June 12, 2003
(Tuesday, June 10th)
Finally got the post and temporary cap done today, five months after the root canal. Things didn't go as smoothly as I would have hoped.
First, there was a good thing disguised as a bad thing -- the dentist actually touched the nerve when he was giving me the novocaine shot. This is good, since that means the nerve will get 100% of the anesthetic (I'm still very numb more than three hours later), but bad in that it felt like every tooth on the left side of my lower jaw was going to explode.
(Oh, and it's a little bad also because I can't really have lunch until I de-numb a bit. Wouldn't want to walk around work covered in Chinese food or something.)
The post work went well, although when I saw the screw that they use to secure the filling to the jaw (since the tooth itself is dead), I half-expected Norm Abram to come in and install it. This friggin' thing was huge.
Measuring for the cap went well, too. Installing the temporary acrylic one was the problem.
See, my mouth is much too small for my jaw. This is true in most humans, which is why almost all of us have to have our wisdom teeth (fourth molars) removed, but I'm even worse. The tissue at the back of my mouth basically runs right up to the surface of the third molar (where the root canal was done) instead of leaving more of the tooth's back exposed. Which meant that to make a place for the cap, some of the tissue had to be removed.
Quite bloody, as you might have guessed. I'm tasting just a tiny bit of metallicness, meaning it hasn't quite healed over yet. Hopefully I don't swallow too much blood; that's a good way to make yourself lose lunch. Odds are, that part of my mouth's gonna be a little tender for a few days.
But now I can chomp down on a pretzel without worrying about destroying the work that I've had done. Just not right now.
Update, next day: After all this time, it's kinda weird not having to have to dig a small snack out of that tooth after I finish a meal. A rather pleasant change, actually.
Update 2, Thursday: I wonder if I can get copies of the X-rays from the dentist -- that might make for a somewhat interesting entry...
