Sailor Soldier of Love and Justice

I had a dentist this morning at the crack of dawn to have a dental crown put in. This was attempt #3. But it fit! Finally!

Everyone at the office kept apologizing to me and thanking me for not getting mad at them. I am not one to yell at people who put sharp drills in my mouth....

Hopefully no more dental work for a while. I would like to avoid the dentist for a good long while.

Dentist was today. I had to have my temporary crowns replaced with new, permanent ones. Unfortunately for me, one of the permanent crowns did not fit. Which means a new one will have to be made. *sigh*

So today they put the first crown in and will let it sit a few days to set really well. Then I'll have to come back and have a new mold taken of the unfinished tooth and have a new permanent crown made. And THEN i'll come back and have it installed.

Because I love going to the dentist, right?

Returned to the dentist yesterday to get my cavities taken care of. They were running a little bit late (30 minutes) but I told them it wasn't a problem. I then watched people come in and yell at the receptionists about how horrible they all were for being late. Seriously? Stuff happens!

I was eventually seated by the assistant to the dental assistant. He was so flaming, he lit up the room. It was impressive. At one point, however, he mentioned his WIFE. There is absolutely no way that man has a wife. I'm going to assume he means husband but doesn't want to accidentally offend anyone. (This is the south, after all.)

After another 30 minutes of waiting and nervously shivering in the dentist's chair, everyone finally arrived. They tried to reassure me that it'll be ok. I was shaking really badly at that point. Just the sight of the drills was freaking me out. In the end, the dental assistant had to keep holding my hand and stroking my arm to get me to calm down a tiny bit. I'm so pathetic.

Once I was numbed up, the dentist began. He told me to raise my left hand if I felt pain at any point. I didn't have to because I screamed. As soon as he drilled through the enamel, I was in pain. So more numbing was added....I couldn't even feel my eyeball or my ear at that point, so he continued.

Things went a bit more smoothly after that. An hour later, the torture was over. Then we discussed getting crowns on my about-to-crack old root canal teeth. They suggested I do them both at once, based on how terrified I was today. They scheduled 3 hours to do this so I can open and close my mouth enough and avoid stiffness. I'm not looking forward to 3 hours of drills... The assistant suggested I bring music to listen to so I won't have to hear the sounds of the drills. Maybe I'll try that.

When I got home, my face was still super numb. I had to drink tomato soup for dinner because I was afraid of biting my tongue off. As the evening progressed, I slowly got feeling back. Feeling came back with a horrible itchy sensation. I wanted to scratch my face off. But about 5 hours later, I could completely feel my face again.

In other news, it snowed last night and Maggie LOVES IT. She ran around in circles all through the freshly fallen snow and rolled around in it and just had the greatest time. She's so cute.

I took the day off to get my teeth cleaned. I figure now that I have insurance, I should actually take care of my teeth. Especially since awful teeth run in my family.

They found only 2 cavities this time. Lucky me. Looks like all that extra brushing and flossing really paid off. Normally I have 3 or 4 cavities. At least no root canals this time. Wooo...

I also had a billion spots that want to be cavities, so I got a heavy coating of fluoride painted onto my teeth. I am sure my teeth are laughing at me now, mocking my futile attempts.

It would probably be cheaper just to rip them all out now....

Tomorrow morning, I get my wisdom teeth pulled out. I'm kinda really terrified.

I survived the dentist today. Barely.

I had 4 cavities to fill. It was not a fun adventure. And 2 hours is far too long to hold one's mouth open.

The dental assistant brought me a blanket because I was shaking. When I told her I wasn't cold, she said it was a security blanket. She brought it because there's a note on my file that says I am terrified of the dentist. I don't know if I should be happy they care, or embarrassed at being such a wimp that they had to write it down.

