Off to Get My Head Drilled
Posted on January 30, 2013 Posted by John Scalzi 26 Comments
This morning is when I get my root-canaled tooth permanently caulked up, so I’ll be out until early afternoon at least.
In the meantime, please enjoy Scott Edelman’s newest creation: I Hate It When That Happens. He has a point.
Trepanning is very dangerous . . . wish you luck.
My sympathies, i had one on Monday :-(.
Until may last year, i never had to have a root canal treatment. Since then, the incidents nearly exploded and i had five since then. Do the teeth conspire to do it en bloc?
I think you are excused from any further posting today.
I hope it goes smoothly.
Martin, it’s likely due to you having a number of major fillings hitting their limit. They have a life expectancy.
Good luck, John!
No part of your body rebels against you as painfully as your teeth. Except maybe your pancreas.
First the churro waffles/pancakes then the root canal. Just sayin’ . . .
@Barry: “Major fillings”, that’s what my teeth are made of :-(.
When you get a chance, check out No Doubt’s song “Ache”. It always made me laugh and feel a little better after major dentistry. I’m cursed with soft teeth.
Getting a root canal, Scalzi?
I Hate It When That Happens!
The filling is the easy part. The root canal is the hard one, but mainly because of the cost,.
Damn, timeliebe beat me to it.
I hate it when that happens!
good luck john. i’m getting a root canal today, as well.
Ouch!
Oooooo…. Please come back and post all hopped up on dental pain relief medication!!!!
BTW root canal is better than having all 4 wisdom teeth pulled at the same time, at least in my book.
Take Care!
Hope it all goes well!
@Dragon – I had that done as a teenager prior to getting braces as all 4 wisdom teeth were impacted. Had to have it done by a dental surgeon under general anesthesia, ( This would probably have been in the late 1960s). Wasn’t fun, especially when one of the holes developed an abscess.
Root Canal 2: The Infillinating!
Do they only need the heads?
See what I did there?
Dental war stories – C’mon John ya gotta share…
@LAJ – All of mine were impacted too and also developed dry socket on 3 of them! But I had the pleasure of having the work done while I was in the Army. Only given regular local pain killing shots and walked back to the barracks when it was done. Hard Core. (only plus was that I didn’t have to pay for it.)
One of the most painful sensations of my life was when I went back and had the dry socket treated and the dentist inserted a little strip of cotton packing that was soaked in anti-bacterial solution and a numbing agent. He said this will sting a little when I put it in. (Dentists love to give you the soft sell) When he put it in it hurt so much I arched my back and almost fell out of the chair; thank goodness the numbing kicked in right away. Then he says “not too bad, only two more to go!” Aaaaaaaa!!!!
@Dragon: okay, you forced me to. I had all of my wisdom teeth pulled while in the Navy. The first was done by a crusty old Cmdr. Dentist in a shipyard dental office. He had to split the tooth with a chisel, then extract the pieces separately. Took an hour and a half, but I had no pain for the procedure afterwards.
The remaining 3 were done aboard an aircraft carrier, in the on board sick bay, by a young Lt. Dentist, seemingly just out of dental school. Took all of 15 minutes. Dreadful pain. Went back several times, and they packed what they described as a dry socket with cotton packing. After about two weeks of excruciating pain, living on a liquid diet, I noticed something sharp in the painful socket. There was an inch long fragment of tooth that had split off while Lt. Dr. Dipshit was yanking teeth at supersonic speed. Every time they packed my “dry socket” they were pushing that shard deeper into my gum.
Surprisingly, I don’t have a fear of the dentist after that nightmare. Though I did take my discharge for the Navy as soon as I could.
Enjoy!
Not a horror story about tooth surgery, but that thing about supersonic speed makes me think of what dental hygienists typically do if you express any sort of discomfort while they’re working on you. It makes them do everything *faster*. Which just makes it worse, because now they’re being even less careful. Their thinking is to get it done as quick as possible so it’ll end, but I’d rather they slow down instead.
“quite a cavity here. Is it safe? ”
Sorry, obligatory “Marathon Man” reference.
Now you know what happens kids. Please brush and floss, brush & floss.
Must’ve been that jar of Biscoff Spread. Wishing a quick recovery.
I REEEEALLY wish I hadn’t read the comments because I’d never heard of ‘dry socket’ before and I’m a hypochondriac who had an impacted wisdom tooth extracted a week ago… Bloody Wikipedia.