So after the left side wisdom tooth fiasco, I scheduled an appointment to have the right side done....both the upper and lower....in the same appointment...both teeth out at once....both. If you didn't pick up on it, I DID NOT have both teeth out in the same appointment. While sitting in the chair, waiting for the novacaine to kick in, it became clear that the receptionist did not schedule enough time to take care of both teeth and I was going to have to come back yet again for #32.




Are you following my story? I had all four wisdom teeth out...in four different appointments....with four different rounds of novacaine...and four separate recovery times with four different sets of gauze. Sigh. After I was finally finished becoming less wise, it was time to go for a cleaning and get on a regular schedule. Sounds easy, right? I was very relieved to be at this stage, not that I enjoy have a hygienist floss my teeth so hard can feel it on my brain, but I was glad to be done with "extractions."



After a normal cleaning procedure that I'm pretty sure included sand paper, I had a set of x-rays taken. Are you familiar with the new x-ray doohickies they're using these days at the dentist? They use 10 inch steel rectangles with sharpened edges that they ask you to bite down on "all the way." The hygienist trots out of the room pushes the "x-ray go" button and talks to another hygienist about the latest Brangelina gossip while the steel punctures the roof of your mouth and your eyes tear up.



After this lovely experience, the dentist came in to tell me my teeth were in perfect condition and needed no further work besides regular cleaning were the healthy equivalent to a 90 year old who hadn't brushed since her 20s. Ok, so maybe it wasn't quite that bad, but I did need about $1000 worth of work. That's a $1000 co-pay. That work included several fillings, a crown replacement, a new crown for a tooth that had a
crack in it, and a partial crown.

Back when I was in college, I had a root canal and crown procedure done that was possibly the worst dental experience of my life. I went in because my tooth was hurting. Four hours later I was down a tooth and up a notch on my pleasant feelings toward the dentist. Eight years later this crown was causing me pain and my current dentist determined that it had a "spur" and would need to be replaced. This procedure wasn't nearly as bad, but certainly would not make it into the pleasant category. This new crown did not feel right. I kept telling them it didn't feel right. They kept checking it and saying it was fine. Over the next several months the crown would bother me off and on. By the Fourth of July, it was constantly bothering me. Of course, the dentist isn't open on the Fourth of July, which was a Friday. They're also not open on Saturdays or Sundays. By Saturday evening, I couldn't take it anymore. The pain was almost as bad as the infection in #16. I called the emergency number and spoke with my dentist who called in a prescription for mouthwash because he suspected there was an infection. I was told to use the mouthwash and come in on Monday. I guess the mouthwash worked because by Monday the pain was much less severe and the infection had disappeared. The conclusion was that the crown was never placed right my teeth had migrated and my bite was off. When your bite is off, it can put pressure on your gums and cause bruising. Essentially, I nearly died of tooth-ache again because my gums were bruised. Did you know you could bruise your gums? Now you do.