My Dental Experience

Parker and I had a dental appointment on Wednesday.  We all got our cleanings a couple of weeks ago, and Kate and Lindsey were cavity-free!  With both of them having never been to see a dentist, I was quite surprised.  They must not have Wilcox teeth.  Anyway, Parker had one filling to do (on a baby tooth) and I had two.  Parker was in and out, no problems.  I was so proud of him!!  Now me, I'm not scared of the dentist.  Some of you know that I used to work for a dentist before I got married, for almost 2 years.  The needles, the sounds, the smells--they've never bothered me (at least, not that I remember.  My mom might remember something entirely different!!).  So I went into this appt.  with high spirits.  The assistant stuck the really long q-tip in my cheek, and had the dentist come in and inject me with the anesthetic.  I started getting numb right away!  My tongue and cheek were feeling pretty fat.  A few minutes later the assistant came in again and started putting the rubber dam on.  I could kinda feel it pinching so I asked her about it.  She took one of her instruments and poked around my gums and since I could feel it, she had the dentist come in and give me some more anesthetic.  A few minutes later, (again) she poked around again and I could still feel it.  So they decided to have the hygienist come in and give it a try.  The thought process on that decision is that "a different person, a different technique and style".    As soon as she was done, I could start to feel my bottom lip get tingly.  So we tried again.  We got the rubber dam back on and the dentist started drilling with the assistant hold the suction right next to my tooth.  That hurt!  All that cold air being sucked up right by my tooth was P.A.I.N.F.U.L.!  So off went the rubber dam, and more anesthetic.  The dentist used a different type of anesthetic and shot me up some more.  By this point, I was starting to feel bad.  We were really close to their lunch time.  I couldn't help it; it's in my nature.  I know there was nothing I could do about.  Well, they did say for me to relax--that can help the numbing process go faster.  But I couldn't *get* any more relaxed.  I was perfectly comfortable.  Anyway, a few more minutes later he tried drilling again, without the rubber dam, and I could still feel the cold air from the suction, but not nearly as bad.  I let him continue.  He drilled really slow incase I wasn't totally numb.  And.....I wasn't.  Still.  Good gravy!!  So he tried plan D.  He drilled a little hole in my gums, and into the jaw bone, and injected some MORE anesthetic in there.  We waited some more, and started drilling again.  At this point is had been about 2 hours.  I should've been in and out long before now, and we were still working on trying to get me numb!  So back to drilling.  Still wasn't numb.  I was still getting zingers while he was doing his stuff.  So, okay.  My dentist had tried every option he could think of, and had used the alloted 6 vials of anesthetic.  This wasn't going to happen today.  He gave me a Rx for an antibiotic (the decay in my tooth was right on top of the nerve, and he thinks maybe it was making the nerve flare up and possibly causing it to go crazy and that could be why I couldn't get numb), and also a pain med.  My tooth was going to be sore.

He put in a temporary filling until later next week, where we'll attempt to try this again.  Quite a story, huh???  By the time I went straight to pick up the kids, and drive the 10 minutes it takes to get home, I was completely UN-numb.  Parker wasn't even close.  He was numb on top, and when he smiled, the left side of his lip would just hang there.  It wasn't until just before his baseball game that it finally went away.  Oh, well.  At least I have a good story to blog about :D