Say Goodbye to Number 29

I had a tooth removed Monday morning. No saving this one. It came out in two pieces. Three stitches followed.

Number 29 was a second premolar, lower right and toward the back. It was heavily involved in chewing before its untimely demise.

Before she did her work, the periodontist injected some ‘caine’ into the nearby gum. That allowed her to do things no human would willingly tolerate. Once the shots wear off you feel the full effect!

Pain pills made me ditzy. They didn’t help my pain, which was continuous and intense.

Advil was the answer. Finally starting to feel better.

This is a three procedure event. One down, two to go.

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!