No pictures of this event :-). Yesterday I had my two remaining wisdom teeth pulled on the left side of my mouth. I'm doing much better tonight. For most of the day I had a very bad headache, thanks to the pain killers. I stopped taking them.
In June I went to a new dentist, because my previous dentist wasn't doing a good job cleaning my teeth and always said I had perfect teeth. I don't. He also would only allow me to schedule one cleaning per year, not two. Tommy went to the new dentist first and had a good initial consultation and cleaning. He went back to get one gumline cavity filled and came out with three additional fillings. He was not happy with this dentist at all! My appointment was the next day, so I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. I had an excellent cleaning, and they were very nice to me because I think they knew they screwed up with Tommy. I went back to get my gumline cavity filled. The dentist was very rough. It was the worst pain I have ever experienced with a dentist. Like Tom I had one cavity, but three teeth were filled. My cavity was on the gumline on my lower left wisdom tooth, but he spent forever grinding the top of my tooth to fill the top. I was in pain for a week later. I went back in and he said the only thing he could do would be to grind the epoxy filling down. He did that, but that didn't help much.
Finally I just got tired of having to eat solely on the right side of my mouth and I found another dentist that is covered by our dental insurance. I had to drive about twice as far, but it was worth it. The new dentist took an x-ray and discovered that my new filling was touching my nerve and that was where my pain was stemming from. He reccomended that they remove that wisdom tooth and my upper wisdom tooth at the same time. I called the neglegent dentist and he apologized and sent me a check for the amount that I paid to have the tooth filled.
The day I was to have my wisdom teeth pulled by the new dentist. I decided to call my insurance to make sure this procedure would be covered. It was not! I knew I needed the tooth out, but didn't want to pay upwards of $250/tooth to be extracted. The dental insurance told me to call the health insurance because I had oral surgery coverage. I called them and I did have coverage to get my wisdom teeth pulled, but only if this was done by an oral surgeon. I called my new dentist and had to cancel the appointment and get them to write a referral to an oral surgeon. I called the oral surgeon and they were able to see me for a consultation at the same time I was originally scheduled to have my teeth pulled. I was relieved. I stopped by the new dentist picked up the x-ray and referral and then headed to the oral surgeon, about 20 miles further down the road.
At the oral surgeon I had a panoramic x-ray and he said that it looked like I had decay in my roots in addition to the filling touching my nerve. He said he could remove the teeth that day. Not wanting to drive down there again, I agreed. He had to give me the lecture about this wasn't going to be a simple procedure because I was over 30. Ugh! They gave me some laughing gas, but I swear it was just oxygen because I didn't feel any effects from the laughing gas at all. They also gave me novacaine, so I didn't feel anything in my mouth. The bottom tooth came out no problemo, but he did have to stitch it up. He said he was really lucky the root didn't break because it was long and hooked. The top tooth's root broke, so he had to cut deeper to get the root out, and he had to stitch that up.
Okay enough of the gruesome details. I'm very happy they're out, and I can already notice a beneficial difference in my mouth. The oral surgeon said he was very suprised the first dentist would choose to fill the tooth rather then recommending it's removal.
