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Toothy Trouble

Tomorrow I'm having my very first ever root canal. As a kid, I had several cavities around the 10-11 year age, but other than that, I've had pretty good teeth. I've been religious about going to the dentist even as an adult, and I've required little maintenance. I'm not sure if it's age or just the luck of the draw but for about a year, I've had a molar that is giving me trouble. It began when I had my dentist change out a silver filling for one of those pretty white ones. I quickly began to regret the vanity that prompted the switch because I noticed that cold and hot things really bothered that tooth. They said that white fillings tend to be more sensitive than gray ones, so I became loyal to Sensodyne. It didn't help. At all. Pretty soon it was any pressure (like chewing) that caused pain and eventually it even became sensitive enough that I can't brush it. After putting up with the aggravation for about a year, I went to see the dentist. He told me to take an antibiotic for a week and call him back. I took the antibiotic but didn't call him back, even though it didn't help. I was too busy. That was this summer.

I've finally gotten sick of putting up with the discomfort so I made an appointment to have a root canal. I made the appointment last week. The appointment is for tomorrow. Could somebody please tell me why over the past week, this tooth has gradually gotten back to almost normal? I'm pretty sure it's psychosomatic, but I have been able to tolerate hot, cold, chewing and even brushing. Veeerrry weird. I'm going to try the same trick next time I'm really sick with a sinus infection or something. Maybe just making the appointment heals you. Who knows? But I'm still getting the root canal.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Yuck, only had one in my lifetime but no fun!

Since then (that was in NY) one dentist here tried to convince me that a very old filling that was crumbling needed to have a root canal and cap - I convinced him to redo the old filling and in the middle he "thanked me" for convincing him and said it wouldn't have needed a root canal after all and what I had insisted on was a great idea! And of course the difference in what I spent to what I would have spent was huge. Not going to him again, he actually has tried twice to convince me to do something very expensive only to realize later it wasn't necessary. Grrrr....
Unknown said…
I hope its all better soon. I've never had any sort of pain or sensitivity when it comes to a tooth but I understand it's no fun.
PandaMom said…
Hey, maybe you could market that little healing power of "making appointments" and get rich and then you could buy yourself a really sparkly gold tooth that goes right at the front of your mouth. Bling.
Rochelle said…
Well, I've had several root canals & I truly wish you LUCK!

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