I have a cavity and won't see the dentist 'till next Friday

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

It’s gonna be a fun week.

It is all my fault. Before I came down to Charleston, my dad mentioned no less then 6 times that I should make an appointment with my dentist. I resorted to my old stupid habit of procrastinate/ignore the suggestion and now get to live with the results.

Which is that I have a cavity in one of my upper right molars.

I first noticed it on Tuesday during my clinic rotation. I was chewing gum to help keep my mouth wet and I noticed a slight pain when I chewed on the right side of my jaw.

Then on Wednesday it got to be the kind of pain when a nerve is exposed when I chewed on the right side, only not nearly as agonizing.

However now, on Friday, there is a very minor ache that is constantly with me on the right side. I haven’t chewed anything on my right side since yesterday morning and I got a referral on a good dentist from my clinical instructor.

Problem is that I have almost no free time between 8:00 AM and 4:00 PM Monday thru Thursday. My last class on Friday gets out at around 2:50, but the dentist only works until 2:00 on Fridays. (He likes to try and get in 36 holes of golf.:stuck_out_tongue:

Things were not looking good because the earliest Friday that they had open was in November and there’s no way I’m gonna leave this cavity unworked on for that long.

Finally after rescheduling it looks like Friday morning at 9:00 is when I’ll be strapped into the chair.

All this because I was a stubborn idiot.:smack:

2

Call around. Many dentists have Saturday hours. Explain you have a constant ache that started today, with minor symptoms over the last couple days. The sooner you get in, the better.

3

You could also try that Sensodyne toothpaste. My dentist gave me a sample once when I had discovered a cavity just before a checkup, and it was going to be a few days before he would have a chance to fill it. It did work (but, it hadn’t been giving me a whole lot of pain, either, just a little.)

Around here, few non-HMO dentists have Saturday hours. My dentist used to work one Saturday a month, but has recently discontinued the practice–apparently, people were more likely to forget Saturday appointments, for one thing.

4

Buy a pack/bottle of cloves in your local store on the spice shelf.
Take a handful and pour boiling water over them, like you are making tea. Let it steep until it is cool enough to take in your mouth. Rinse your mouth out with this as needed. Trust me.

I hear clove oil works too, but I don’t know how available that is. The clove-tea rinse really works, and has saved me on many occasions. Total anesthetic.