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Thursday 23 October 2014

Ouch

To the dentist today - I've been dreading this.

A tooth completely crumbled; I was left with a loose fragment, a sliver of tooth and the root. And something had to be done about that.

So first, a jab, to numb it so that it doesn't hurt. I really can't imagine what dentistry was like before the invention of anaesthetics, especially locals. So I was numb in about a minute, and then the dentist could start.

The loose bit came out easily. The sliver, not too bad. But the root was a big struggle, it was dig and grip and heave. I didn't have a sensation of pain, but it was still pretty horrible. It came out piece by piece, and each time I thought, "Ah", but there was more. It felt like he was using a crowbar in there. Until eventually, he got it all out, including the abscess that had started up under the root, which would have caused me great pain at some time in the future.

In getting it out, he dislodged a filling in the tooth next door, so he refilled that too.

So it's done now, although with the jab wearing off, it's throbbing a bit, and I feel generally discombobulated. Next, we leave it for a few weeks, and decide whether to put in a fake tooth there, which would involve a crown on the tooth next door and a bridge to the fake tooth.

2 comments:

  1. Old age gets you in every way ......my teeth are wearing out I wish we had teeth like rodents they keep growing as they wear. we could gnaw on a few trees to keep them in good order "What's up Doc"

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  2. I'm feeling a lot better today.

    My dentist reckons that teeth last long enough for you to reach the age of 35 or so, by which time we should have reproduced. So evolution doesn't need them to last any longer.

    I've sprouted new teeth twice now. Maybe one day we'll learn how to do that a third time.

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