Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.
Well today is actually Day 2 with my temporary crown. I simply did not feel like doing anything yesterday evening except lay down on the couch (since the Procaine / Novocain had wore off). But I did promise a blog about the trip to the dentist, so here it is.
I arrived right at 7:30 AM. I was a little surprised that they were open this early given that they were there until 6 PM the night before. I was escorted to the same room that I was in the day before and the doctor went right for the big needle. No small talk, no "here's what I am going to do", no nothing. Just "open" and POW. OK, well he rubbed some local numbing agent on the area first and then hauled out the needle. My tongue (of course) gravitated to that area of my mouth and hence the tongue lost most of its feeling. Anyway, he stuck me 4 times and I only felt one of them. Despite what I am about to tell you, this is the only pain I felt during the entire procedure.
The dental assistant then jumped in and got some molds of my teeth in order to build my temporary crown and also to send off to get my permanent crown made. The last time I had any molds made was about 25 years ago when I was getting my braces. They have come a long way in 25 years as this was a much more pleasant experience. Anyway, once that was done and the doctor was sure the pain killer had taken effect, out came the instruments of torture, uh, I mean the picks and drills (sounds like we are mining here, eh?).
While I did not feel any pain, I have been in the dentist chair enough to know that the pain killer does not always work. So the entire time they are drilling, I tense up in anticipation of pain that may come. No matter what I try, I cannot relax and yesterday was no exception. Usually the part of my body that hurts most after a visit to the dentist is my leg muscles since they have been tensed up the entire time.
Something new to me during this trip was the use of a dental dam. This was just weird but it did do the job. It is basically a piece of latex stretched over your mouth. Once they had drilled (what felt like) most of my tooth down, they then took a picture and put it on the TV screen for me to see. This I did not need to see. He simply could have explained what he wanted me to know without this graphic image as reinforcement. OK Doc, I get it, my tooth is really really decayed! I apologize for my bad brushing habits from 15 years ago or so when this whole thing started. Anyway, with the image to show me what had just been done, he explained that while I was really close to needing a root canal, he was not going to do one. He then proceeded to do what he called the "buildup" which is basically using some sort of rubber cement to form a tooth shaped nub in order to but a temporary crown on it.
Once the build up was there, the stuff had to harden. Once that was done he had to grind it down to the shape he wanted. Now the drilling that was done to remove the decay was NOTHING compared to this drilling. I swear he switched the drill to the next size up (maybe two sizes). This was not drilling, this was grinding! I thought for sure the pick axe was coming next (and the leg muscles really tensed up here)!
Finally the nub was shaped and ready for a crown. The dental assistant came in and was using some kind of color chart and holding it up to my mouth. She said she was trying to match the crown to the color of my teeth so it would blend in. Now I am not stupid, what she was really saying is, "I need to make your crown appear as stained as your other teeth." So be it. Another mold or two was taken and then the temporary crown was put on, allowed to harden, and then I was on my way out the door.
Overall the entire procedure took about 75 minutes and was relatively event free. I was very impressed when last night at about 9 PM the dentist himself called me at home to check on me. We discussed the Notre Dame football game that was going on for few minutes and said our goodbyes. I have an appointment in about a month to go back in to get the permanent crown put on.
One bad thing about getting dental work done is explaining to everyone why your face looks puffy. When they find out why, they want to share their friend's / relative's dental horror stories with you. None of their stories end with...
- ...and everything was all right.
- ...and then he and the dentist went and played golf.
- ...and he and the dental assistant lived happily ever after.
The stories that I hear end with the following...
- ...and then he died.
- ...and once infection had run its course, his head had to be amputated.
- ...and although he won the lawsuit, he could not enjoy the money.
These things I do not need to hear, really. So if your reading of this blog has reminded you in any way of a story about a friend's dental visit, keep the story to yourself.
Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.
Jon
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