01.27.2004
9:28 a.m.
Root canal review
So. My root canal.
.
.
.
It wasn't actually all that bad. I was totally freaking out for nothing. (Me? Freak out for nothing? NEVER!)
The first thing the nurse did was to take X-rays. They had the X-ray machine hooked up to a computer monitor, so there's no waiting for the X-rays to be developed or anything. It's quite high tech.
Then the endodontist came in and evaluated my tooth. Asked me about pain, knocked on it with a metal thing, and then...the torture began. He touched it with an ice cube. I wanted to leap out of the chair, kick his ass and run away, but instead I just yelped and said "Ow!!! Torture!!!" The nurse assured me he was really a nice man. He told me that I definitely needed a root canal.
Then he got started.
The novicaine injections weren't even too bad. Before he even did anything, I said "I hate needles. I'll probably cry at you." He seemed okay with that.
As soon as I saw the syringe in his hand, the tears started coming. (I wasn't even that scared. I think it has just become Pavlovian response or something.) He rubbed my gums while he gave me the injections, so my nerves were slightly confused and I could barely feel the prick. I also had the nurse hold my hand, and she rhythmically squeezed my shoulder, so I was able to concentrate on that, instead of the shot. Very effective. Those people really know what they're doing.
The shot toward the roof of my mouth, though...ouch. I felt that one. But that was pretty much the last thing I felt.
After that, they took out my filling, stuck pins into my tooth and took another X-ray to measure the depth of the nerve tissue canals, and got to work.
If I wasn't so nosy and paranoid, I probably could have just kept my eyes shut and pretended I was on a beach or something. But, I had to make sure he wasn't trying to pull a fast one on me or wire a bomb in my mouth or anything, so I kept my eyes open and watched everything he did. I don't know much about what he was actually doing, but I do know that it involved a lot of exact measurements and a multitude of very sharp, pointy pin-looking things.
After another X-ray, I was all done. Whoo hoo!
The sad thing? When I was leaving the endodontist's office, I thought, "Hey. It's only 4:15. I could actually go back to work!"
Yes, I am insane.
I had to call my husband so he could tell me that I really didn't NEED to go back to work.
Sometimes I wonder about me.
So, basically...it wasn't all that bad. AND, last night I actually drank some very cold water without wanting to scream in pain afterwards! WHOO HOO!
Of course, I just looked up the procedure for getting a crown, and as it turns out I have to be numbed for that as well. Feh. Enough with the needles already! Jeez!
Oh well. Hopefully after that I'll seriously be out of pain and won't need to have anything else injected into my mouth for a while. Keep your fingers crossed.
 |
|
||||||||||||||
 |
|||||||||||||||
