As a lot of folks know, I’ve been feeling very out of it for quite a while. I really began feeling unwell in June, but chalked it up to hay fever, sinus and regular migraines. Work suffered, personal life suffered, everything was suffering.

In July, I broke a molar. In early August, I think, I broke a wisdom tooth – same side, right beside the molar. I couldn’t understand the rate of decay and the very weakness of the teeth, considering they were the best I had not long ago. Okay, my molars and wisdom teeth were the best I had in 2006 at my very last dental appointment. The pain wasn’t too bad, so I figured I’d let it go until I knew the insurance kicked over again… but pieces were chipping off here and there, and stuff was always getting stuck in the crevices left behind, even though I was forever brushing and rinsing.

Last week it got really bad, so bad it hurt to blink and my left eye was tearing constantly. It was bad enough I faced my ultimate fear and called the dentist’s office. Of course, the last dentist I went to had offed for greener pastures, so I got a new one.

She pulled them. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how you’re looking at it, that uncovered a LOT more of an underlying problem that’s been developing since the last time I had dental work done in that area of my mouth.

For several years, I’d been thinking that I’d inherited my grandmother’s sinus issues, leaving me with a constant, nagging face and head ache. The infection that caused me to go to the dentist this time is one that’s been there since I had a filling done in 2005. Did I know that? No… well, sorta – but I thought it’d been taken care of. It’s been hiding under the roots of three other perfectly good teeth (at least until recently) causing slow-building drama until last Wednesday’s tearful call to the dentist’s office.

It’s been six and a half days since the new dentist pulled the wisdom tooth and the molar ahead of it, taking with them a slice and snip of the jaw bone. I’ve been on penicillin since, and some fairly heavy-duty painkillers. Yesterday was the last of the prescribed painkillers, and I’m on a lower dose of a similar drug, only this one is over-the-counter and works for sleeping too. Which is good, because I’d been getting precious little of that for months.

I have to wait another few days before I make another appointment, IF my insurance will cover it, to have the rest done. I’ll have to do it all at once, instead of over two visits, just because of the way our insurance is… the way it works, I really shouldn’t have gone in last week, but because it was an emergency, I guess it’s covered. If not, I’m sure I’ll get a bill… LOL (ouch).

At least I’ll be sedated next time. I hope – the new dentist (yay!) suggested it, because of how awful my teeth are to pull, and the amount of bone involved. I love her. She has drugs, and she’s not afraid to use them. Since there was an obvious infection, she laid it on thick with the topical freezing, so I wouldn’t feel the numerous needle pokes (except that one that went between the two teeth, way down deep… ) freezing everything else. When that began to wear off, as it will with infection, I motioned that I was feeling it a bit, and she stopped. She pulled out the needle, re-froze me, and carried on.

That other dentist didn’t bother stopping when he was working. Oh, no. He told me the freezing wouldn’t wear off that quick, and went on. Masochistic twit.

Six and a half days, it’s been – all on penicillin. The sockets are still draining – ewww – and the bruising and swelling have only just begun to go down. I had my first solids last night, but I’m back on liquids today because the chewing (while it felt good to chew and eat at first, by the end of the dinner I was locking up and very sore!) caused the swelling to build and the joints of my jaw to hurt again.

I think I’ll be back at it again by Monday.

PS – someday, I’ll go into my spiel about over-fluoridation, but right now, all I want to do is crawl back under my blankets with my painkiller and penicillin and sleep off some more of the fog.

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