Monday surprise...

Well, I went to the dentist thinkin'...."I'm just gettin' my teeth cleaned today. Maybe they can tell me why my jaw/teeth hurts a lot. The new crown? We'll see...."

So I'm called in, and sit in the chair. The assistant asks me questions. I told her how annoyed I was with my doctor convincing me the pain I have in my jaw is related to allergies and sinuses, but after 4 months of dealing with it, and drugging myself with ibuprofen nearly every day....it's gotta be the crown. 

So she x-rays my right side.

The dentist comes in, and says something to me. I ask her to move her mask down so I can lip-read, please. She tells me I have a bad back tooth.

My eyes widened ... "you mean the wisdom tooth? so I need to set up a time to get that yanked out?"

She nods...but maybe I misunderstood her.

I get my special bib on and I'm laid back.  The dentist swabs my gum...I'm little puzzled...but with stuff in my mouth I can't say anything.

Then I see the needle!  *gulp* So, I'm shot up.

Out came the pliers.

Yanks it out.

Stuffs a gauze in there. I was so surprised..."that's it?" I mumbled. Sounding like a cowboy with mouth stuffed full of chewing tobacco.

Yup. She slowly sits me up...asking if I'm dizzy or feeling sick. I'm nodding no....in fact, I was telling her how great I feel, and ...well, I'm sure I'll feel lots better. I asked lots of questions like, can the wisdom tooth be responsible for my discomfort? and why would my doctor even think I was having allergies & sinus problems all this time? Yes the wisdom tooth was responsible for my discomfort all this time.

Drivin' home, still sounding like a chewin' tobacco cowboy saying prayers for a friend's mom, I gassed up and then went on home, blasting my radio, trying to sing but not with the gauze in my mouth.

Oh, my right nostril was numb. Felt weird trying to breath through that nostril. Oh well. Got me thinking...can eyeballs go numb? Has anyone ever experienced that?

It is 9 hours later since my tooth was yanked out of my head, and I'm still feeling great. No pain...and I am just thrilled that the annoying ache/pain I've had for months is...gone.

My daughter said it best: "Mom, since you were not expecting to have your tooth pulled, that is probably why it was easy to recover fast from it. If you knew you would have it pulled for a while, then it would be more painful."

Huh.  That makes perfect sense.  Now, I just have to set up an appointment for teeth-cleaning ... no more teeth yanking, please.

And, two friends warned me not to drink through a straw. Well, I don't have straws at home, so I was drinking water out of a bottle just fine, and had some pop and some milk. Still no problem.

I know I have been truly blessed today. And, I love my dentist. I do thank her from the bottom of my heart for helping the pain go away. Now, I just have to stop being a chicken every time I go to the dentist's.