The dentist chided me for not flossing my back teeth well. I told him that my teeth are so tight back there, I can't get the floss in. He said that was no excuse. Then he tried to put metal rings around my back teeth. And couldn't get them in. So he tried to floss the teeth to loosen up the area. And the floss BROKE! I was like, "I told you so!" But my sense of victory was short because he then had to stab me with sharp deadly wedges to spread the teeth apart. It was painful and bloody. The dentist had to numb up half my face to keep me from crying.

Oh! And I cried from all the numbing shots! Tears were running down my face, it hurt so much. He must have used the widest needle in his kit! And my cheeks and gums are still sore where he stabbed me.

He told me to use anitcavity mouthwash and to floss and brush every day and MAYBE I'll only get one cavity a year. Do you know what's really unfair? My husband has NEVER had a cavity. And he never flosses or uses mouthwash. Why did I get such lousy teeth?

It's a good thing my job gives dental insurance. I didn't pay a thing. It was kinda amazing. Even when I go to the doctor I have to pay something. But the receptionist was like, "Ok, well we ran this by your insurance ahead of time so the whole thing was approved. You don't owe us anything. Have a nice day!" Not owing over $700 did improve my day slightly.

So next step is to have the oral surgeon look at my wisdom teeth. That's in 2 mondays. After this last set of cavities, I can't help but feel like getting my teeth pulled would be less unpleasant. At least I'll be knocked out! Thankfully there will be no teeth pulling at this appointment though. It's just to look at my x-rays and determine how to go about it I guess. The dentist said for sure they will want to pull the bottom left ones, which are pretty bad. But if I am getting any wisdom teeth pulled, I think I'm going to ask for them all pulled. That way none of them can ever bother me ever again.

When I got home, I tried to eat soup, but half my face was still numb so I mostly dribbled it down my chin. Once I had enough to stop my tummy from grumbling, I took a nice long nap. I can feel my face again. It's sore where they stabbed me to numb me though, so it hurts to move my face. Looks like soup again for dinner.

Go me! I made a phone call!

My teeth have been bothering me (I think I need to get my wisdom teeth pulled...It hurts to shut my mouth...) so I needed to make a scary scary call to a scary scary dentist for a scary scary appointment.

But I did it! All by myself!

I wrote myself a script and pulled my calendar up so I was all prepared. I was able to answer all the questions without panicking! Yay!

So now I can show up Monday and have them tell me I need all my teeth yanked... pooooo.

I am technically now cavity free. (Technically because they won't touch the one on my wisdom tooth.) This time wasn't as bad as the last time. The dentist gave me more numbing stuff when I hurt this time.

Now I can't feel my face. I couldn't even feel when ben gave me a kiss. It was so sad.

My ear is numb, which means I can't feel it. My body has decided to interpret this as "My ear has been chopped off!" So um, yeah, my face kinda really hurts. For no real reason at all. It's weird.

I'm going to spend the rest of the night trying not to eat my lips.

Eventually I found my pain killers last night and was able to stop freaking out. With the pain gone, the adrenaline quickly left my system. I passed out so fast I ended up using my dog as a pillow. (Ben says she was trying hard to do the best she could as a pillow.)

Ben woke me at some point to move me from the couch to the bed. I don't remember much. Just lots of being sleepy.

Woke up this morning to insanely frigid weather. I kept telling noname I thought I was going to die. She must have felt the same way because she was very fast on her walk. She did her business and zoom back to the door to be let back in.

By the time I took ben to his class, it had warmed up to a balmy 19 degrees.

Now at work where the office is 10 degrees colder than the rest of the house. *shivers* Am seriously considering doing some of my work in the kitchen.

Tonight I need to go shopping. I agreed to go to movie night tomorrow with anime club. Am thinking of making spanish rice for the taco potluck. Oh, I guess I need to let the knitting people know I'm skipping a week. How did I get so busy this week? Madness!

I had a dentist appointment at the crack of dawn this morning. Got three cavities filled. Now I can't feel half my face and I keep accidentally chewing on my lips and cheek.

When I was little, getting cavities filled seemed to take all day. I was surprised by how quick this was. Maybe time just seems to pass slower when you are a kid.