I’m 25 and today had my first root canal – I know not something I should be proud of!
Last week I had been suffering a mild tooth ache, but pushed it off by taking pain killers. By the end of the week my jaw swelled up like a balloon and I considered doing something about it, but took more pain killers.
Eventually my work colleagues bullied me into calling the dental department and booking myself in for a check up…30 minutes later I was standing in the Hospital reception, being shown an x-ray of a huge abscess under my tooth and told I would need a root canal or the tooth removed. I was then handed an appointment slip for 9:15am on Tues 12th Dec and given two lots of antibiotics ‘Amoxicillin’ and ‘Metronidazole’ – the later being stressed that I shouldn’t drink alcohol or would be violently ill – Torture!
So after getting over the shock of not being able drink for a whole week…oh…and the abscess, I placed the appointment in my pocket, said thanks (god knows why?) and headed back to work.
Swiftly moving back into the present…its 8:15 and I have just dropped the kids off at Mandy’s (my childminder) and heading back home to contemplate my fate. I forgot how scared I was of dentists…deep breathes it’ll be ok – that’s what everyone keeps telling me, surely they are being honest and not just nice?
I try and do some housework but give up and check the e-mail instead, then go through and brush my teeth – Is it just me or does everyone do that before seeing the dentist? After a further 15 minutes of ambling around the house not really doing anything, but worrying, I go back and brush my teeth again, then look at my watch… 8:55…right time to go, so grab my coat but stop at the bathroom door – I’ll just brush my teeth one more time!
I arrive at the Hospital reception at 9:10am, check-in and get myself comfortable in the waiting area. I decided to try and take my mind of what’s to come by examining every scrap of paper that was scattered about the walls – god they are boring! Although one advert amused me – It was a picture of seven men standing together with the caption “Men come in all shapes and sizes – so do condoms!”
It seemed like forever for the display to beep and show ‘Marie Loveridge to Room D3’. I prised myself off the chair and headed to the room, wiping my sweaty palms on my coat on the way. Thankfully the lady dentist didn’t want to shake hands – maybe she could see me and just smiled while pointing towards the chair.
The worst part for me is the injections – I’m absolutely terrified. But get around this by closing my eyes when I sense its coming and have a feeling I hold my breath too, but really too nervous to remember. It’s normally in and out before I realize – thankfully. A little while later my jaw, cheek, lip and half of my tongue are numb – cool!
I won’t go into the details, mainly because I have no idea what they were, but just know that some miniature scaffold was placed around my tooth and there was a lot of drilling, poking and measuring. Almost felt like I was mother earth being probed by geologists – yes my mind was still wandering about.
The dentist was very good though, very gentle and said I could even go to sleep if I wanted as it was going to take a while. I tried to grin but it’s quite hard when your jaw is wide open and a rubber mat with various scaffolds is covering most of your mouth! But think she could see from the wrinkles on the sides of my eyes I was smiling. That’s one thing I will never understand though – why do dentists ask questions that need more of a head nod answer when you are unable to? Might be a game they play to keep themselves amused…yes that’s it I’m sure!
So we are quite a way through the procedure and I’m told the little red strips I see before me are rubber from the guttering company in Australia and that she is dipping them in cement before inserting them into my tooth – hummm thanks for that. Fairly sure now dentists have to go to construction school as well - with all the scaffold, rubber and cement they use!
It’s all over by 11:20 and I should say now I am very pleased with how it went and would like to thank to the dentist and her assistant as it didn’t hurt a bit! So maybe I won’t be so scared next time…yes I’m sure there will be a next time!
Last week I had been suffering a mild tooth ache, but pushed it off by taking pain killers. By the end of the week my jaw swelled up like a balloon and I considered doing something about it, but took more pain killers.
Eventually my work colleagues bullied me into calling the dental department and booking myself in for a check up…30 minutes later I was standing in the Hospital reception, being shown an x-ray of a huge abscess under my tooth and told I would need a root canal or the tooth removed. I was then handed an appointment slip for 9:15am on Tues 12th Dec and given two lots of antibiotics ‘Amoxicillin’ and ‘Metronidazole’ – the later being stressed that I shouldn’t drink alcohol or would be violently ill – Torture!
So after getting over the shock of not being able drink for a whole week…oh…and the abscess, I placed the appointment in my pocket, said thanks (god knows why?) and headed back to work.
Swiftly moving back into the present…its 8:15 and I have just dropped the kids off at Mandy’s (my childminder) and heading back home to contemplate my fate. I forgot how scared I was of dentists…deep breathes it’ll be ok – that’s what everyone keeps telling me, surely they are being honest and not just nice?
I try and do some housework but give up and check the e-mail instead, then go through and brush my teeth – Is it just me or does everyone do that before seeing the dentist? After a further 15 minutes of ambling around the house not really doing anything, but worrying, I go back and brush my teeth again, then look at my watch… 8:55…right time to go, so grab my coat but stop at the bathroom door – I’ll just brush my teeth one more time!
I arrive at the Hospital reception at 9:10am, check-in and get myself comfortable in the waiting area. I decided to try and take my mind of what’s to come by examining every scrap of paper that was scattered about the walls – god they are boring! Although one advert amused me – It was a picture of seven men standing together with the caption “Men come in all shapes and sizes – so do condoms!”
It seemed like forever for the display to beep and show ‘Marie Loveridge to Room D3’. I prised myself off the chair and headed to the room, wiping my sweaty palms on my coat on the way. Thankfully the lady dentist didn’t want to shake hands – maybe she could see me and just smiled while pointing towards the chair.
The worst part for me is the injections – I’m absolutely terrified. But get around this by closing my eyes when I sense its coming and have a feeling I hold my breath too, but really too nervous to remember. It’s normally in and out before I realize – thankfully. A little while later my jaw, cheek, lip and half of my tongue are numb – cool!
I won’t go into the details, mainly because I have no idea what they were, but just know that some miniature scaffold was placed around my tooth and there was a lot of drilling, poking and measuring. Almost felt like I was mother earth being probed by geologists – yes my mind was still wandering about.
The dentist was very good though, very gentle and said I could even go to sleep if I wanted as it was going to take a while. I tried to grin but it’s quite hard when your jaw is wide open and a rubber mat with various scaffolds is covering most of your mouth! But think she could see from the wrinkles on the sides of my eyes I was smiling. That’s one thing I will never understand though – why do dentists ask questions that need more of a head nod answer when you are unable to? Might be a game they play to keep themselves amused…yes that’s it I’m sure!
So we are quite a way through the procedure and I’m told the little red strips I see before me are rubber from the guttering company in Australia and that she is dipping them in cement before inserting them into my tooth – hummm thanks for that. Fairly sure now dentists have to go to construction school as well - with all the scaffold, rubber and cement they use!
It’s all over by 11:20 and I should say now I am very pleased with how it went and would like to thank to the dentist and her assistant as it didn’t hurt a bit! So maybe I won’t be so scared next time…yes I’m sure there will be a next time!
