Open Wide

I have been to the dentist five times since late March. Stupidly, I hadn’t been for two years even though I had been having pain in one of my molars. By the time I finally went it was discovered that my tooth was cracked and I needed a crown. So I went back time and again and got stuck by needles multiple times on multiple days to fix other cavities and do the crown procedure. Once I had the crown put in (which didn’t fit the first damn time, lucky me) I was told there was a slight chance I might still need a root canal.

I prayed I wouldn’t have to but . . . sure enough the pain over the next two weeks was excruciating. The left side of my mouth was radiating waves of pain and I had to take aleve every six hours or I seriously regretted it. I couldn’t sleep and if I did I would wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat feeling like my mouth was falling off my head.

So I went on Tuesday for my root canal. Big surprise? They could not get me numb. So instead of being calm, cool and collected I started to panic about the pain that would be involved in order to get to the root. She said once she got to the root she could finally get me numb because she would be right at the source. But you guys? Getting there was f#@*ing awful. The only saving grace was giving me nitrous oxide so I felt drunk. But that wasn’t until after they got to the root. Talk about pain. I might have cursed in the dentist’s face.

Even with all that trouble, I am SO GLAD I had this done. I feel 1000x better now. The tooth was terribly infected and I guess had been for awhile. I can’t believe how much better I feel. I didn’t realize how much pain I was in until the pain wasn’t there anymore!

I have to go back one.more.time to complete the filling on the crown. Appointment #6, people. All because I waited too long.

So this is a warning to you all. You are supposed to go to the dentist every six months for a check-up and cleaning. My recommendation to you is to get your ass in that chair STAT if you haven’t been. No really. Call right now. I’ll wait.

I made so many excuses. I can’t get a babysitter. I work full-time. The pain is not *that* bad.

I totally regret not going.

If you listen carefully you can hear my mom saying, “I told you so.” It was so much easier when she used to schedule my dental appointments for me.

I hope you learn your lesson from my mistake.

Okay, why are you still here? Go call your dentist.