I had my first root canal on Thursday.
Like me, you may picture a dentist with oversized pliers, one foot braced on the side of the chair, yanking a string of sinewy nerves out of my tooth as I lay cuffed and sweating to my seat, my brain long since reduced to mush by microwaves of searing pain.
In truth, it was more like getting a filling. Or an oil change.
20 minutes to numb the spot. First a simple cotton swab with anesthetic. Then a series of 4 threateningly-long needle injections, one after the other, which looked awful as he dug around but felt little.
He inserted a 4-inch-square web-like device with a tooth-sized hole in it. Inserted into the mouth (in a non-gagging fashion) and over the tooth, it prevents the lower lip and tongue from having to restrain themselves from interfering with the work.
A handful of minutes to drill a small hole down through a porcelain crown and old metal filling.
Ten minutes to use some sort of vacuum to remove the nerves running into the two roots. I felt nothing, save for some minor vibrations. No tugging, though he said that I might feel a pinch.
Ten minutes to determine how much rubberish-substance he'd need to fill the empty canals.
Ten minutes to fill them, rinse them, let them dry.
Off with the device, out the door.
With a big envelope of Ibuprofen. Maximum strength tablets, 800 mg. Take one every six hours.
He said that I'd feel the kind of soreness that comes with having your jaw manhandled and gums violated for a half hour. Then decreasing levels over the next three or so days until it's gone. But the pills have so far erased even any of that.
The moment the numbing agent kicked in at the start of the procedure, I was able to bite without pain for the first time in 18 months. Two days later, I can still do so. What will happen when the pills are done, I don't know. For now, I'm living in the moment.
1 comment:
Thanks for that trip down memory lane. However, you're much braver than I was....my hands are sweaty just reminiscing...
Post a Comment