dental work

[juldea]

I find myself bored at work - yes really! I have pretty much accomplished all of the important stuff that has been waiting on me. All that's left is silly, non-time-sensitive paperwork. Whee. :P

Therefore, I will ramble on about my recent dental work. Heh.

So I had this root canal in late March, 2002. I never went back to have a crown put atop it, so later that summer while eating soup some of the dead tooth crumbled and fell out, leaving me with half a dead tooth in the back of my mouth. It took me until a few months ago to finally have affordable dental insurance and see someone about it. So Tuesday, I submitted myself to my dentist's skill at finally getting a fake tooth (crown) to fill up that spot.

In order to do this, she had to grind down the remaining bits of that tooth until it was a flat, smooth bump. It was REALLY weird. And the whole time I was on edge, anticipating pain, even though I knew that there were no more nerves in that tooth due to the root canal! Hard to shake that kind of fear, I guess.

Then a really nasty-tasting piece of what looked like sticky-tack was stuck in that area to make an impression; I bit down on it to squish it into place, etc. The dentist then took it out and began sculpting it. There was no other word. She turned this barely-formed gob of gummy stuff into a hardened tooth cap with her drills and sanders. It was art in the middle of my dental work, and really turned my head on end. I never thought about that part of the profession. It took a long time, but finally we had a good fit and secured it with some kind of cement.

All that - and this is the temporary crown. I gotta go back sometime to get the real one done, which requires some kind of impression. This one won't stand up to sticky candies but the real one will.

So, that's my fascinating dental work story. Now there's a tooth in my mouth again where the hole used to be, and it's very weird. I'm so not used to it.

Comments

[tpau]

when ar eyou goign to get hte real one put in?

[juldea.livejournal.com]

Dunno yet, need to call and make the appointment.

[eustacia42.livejournal.com]

I liked this reply. it was like that study that proves that only the first and last letter have to be in the right place for someone to be able to read something. :)

[juldea.livejournal.com]

That's just tpau. One gets used to it. The lucky thing is that you don't need to type in her language for her to understand you... you just have to learn to read it. ;)

[eustacia42.livejournal.com]

hehe, excellent... my kind of language.

[juldea.livejournal.com]

Yes, I'm glad you didn't have to deal with any of that!

[eustacia42.livejournal.com]

Dude, I have been to the dentist SO MANY TIMES.... I should photograph my teeth and show everyone, because I seriously have a filling or crown on almost EVERY SINGLE TOOTH in my entire mouth. LOL

[ex-sleek838.livejournal.com]

hooray. it feels weird doesn't it?

[juldea.livejournal.com]

yes, very!

[mr-teem.livejournal.com]

I know exactly what you mean about anticipating pain on the tooth that has no nerve anymore. I nearly shook out of the chair for the first one I had. Now, I had root canal number three done a few weeks ago and am more or less calm about going in tomorrow for the reconstruction tomorrow, although the fact that I've lost a chunk of tooth since the root canal is bothering me since it may mean another permanent bridge--which will involve some (ahem) discomfort.

[juldea.livejournal.com]

I am clueless as to what a bridge entails. I hope it goes smoothly for you, though... I will be thinking of you!

[mr-teem.livejournal.com]

The bridge I have now is to fill in the gap caused by the lack of an adult replacement for one of my back molars. It's a three-position appliance, attached to the two teeth next to the gap. Attached in the sense that they both were ground down like a crown. (That's the nervous-making part.)

[theviper.livejournal.com]

i had to go to the dentist this morning to get a cavity refilled (my filling came out friday night). ;)

[eustacia42.livejournal.com]

ouch!

[theviper.livejournal.com]

i didn't even feel it come out...and they didn't have to redrill; he just smoothed out the tooth a little bit and put the new filling in, let it dry, and smoothed it out a lil :)

[eustacia42.livejournal.com]

I had that situation too once (root canal + temporary crown). Whatever happens, for fuck's sake, DON'T EAT MENTOS with the temp crown in. It will suck that fucker RIGHT OFF. (Uh, not that I would know, 'cause i would never be that dumb... lol) It also happened in the middle of a phone call at work. "uh, can i place you on hold? My tooth just fell out."

[juldea.livejournal.com]

I don't think that's a problem... I haven't had mentos in YEARS!! But thanks for the warning anyway ;)

[eustacia42.livejournal.com]

no problem! Just make sure you don't get into any situation where you have to do something heroic, like lift a Volkswagen bug or rip the high heel off your other show to make them into flats, cause man, without those Mentos, you're just plain out of luck.

[juldea.livejournal.com]

Well, I don't own a VW bug or any shoes with small heels like that... but I am worried about the possibility of needing to cross the street by climbing through someone's limo.

[eustacia42.livejournal.com]

ROFL

"get outta my limo.... damn kids!!"