Root Canal

They say you lose one tooth for every pregnancy. Yesterday, #19 went down.

I had gone a year and a half between cleanings, and when I showed up for an appointment a few months ago, I was told I'd need a root canal. What??!! I instantly started crying. What a wuss. I made the appointment and then rescheduled it. I was tempted to reschedule it again but I figured I'd just go and get it over with. Plus it was a good opportunity for my mom to get some good Carter time in.

The second I sat down in that chair, I started crying again. I was so terrified. When I got that tooth filled (it had a big nasty cavity several years ago), the dentist didn't get me numb enough and it was horribly painful. I can remember that feeling so clearly and it traumatized me. The assistant was so nice and explained to me in detail what was going to happen and why, with pictures and everything. I was grateful for that. I'm the kind of person that likes to know too much. Chris thinks I oversaturated myself with information while I was pregnant. I don't think so...I was just very prepared.

So he numbed me up and started drilling. I was squeezing a stress ball so hard that my fingertips were in pain. I was making little noises and every muscle in my body was tight. I just couldn't relax, anticipating that horrible feeling from the last time. I started to feel the beginnings of it so I stopped him and he gave me another shot in a different place. I felt that shot going in, so it definitely wasn't my imagination that I wasn't numb enough!

After that it was pretty much smooth sailing. I felt him (pressure, not pain) scraping the pulp and root out. It was like that little brush that comes with Dr. Brown's bottles to get little device that goes inside clean. I'm sure that made sense to at least three of you. Anyway, he asked me if I felt anything and I said no and he said that if I wasn't feeling that, I wouldn't feel anything. Woot! Home free. So I relaxed and just let him do his job.

Towards the end I started to get a little bit of sensation back but it wasn't enough to stop him and make him numb me more. I could deal with it.

It took almost 2 hours and my jaw is still really sore from being open for that long. I was in a little bit of discomfort last night but I took a Tylenol 3 to combat it, and it seemed to work like a charm. So well, in fact, that I started feeling a little relaxed on our way to dinner (I took it right before we left). We were about a mile from the restaurant when I started noticing a little effect. We parked and I got out of the car and opened the back door to get Carter out, fished in my pocket for the key so I could lock the door, and realized the key was still in the ignition and the car was running. Doh. So I handed my keys off to my mom so she could drive home. :-)

The procedure wasn't as bad as I had built it up in my mind, but it's definitely not something I'd like to have done again. Obviously.