I Am Minus One Tooth

“See the difference,” she asked? No, but I knew where this was going.

Back when I was a kid I used to watch Soupy Sales on TV. He would often say, “Be true to your teeth or they’ll be false to you.” Soupy, why didn’t I listen?

I started feeling pain in a left lower molar a few days ago. Tooth pain seldom gets better with time.

I called my periodontist Tuesday and got an appointment for today. I was hoping some seed or other hard bit had become wedged between my tooth and gum. A little expert poking with a sharp instrument to dislodge it and I’d be on my way.

No such luck.

A dental assistant took an x-ray then displayed it and one from last year side-by-side on a monitor mounted on the ceiling.

“See the difference,” she asked?

No, but I knew where this was going.

My poor woobly tooth with its pre-existing root canal and cap was sitting atop an infection. We put it on the DNR list!

I helped pull the nitrous mask over my nose. If I was going to be in pain the least they could do was allow me to relive the sixties!

Brian the periodontist came at me with a syringe full of some sort of ‘caine’ (not co-, not nova-, possibly lyda-). He poked my gum a few times, reloaded and poked again.

The tooth didn’t put up much of a fight. A few seconds of tugging and it was out.

I went home with a mouthful of gauze and clotted blood. This called for a quick nap.

I’m mostly OK now. There’s a little soreness–not much. It was weird to shave while my left cheek was mostly numb.

I’ll miss that tooth. It’s not like we had a great relationship, but I did have a lot invested in it. Chewing won’t be the same without it!

7 thoughts on “I Am Minus One Tooth”

  1. I LOVE LAUGHING GAS!!! I drive almost 1 1/2 hours to my denist just so I can have it!!! The closer denist that sees the rest of my family does not offer it, so I refuse to switch over to him. LOL!!!

  2. Geoff you just crack me up! You can take something as serious as a tooth extraction and make it a witty commentary on life! Thanks for the chuckle this evening! 🙂

  3. I will probably be gong through extraction soon too. One of my back molars is kind of wobbly. It could be worse, it could be a front tooth.

  4. I just had my first root canal. The 2nd half was yesterday. I still have to get it filled and capped. I thought they were going to pull it which is still possible. So, I know what you mean about the investment. I just paid for that tooth without insurance. Just the root canal was almost 2 thousand. I’m broke! Feel better Geoff. I hope the soreness and pain goes away soon.

  5. Geoff, I’m heading to my dentist in a few minutes and he doesn’t offer laughing gas. I’ve had 2 root canals in the past two months. Ugh! Today he will cap the second one. I don’t know which I hate going to more, the dentist or the gynecologist! At least the gynecologist doesn’t drill! Ha! Ha! I love reading your blog. Thanks much.

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