A Cavity Filling & A Root Canal

The last time I went to the dentist, he said that I had 2 big cavities that needed to be taken care of.  On Monday one of those teeth that has the cavity started to hurt, so I set up an appt for this morning at 8:30.  After they took some x-rays, I grabbed my camera phone while the dental assistant was in the other room and took this picture.  This will be a cool one to include in my Project Life.  Anyways, what was supposed to be 2 cavity fillings turned into a cavity and root canal.  They filled my top cavity just fine.  Then when they cleaned out my cavity on the bottom molar, the dentist said the pulp started bleeding and wouldn’t stop which indicates that it was too close to the root.  So, he sat me up in the chair and explained it to me and got my approval to start a root canal.

I was there from  8:30 to 11:30, and he had to renumb the bottom tooth twice.  He said the local anesthesia usually lasts for 4 hours, but my body must absorb anesthesia fast b/c it only lasted 2 hours.  Anyways, he did a great job and I am SO GLAD that my dental insurance finally kicked in after a year of having to pay for all of my dental work I had to have done.  I stopped and got a shake before going to work b/c I hadn’t had anything to eat yet and I was afraid to chew since my tongue felt like it was super fat.  It’s such a weird sensation to only feel the left side of my tongue while the right side was all numb.

You would think that I never brush my teeth or floss w/ how many cavities and root canals I’ve had.  It’s not true, though.  I even carry floss in my purse b/c I floss at work sometimes.  I’ve decided it’s b/c I never had braces or major dental work as a kid, so now it’s my turn to sit in the dentist’s chair a lot.

It was interesting trying to talk on the phone while the right side of my mouth was numb, but I made it through the day w/out biting my tongue.  Tonight after dinner, we watched the Hudson River Landing & Japan Tsunami footage on TV.  We were all just in shock and kept saying how surreal all of it was.  Mom & I were so tense and stressed just from watching it from the comfort of our living room, so I can’t imagine how awful it would have been to actually live through those events.  Even Autumn was entranced by it and couldn’t stop watching.

When she heard that the tsunami happened in Japan she became very concerned and said we needed to call Uncle Nate and tell him to run fast and to climb a tall tree!  We explained to her that this happened last year and that Uncle Nate was safe and wasn’t near the tsunami.  I thought that was sweet of her to be worried for him, and smart of her to think of Nate when she heard Japan.

We came home and I put her to bed, and then went to bed at 10:00.  Usually I stay up later than that, but I was super tired and just called it a night.  The extra sleep will do me (and the bags under my eyes) good.