May 2008 Archives
My dental history is long and...well, expensive.
A couple months ago I had an infections start in #14 (my top-left rear molar). I went to an endodontist to address it; he indicated he needed to re-do the root-canal that was there (was done maybe 10 yrs ago?). Fine, gotta do what we need to do, right?
Turns out I'm one of those people who have a double-canal'd root (3 canals total instead of the normal two). So the endodontist took 3 sessions, one per canal, to re-do the root canal.
During the last session, the crown came off. He re-mounted it. Poorly, but still. I got into my regular dentist the next day to look at re-seating/fixing that crown. She patched it up.
A couple days later the pain from the re-root-canal procedure was killing me. Normally I heal pretty quick, and the day after such a thing I'm fine. But 3 days into this and I'm on 600mg of ibuprofen 2-3x a day just to get through the day. I notice gum recession to the point that it's pulling back significantly from the crown line. In other words, sizable "gaps" between gum and tooth. Which were incredibly sensitive to--well, anything -- especially food. That recession has been a really rough thing to deal with for the last two weeks.
Well, went back into the endo (that would be last wee,k on Thurs 5/15)--he said there was an abscess there now on #14. WTH?! It wasn't there last week (or was it, and he didn't notice?) This seems awfully fast for this kind of thing.
Anyway, he gave me vicadin and penicillin. Been on those. But the pain has still been bad, tho slowly getting better this last week. But the gaps, the gum recession, has continued, and been really hard to deal with food getting in there.
Well, got back into my regular dentist today. She looked and looked and finally said, "I think the best thing is going to be extraction." I did have this in the back of my mind the last two weeks. FAR in the back of my mind--and I've known for a long while I didn't think this tooth was going to last me forever; I knew it would end up coming out at some point.
After some x-rays, she said there had been considerable bone-loss--so much so there was very little bone left between the roots. We talked about it, the options, etc, and I agreed to that extraction was the best thing to do.
Difficult, since I'd just sunk $$ into trying to save it with the endodontist. But it seemed like it was time.
My regular dentist here is great, I love her. She was soooo concerned that this was going to be a big blow to me, maybe I wasn't "mentally prepared" to have it done today. However, even with the pain decreasing, the gum recession was bad, my body was rejecting that tooth, basically, and the treatment that had been done.
So. Goodbye to #14. She let me keep the tooth.
I don't know if I'm in shock or what--mental if nothing else--over having this happen. Really it's just going to mean a lot of interesting stuff happening the next few months. I'm going to have to get an implant there. She had talked about doing a partial-denture & all--that reallly makes me feel "old" (and she was very sensitive about that, too! bless her!), but given this being a rather "key" molar, I think the expense of an implant is worth it in the long run. It'll be a permanent fixture which will last me the rest of my life (probably out-live all my other teeth haha). They're just not cheap. Maybe that's what hitting me right now is the impending "bill."
A couple months ago I had an infections start in #14 (my top-left rear molar). I went to an endodontist to address it; he indicated he needed to re-do the root-canal that was there (was done maybe 10 yrs ago?). Fine, gotta do what we need to do, right?
Turns out I'm one of those people who have a double-canal'd root (3 canals total instead of the normal two). So the endodontist took 3 sessions, one per canal, to re-do the root canal.
During the last session, the crown came off. He re-mounted it. Poorly, but still. I got into my regular dentist the next day to look at re-seating/fixing that crown. She patched it up.
A couple days later the pain from the re-root-canal procedure was killing me. Normally I heal pretty quick, and the day after such a thing I'm fine. But 3 days into this and I'm on 600mg of ibuprofen 2-3x a day just to get through the day. I notice gum recession to the point that it's pulling back significantly from the crown line. In other words, sizable "gaps" between gum and tooth. Which were incredibly sensitive to--well, anything -- especially food. That recession has been a really rough thing to deal with for the last two weeks.
