back from the dental appointment

with three wisdom teeth less in my mouth and the desperately needed root canal is done.

I was awake most of the time, though groggy, timed seemed to move faster than the 2 1/2 hours the appt took.  My right side is swollen, of course, and the right side of my tongue is about as big as a cheek.  Needless to say it’s already gotten nipped a couple of time and my teeth think it’s the gauze it supposed to be biting down on.

 The next appt can wait a couple of months, to get the bar set in so can get a crown on the one that got cannaled.  I must say, I’m like the idea of no longer having to worry about food bits getting into it and causing an infection.  I’m also liking the idea that I won’t have to brush so far back in my upper teeth to get those hard to reach teet (which turned out to have been wisdoms)

But of course, i’m not looking forward to having the tooth drilled into for a post and crown; nor for the deep cleaning and cavity filling that needs to occur as well.  It seems that their records show that they HAD done a post and crowning while I was awake/aware.  I don’t remember it.  I wonder how I did and if I want to risk that again.  Moneywise it’s a heck of a lot cheaper than IV sedation.  But stresswise?  I dunno.  It’ll be really nice if i can get through the minor thing without sedation.  Build up some positive assocations to dental work.  This was a start…now if only i could regain feeling in my skin and tongue, lol.

me = chickenshit

This morning I go into the dentist’s to get 3 wisdom teeth removed (the fourth is being used as part of a bridge) and a root canal done while being under IV sedative.  I’ll be “asleep” for about 2 1/2 hours or so, probably less because that time was estimated to include a 4th wisdom tooth.  And of course, I’m scared.  But not as scared as last time.

I used to (still do) have an irrational but very strong fear of losing consciousness.  I’ve had this fear ever since I was a little girl.  And though I’ve been in a few situations where, by all rights, I should have passed out or fainted, even having reached the point where everything is blacked and can’t hear anything but the rush of blood in my head, etc…I still maintained enough consciousness to either finally get the door unlocked (when I was being strangled and the person on the other side of the door was locked out from helping me) or keep on fighting (when got into a fight with a boyfriend (not related to the first incident)) or get out of the shower and into bed before i seriously hurt myself (i think i was sick or something) .   Ok, so maybe one could say that with the above experiences that the fear isn’t irrational at all.  Except that the fear was there BEFORE those incidences and have been there since I was younger than a teen.

Last time I had a root canal done, the doctor had me under IV sedation.  I was scared to death of it.  I tried to get everything set up in case I didn’t come out of it.  But there was no way that the dentist and I would survive a root canal (in one mental piece) if I wasn’t sedated.  I’m too highly reactive to things being done to me.  And the last dentist who I had tried to see….let’s just say that we created a negative cycle of fear/anticipation/reactivity that left us both a nervous wreck after just half an hour and ultimately led to my being banned from coming back.  (I don’t blame her one bit!)

But my teeth were hurting so bad, and the pain wouldn’t go away, and there was no way in the world I would survive that kind of pain the rest of my life (that it may have eventually stopped, it would have started up again later if not taken care of).  So I was willing to take the chance.  And the actual experience?  I don’t remember a thing other than groggily becoming aware as the dentist finished packing in the temporary filling.  So, basically, it was a positive experience.

So now I’m dealing with ONE positive experience and years of fears…and sore teeth/gums.  Heh.  I haven’t set everything up “just in case”, this time.  Hopefully it won’t have been needed.  But as the time approaches (got an hour and half before the appt right now), the fear increases.

I’ll write here after it’s over.