Toothy Tuesday

Ow. Remember when I told you I broke my tooth eating ice cream (I'm specially talented!)? I got the crown on today. Ow. Did I mention, ow?

See, I don't know what the dentist was doing in my mouth for an hour and a half last Tuesday, but it took for-stinkin'-ever and I was so sick of the little sucky machine that gets the slobber (saliva, for you technical types) out of the way, and the drilling, and I even saw smoke (I am not making this up). But the point is, he was in there for A LONG, LONG TIME and the bill was over $500, so I figured he had done a root canal before putting the temporary thingy on.

Nope.

So I get there today, and as I'm driving there (again, NOT making this up) my tooth starts to get "sensitive." Not any rip-roaring pain (though I have given birth so I may not be the best judge of rip-roaring pain for all reading this), but kind of a nagging, little, uh-oh pain. But I get into the "chair of magic and wonder" and Heidi the assistant lady, takes off the temporary thing with the little metal hook-looking thing, and although not the same as childbirth, the result was definitely an "OW." Kind of like metal-on-tooth-nerve pain. Really, not crippling, but very uncomfortable, and, like I said, OW. Which I said. So she apologizes as she proceeds to "just clean up around the tooth a little," which prompts more OW.

I was uncomfortable with her messing around in my mouth for a couple of reasons...OW, of course, and also because I told the following joke and she didn't get it:

Me: Knock, knock.
Heidi: Who's there?
Me: Control Freak-Now you say "Control freak who?"

Please tell me that at least one person gets that joke. But Heidi didn't. And she was all giggly that she didn't get it. And that bothered me, a little. Not that I'm all brilliant; I'm not. But I did get this one. Anyway...

So, Heidi tries on the crown and takes it off about seven times, and each time there is that little shock of nerve pain. And then she gets nervous and calls in the dentist (who was going to put it on anyway). To be fair, they did offer me novocaine several times, but they also said they typically don't need it to put a crown on. I should have taken it. I didn't. I'm not crazy about the shot. But it would have been a better choice. See, last time I had this done it didn't hurt. It was a little tender, but nothing like today. But last time, they did a root canal. This time, apparently, they didn't.

So what the heck was he doing in there for an hour and a half?? It should have been some drilling (of course, I did have the novocaine last week...I'm not crazy!) to smooth out the broken tooth and put the cap on so I can get out of the chair. Not 90 minutes of drilling, water, sucky machine, air-blower-thingy-machine, etc. I still had nerves in my tooth! No wonder it hurt!

So, I drove home after a long process of trying the crown on seventeen more times and drilling it down (outside my mouth) in between, and flossing until he could get the floss through...which he finally did, and the nerve pain stopped. I drove home in rush-hour traffic (and boy, was I in a good mood!) and took 3 Excedrin to deal with the "hey, everyone! Let's play with Penny's teeth!" pain, and it went away shortly thereafter. I had ramen for dinner-not much chewing involved. Now the tooth feels almost normal; a little odd perhaps, but it's not fully cemented for six hours, so...about 12:45 this morning I should be all set! Too bad I'll be asleep and will miss it!

Lesson learned: When they offer you novocaine, say Yes!