Yay for Spontaneous Root Canal!

I can't remember if I mentioned it, but Mike and I went to the dentist in Nov, and as a result, I had a filling right before Thanksgiving. I was told at the time that the tooth would be sensitive, for up to a month, but that the sensitivity is normal and would go away. By "sensitive" did the dentist mean "pain so bad it wakes you up at night?"

I sat on the aches for a while, because I was told they were "normal" and they would only happen at random. Then, finally, they did go away (or I stopped noticing the pain...). However, on Sunday, at church, the tooth started aching again. I resolved to call the dentist and they made an appt for me right away. Apparently aches lasting this long is not "normal."

My appt was today, just an hour and a half ago. And it was...interesting. (Please excuse my wonder at the world of dentistry. I am just so new to it, that everything is weird.)

The dentist decided that I did, in fact, need a root canal. While the filling was good, the bacteria had already made a home in my root so the whole thing needed to go. YAY! He puts the numbing cream on right away so he can then give me the numbing shot. (It stung a little more this time).

Then the drilling. Oh, the drilling...and the agony! Ouch!!! It did not feel good...and I had to explain the pain through the mouth stuff they had already put in. So I told him that "it was ok, until they hit the nerve, and then it was a sharp, cold pain." "Well, I haven't even touched the nerve yet" informed the dentist. So he gives me another shot, on the other side...for "those extra nerves that sometimes are around."

Then the drilling, Oh, the drilling...and the agony! It still hurt! So I got a THIRD shot, at the top of the root. Geesh! But at least it didn't feel so bad after that.

After about 45 minutes of two people just staring at my mouth...and seemingly doing something with those 100 tools, I hear them talking: "are you just going to have her come back?" WHAT!?! Yep, I bleed too much so they wouldn't be able to get a proper seal on the tooth yet. They instead put some medicine in the canal to plug up the bleeding and are having me go back on Monday to get the "real" tooth stuff. (I remember, after my wisdom teeth got pulled, having to change my gauze very frequently because I bled alot after that procedure too. I guess I have 5 times the blood vessels, or pressure, as the normal person).

As a result of the THREE numbing shots, I feel like a stroke patient. Half my face is numb...even my eye (I think). As I write this, my nose is plugged by kleenex because it's running, but I can't feel it; I just noticed it in the mirror! I just had to take pictures!
I'm trying to open my whole mouth...

In this one I am trying to pull up my nose...you know, what you do when something is gross... (I am not doing just one side on purpose.

And the smile...I cracked up when I looked at this picture. I am trying to give my biggest smile.