Dental woes

This is kind of a long drawn out explanation about how I'm doing today, but for those who have heard me complain about my teeth, I figured you may want to know. So here it is...

I went to the dentist today to figure out once and for all what is wrong with my teeth. I have an appetite still but no desire to eat because now when I look at food, all I feel is pain. So, obviously that can't last long, and I made it to the dentist. They did the regular clean up and x-rays with extra x-rays in the spot that I told them it hurt the most. (In that spot, I basically can't chew, especially if it contains sugar, and when I floss, it hurts to pull the floss back out. I really feel like I am going to pull my tooth out when I floss.) So, I met with the doctor about it, and he showed me the x-rays and some spots that concerned him as well as the spot that hurt me. That spot showed a crack-like thing on two touching teeth and he thought that maybe the fillings that were already there were leaking. Plus, I had a cavity on the tooth behind those two. Then, he did this cool laser light thing where he shined it at my tooth and it would measure the refraction of the light and figure out if there was something going on inside the tooth that he couldn't see. And of course, there was on almost every tooth. Not really - but practically. So he looked back at the x-rays and saw the slight spots that the laser pointed out. All the spots are on molars that had damage from the bands that were on them when I had braces. He said the damage was from a combination of hygiene and band leakage, so here's a shout out to all those who have braces to make sure you take care of your teeth! The damage isn't necessarily what is causing the spots, but it has made it difficult to bond fillings.

So, the three teeth I mentioned earlier that were hurting me like mad - he numbed me up to fix those, and I cried. Because shots hurt!! The first one was fine and he waited to give me the second hoping I wouldn't feel it but it was the more painful one. By the end of it I was shaking everywhere and tears were dripping down my face. I think he felt bad. I was also really tired though so it could have been exhaustion from not sleeping enough. Anyway, he started drilling and after about five seconds he stopped, reached in my mouth, and grabbed the former filling right off my tooth! He showed it to me and it was like a third of my tooth I swear! And it just popped right out! He said that was very abnormal and that normally they have to drill old fillings out. So he kept drilling and I heard him say, "Oh, that one just came off too," to his assistant. So apparently, they were poorly bonded and I have to say I remember getting those and I remember that the pain on that side of my mouth has never completely disappeared since that day two years ago in June! Haha, I definitely remember and resent that day. So, he replaced those and fixed the other new cavity. All that was relatively painless, but I still shook the whole time and had to remember to relax a dozen times. He was great though and I'm excited because, while I am numb and feel like an idiot since I can't tell when I'm biting my cheek or not right now, I can tell that there is less pain when I bite. Maybe eating will become enjoyable again! :D

Oh yeah, so I have another appointment in two weeks and probably another one after that. Basically there were eight spots he wants to drill into and we did those three today. What fun! Wish me luck! Now I'm at home to take a nap and maybe go back to work. Only my face is numb, but I can't tell you how weird the rest of me feels. I feel numb all over. I've had to backspace and make more corrections in this blog than ever before. Haha... maybe I should go to work - just to give my co-workers a good laugh today. :D