No, not the metaphorical Big Mouth that gets me in trouble. I mean the physical mouth that I use for eating, drinking, and if I’m lucky, kissing. This post shall be nothing but a festival of whining and wallowing in self-pity.
This week, two appointments came up that I was NOT looking forward to. And knew that ultimately, these were issues that needed attention, sooner rather than later. The first was a plastic surgeon. The dark spot on my lip had been there for a year, and seemed to be getting bigger. Severe palefaces like myself cannot afford to pretend that all blemishes are harmless. So hack, dig, stitch. At least the plastic surgeon makes sure there won’t be a scar. Results back next week.
And today, the dentist removed the rearmost molar in my left upper jaw. The tooth was unsalvagable; it had rotted straight up the center to form a festering hole of putrescence aimed straight at my ear canal, waiting to mainline necrosis directly into my brain. What a lovely experience: the vivid sound of cracking enamel banging away on the 'ol stirrup, hammer, and anvil assembly millimeters away; the gurgle of nearly aspirating fresh, salty, iron-rich blood.
So now, I’m all doped up, the buzz is a lousy one, my whole head hurts, and I’m dizzy and hungry and nauseous.
Sorry to hear about your mouth woes. I can sympathize, as I’m currently enjoying a deep infection in my jaw which was introduced via a novocaine needle when I got a couple fillings 2 weeks ago. If I’ve learned anything from this, it’s that I will no longer take ability to chew things for granted.
I remember having a particularly cantankerous tooth removed once. The enamel had cracked, so the dentist took a little hammer and chisel and just shattered the whole damn thing then picked the pieces out.
He had gotten all of them when his assistant/hygienist/whatever piped up with a “Oh look, one more little piece!” He grasped it and lifted me straight out of the chair, marking one of the only times in my life when I had ever involuntarily screamed in pain. I don’t know if he had just clamped a bit of bone or an undeveloped tooth or what, but oh my god it was awful.
No good has ever come from sitting in a dentist’s chair. None. I feel for you.
Soul, my last dental appointment was sedation dentistry for a root canal/crown (I’m hard to freeze, and I’ve finally had enough of painful dental work) - your story has cemented my resolve to never be awake for another even slightly tricky dental procedure. Gimme my drugs, and make 'em strong!
I feel your pain. Literally. Bum tooth (with an exposed nerve), needs to come out as I will NOT EVER go through a root canal again. But it will hurt for a few days and then stop for months, so I put keep putting it off because, well, I’m a complete chicken when it comes to dental work. The most recent few days of pain started yesterday - to the point where I was ready to either cry or throw up or scream but chose rocking and moaning until about 12 ibuprofin and half a tube of Oragel kicked in. It is just the most unbelievable, unbearable pain - and I say this after having been in labor three times, once for nearly 40 hours. I’ve found several pressure points that work a bit and an ice pack on the outside of the cheek. But, getting on antibiotics ASAP and keeping up with the ibuprofin (pain reliever and anti-inflammatory and about the best drug on the planet for me) is the best solution. It flared up again this afternoon, after I finally ate something and irritated it again, but thankfully the ibuprofin kicked in faster. I think something got caught in the pocket and inflamed the area and was pressing against the nerve. Once I hit it with a ton of Oragel, I took this little mini dental brush and got something out of there (brushing and flossing, which does sometimes help, didn’t this time), so hopefully, this will pass again. And I have the antibiotics going which should also take away the inflammation.
Look up accupressure points that help with dental pain. THere’s one in the webbing between your thumb and index finger (do it on the same side where the pain is), one at the bottom of your index fingernail, on the side closest to the thumb and one below the ankle bone towards the Achilles tendon. I’m no expert, but it did seem to help somewhat and when you’re in that kind of pain, it can’t hurt more!
Good luck and hope you feel better before your face falls off.