Well, went back into the endo (that would be last wee,k on Thurs 5/15)--he said there was an abscess there now on #14. WTH?! It wasn't there last week (or was it, and he didn't notice?) This seems awfully fast for this kind of thing.
Anyway, he gave me vicadin and penicillin. Been on those. But the pain has still been bad, tho slowly getting better this last week. But the gaps, the gum recession, has continued, and been really hard to deal with food getting in there.
Well, got back into my regular dentist today. She looked and looked and finally said, "I think the best thing is going to be extraction." I did have this in the back of my mind the last two weeks. FAR in the back of my mind--and I've known for a long while I didn't think this tooth was going to last me forever; I knew it would end up coming out at some point.
After some x-rays, she said there had been considerable bone-loss--so much so there was very little bone left between the roots. We talked about it, the options, etc, and I agreed to that extraction was the best thing to do.
Difficult, since I'd just sunk $$ into trying to save it with the endodontist. But it seemed like it was time.
My regular dentist here is great, I love her. She was soooo concerned that this was going to be a big blow to me, maybe I wasn't "mentally prepared" to have it done today. However, even with the pain decreasing, the gum recession was bad, my body was rejecting that tooth, basically, and the treatment that had been done.
So. Goodbye to #14. She let me keep the tooth.
I don't know if I'm in shock or what--mental if nothing else--over having this happen. Really it's just going to mean a lot of interesting stuff happening the next few months. I'm going to have to get an implant there. She had talked about doing a partial-denture & all--that reallly makes me feel "old" (and she was very sensitive about that, too! bless her!), but given this being a rather "key" molar, I think the expense of an implant is worth it in the long run. It'll be a permanent fixture which will last me the rest of my life (probably out-live all my other teeth haha). They're just not cheap. Maybe that's what hitting me right now is the impending "bill."
Physically, that is. Fri nite I slept wrong. shoulder/neck/head are all screwed up. Even today, I could barely get out of bed. Couldn't make Mac's brunch/food-fest today. I was so constrained, I heard my phone ring but wasn't in a way to get downstairs to get it. Man, I'm old :P
On the good side, I did get some new running shoes yesterday (forced myself out), and a decent timer-watch for running. Got a new pair of cowboy boots finally. Was a good shopping experience overall.
I wanted to get flowers for someone. Apparently florists are NOT open on Saturday. Like, at all. I ended up finding someone at Whole Foods (which gave me a chance to stock up on cheese, too! mmm cheese!). Even found some Naan bread! So tonight, chicken, rice & naan!
My friend, Sace, is going to stay with me for a couple days, while he ships off his stuff back to Austin and awaits his flight home on Thursday. I'm not used to having someone stay at my home (being a hermit & all) - so hopefully my shoulder/neck/head thing will calm down so I'm not a grumpy-grump at work :P
Got a few hours of WoW in this afternoon - soooo close to 70!! 2+ bars away. Also played some Warhawk this weekend, and advanced a rank. I'm doing less-bad than I used to. :)
On the good side, I did get some new running shoes yesterday (forced myself out), and a decent timer-watch for running. Got a new pair of cowboy boots finally. Was a good shopping experience overall.
I wanted to get flowers for someone. Apparently florists are NOT open on Saturday. Like, at all. I ended up finding someone at Whole Foods (which gave me a chance to stock up on cheese, too! mmm cheese!). Even found some Naan bread! So tonight, chicken, rice & naan!
My friend, Sace, is going to stay with me for a couple days, while he ships off his stuff back to Austin and awaits his flight home on Thursday. I'm not used to having someone stay at my home (being a hermit & all) - so hopefully my shoulder/neck/head thing will calm down so I'm not a grumpy-grump at work :P
Got a few hours of WoW in this afternoon - soooo close to 70!! 2+ bars away. Also played some Warhawk this weekend, and advanced a rank. I'm doing less-bad than I used to. :)
