Oh my. You're giving me dejavu. When I was in Vicenza, I suddenly had a wisdom tooth go bad. I looked like I'd stuffed a grapefruit in my cheek. Rather than pull the bad tooth, they pulled the one above it, so I could close my jaw. 6 weeks later! an oral surgeon came down from Germany to pull the rest. So maybe 3 weeks isn't so bad? Hope you feel better soon. With Percoset, that's a pretty good bet.

lola said...

OH gosh -- I hope you're at least feeling a bit better with the medicine in your system! :P

I have really bad teeth and I grind them at night. I'm probably going to need to have all of my teeth pulled/fixed by the time I'm 50.

Do they have any plans to replace it, or are they just straight up pulling it?

Natalie said...

No fun! Hope you feel better soon.

silver star said...

From my experiences and from everyone else's comments, I've came to the conclusion that dentists, orthodontists, and hygenists have to be the worst people in the world! I am so sorry about your pain and having to wait 3 weeks to get it fixed.

Tania said...

I'm so sorry! Ouch! I've never had a tooth pulled out, but I hope it's as painless as possible!

Shoshanah said...

I'm not a huge fan of the dentist either. Mostly because I had so many cavities growing up. And every time the dental assistant made me feel guilty for having them.

Stacey Cannon said...

Oooohhhh my. I hate the dentist too...good luck - enjoy the pills!!! ;)

Lisa said...

I'm the same way about the dentist too! I hate it! I took care of my teeth and got all kinds of cavities. My sisters never got ANY! I haven't been in over 2 years, the last time I went was because I lost a filling while chewing gum. Oops.

Glad to hear they're going to take care of it... hope it's not awful!