smiling on foot

It’s 5 a.m., my medicine has worn off and the pain from Tuesday’s gum surgery has awakened me. Needless to say, I am not a happy LK. Have I told you why my gums are in need of so much repair? Probably not, so here you are…

One day 3 years ago, I was chatting with JBP at the ol’ workplace when my filling just popped right out of my mouth. Thank goodness I was talking to a friend and not the CEO or anything (because the CEO and I were total Bifskies).  As it turned out, the tooth was so grinded (fyi – grinded is not a real word) away, it could not be filled again and the dentist I went to at the time opted for a crown.  The crown felt a little sensitive, but I figured that was part of having a crown. Fast forward 2 1/2 years and the sensitivity has increased. At a regular cleaning with my Weytown dentist, I bring it up to him and he says that there’s a gap and who knows what’s going on under there. This was when the fun started.  There are just 10 easy steps to the sort of Dental fun and good times that I’ve been fortunate to experience and await me in the near future:

1) Weytown dentist says I need to pay my old dentist a visit and request a new crown for free. Not an awkward request at all. I did take off a half day at work and drove all the way up to Woburn for the old dentist to tell me there’s nothing wrong with this crown and that I need a root canal.

2) I then made an appt. with the root canal specialist at my Weytown dentist. He told me that I don’t need a root canal, but I could have gum disease and to meet with the gum specialist.

3) I met with the gum specialist and he said I did indeed have some sort of inflammation surrounding this crown… mainly due to the crown being too big for my mouth.

4) Following the gum specialist’s treatment plan, I went for a “scaling” or “deep cleaning” that lasted a little over 2 hours. I borrowed an anti-anxiety drug for this visit. The Novocain application was the worst ever. Ever. The girl was young and most likely fresh out of dental school. She jammed that thing so hard into the back of my mouth that it took my breath away. Then tears started to stream down the sides of my face as I tried to stay still and wait for it to be over. When she saw the tears, she told me I was doing great and jammed it harder while holding my head to be doubly sure I wasn’t going to move. I don’t cry in the dentist chair ever. Ever. I only hope she improves her Novocain implementation skills in time.When standing at the reception desk making my next appt., the receptionist asked if I was okay. I was just blankly staring out the window… half loopy on anti-anxiety medicine and half traumatized and responded in a distant voice, “Dental work is sad…”  She agreed. Then I went back to work for the day.

5) A couple of weeks later, I went in to have my crown removed and a temporary one put in its place. This time, my Weytown dentist did the Novocain application and he did it with far less brutality and pain. However, when he told me to rinse when he was done, I realized my hands were shaking. I didn’t take an anti-anxiety pill for this procedure, but perhaps I was more traumatized from the last visit than I thought. I wore my iPod throughout, but there was no drowning out the crunch sound of the crown as he took it out of my mouth in pieces. Gross! But overall, this visit wasn’t so bad.

6) Two days ago was the gum surgery. The gum specialist sliced open my gums to clean out the bacteria that had been collected and trapped under my too-big-crown and then gave me stitches. I borrowed another anti-anxiety drug for this visit and had Mum drive me there. Mum asked how I was feeling in the waiting room and if I was nervous. I told her that I wasn’t really nervous, but just sad that I had to be there. She laughed and said that perhaps this is my reaction to anti-anxiety medicine – sad.  I really didn’t know what to expect and thought maybe I’d get some of my errands done later that afternoon. Boy, was I wrong! This was another 2-hour visit and the iPod came out again. The special bonus of gum surgery, is that not only do you get the big jab of Novocain at the back of your mouth, but you also get repeated little needles of Novocain applied all along the outside of your gums and then all along the inside. Needles. Stuck into your gums. Repeatedly. Surgery was noisy and wet. I had to wear goggles. When the Novocain wore off, it was bad. I was so wiped out, I could barely make it to CVS to get my prescriptions. I took my first 800 mg of Motrin at 1:30 and by 3:30, I was alive again. I even played the piano. NF came over and I had another pill with dinner. We laughed and talked through the movie I had put on for us and then I felt a little twinge… and then it hurt… and then it felt really warm in my mouth. I think I pulled one of my stitches out.  But that whole area is covered with a wax-like substance (called “the dressing”), so I can’t be sure of what’s happening. NF was leaving anyway so I walked him out and then stuffed a pile of gauze in my mouth and went to sleep like that. Thankfully, the bleeding stopped (mostly) by the next morning. But I felt like someone beat my face in and left me for dead. I somehow dragged myself downstairs and made some soft and warm french toast followed by 800 mg of Motrin. I was still wiped out and in some pain for work, but I could still function okay.

7) Next up will be stitches removal on October 1st. They told me it’s pretty quick.

8) 6-8 weeks after stitches removal, I will get my brand spanking new crown, that hopefully is not too big for my mouth.

9) I don’t know the specifics of my new dental insurance, but I had to pay $550 this week and I have another $550 on my account that I’ll pay later. And I’m sure there’s more to come. Better to get this over with while I’m living at home, I guess.

10) Enjoy a healthy mouth that will include one perfect crown on top of the cleanest gum line in the south shore!