Ouch...
Sometime last November I broke two teeth eating popcorn. One just cracked, but by the time I got to Orlando, the other one had pieces falling out. I eventually managed to get to a dentist down there who drilled out the rest of the tooth that was damaged and filled the hole. Unfortunately, by the time he got past all the cracks it was down to the root in one spot. So he medicated it and filled it in, and told me there was a 50% chance it would need a root canal, and I'd know in a week or so if the pain didn't go away. Well, the pain stuck around but I didn't get it fixed because it's so damned expensive and I figured I'd rather wait and have my regular dentist do it. So for over a month I've been calling dentists all over the state and in Georgia too, trying to get this root canal done. Nobody wants to do it. My dentist doesn't do root canals, and all the dentists who do either aren't taking new patients or won't see me because I've had work on the tooth done by another dentist. And things have just been getting worse and worse in the meantime.
Well, last weekend things suddenly got a lot worse. Pain so bad I had to stay home in bed, and couldn't do much more than sleep and cry. I spent a week being careful not to OD on Ibuprofen, and then even that stopped doing any good. This Thursday I finally managed to get an appointment with someone in town, but they won't do the root canal until they've done an evaluation to see if I really need one. And the earliest appointment they had for anything was two weeks away. Then, Friday night, the pain level increased again. I spent that night and all of yesterday awake and rotating ice packs in and out of the freezer and pressing them against my face. Finally got a few hours of sleep last night when my body couldn't stay awake any longer, but was unable to eat or drink anything for a day and a half.
Mom finally took me to the ER today when she noticed I was running a pretty high fever. Sat in the waiting room for three hours. Got taken to a room. Sat there for another hour. Finally got a nurse to bring me an ice pack since the one I brought with me was nothing but water by then. And eventually the people who I needed to talk to showed up. They said yes, it's infected, yes you're running a fever, here are some meds, and you need to see a dentist. No, really? Well, by the time I got home I realized that my Ibuprofen should have long since worn off but I wasn't having as much pain as I had been. Apparently, some time between arriving and getting out of the ER, the nerve died. I can eat and drink on the left side of my mouth for the first time in months. I might actually make it to the appointment I have in 10 days now. Still gotta have everything checked, but if the nerve really is dead it shouldn't hurt so much to have the root canal done. Thank God for minor miracles. ^_^; Still have a fever and infection, but I feel like I'll live now, and I wasn't even remotely sure yesterday.
Well, last weekend things suddenly got a lot worse. Pain so bad I had to stay home in bed, and couldn't do much more than sleep and cry. I spent a week being careful not to OD on Ibuprofen, and then even that stopped doing any good. This Thursday I finally managed to get an appointment with someone in town, but they won't do the root canal until they've done an evaluation to see if I really need one. And the earliest appointment they had for anything was two weeks away. Then, Friday night, the pain level increased again. I spent that night and all of yesterday awake and rotating ice packs in and out of the freezer and pressing them against my face. Finally got a few hours of sleep last night when my body couldn't stay awake any longer, but was unable to eat or drink anything for a day and a half.
Mom finally took me to the ER today when she noticed I was running a pretty high fever. Sat in the waiting room for three hours. Got taken to a room. Sat there for another hour. Finally got a nurse to bring me an ice pack since the one I brought with me was nothing but water by then. And eventually the people who I needed to talk to showed up. They said yes, it's infected, yes you're running a fever, here are some meds, and you need to see a dentist. No, really? Well, by the time I got home I realized that my Ibuprofen should have long since worn off but I wasn't having as much pain as I had been. Apparently, some time between arriving and getting out of the ER, the nerve died. I can eat and drink on the left side of my mouth for the first time in months. I might actually make it to the appointment I have in 10 days now. Still gotta have everything checked, but if the nerve really is dead it shouldn't hurt so much to have the root canal done. Thank God for minor miracles. ^_^; Still have a fever and infection, but I feel like I'll live now, and I wasn't even remotely sure yesterday.