Root canal!

[asterroc]

I had the root canal, and all seems fine so far.

The tap test wasn't all that bad, though it wasn't particularly good either. He tapped on the same tooth on the opposite side and of course you feel nothing. He tapped on the affected tooth and it hurt REALLY bad but was immediately gone. Then he took a tiny bit of ice in tweezers and held it on the affected tooth and I felt nothing - I thought it was supposed to hurt so I was confused. Then he said "this is what you'd feel on a normal tooth," held it on the mirrored tooth and it was blindingly cold, but again was over so quickly it wasn't a big deal. The guy was an endodontist.

He asked me if I'd be ok with starting the work now, and I said sure, and less than an hour later they were done with it. He started with topical painkiller, then novacaine on that spot, and after that kicked in, something else around the root, and in the end all I felt was occasional vibration. I found out that dental dams really exist for dental purposes: they rubber band one around the tooth to keep bacteria from the rest of the mouth away from it. I have to go back in two weeks (once the sensitivity has gone down) for a filling atop the current work, and a couple weeks after that for an actual cleaning, and I'm sure more fillings after that.

I maxed out my dental coverage and had to pay $550 today. Filling in two weeks will set me back another $300-odd, plus another $79 for cleaning after that and more for more presumed fillings. I have a prescription for antibiotics (augmentin) and painkiller (oxycodone/percocet, to be used as needed).

Comments

[best-ken-ever.livejournal.com]

Yikes! That dental insurance plan sounds icky. I'm not sure what kind of benefits you get, but it sounds like a pretty lean plan compared to what my company generally sells. Most importantly, though, it sounds like the procedure went well, so, yay! Hopefully the drugs will offset any lingering pain, and you'll be all set for next Monday!

[zandperl.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I've got a $50 deductible, $750 max, it doesn't cover consultations, normal procedures are covered at 80%, and root canals and X-rays at 60%. It's the only option I have though. It's MetLife btw.

Meanwhile, I realized that in order to get my syllabi printed for Monday morning, I need to send them in by tomorrow night. *grumble* Oh well, I'm definitely getting better at them, and the plagiarism clause saved my ass recently. I can copy'n'paste that from another syllabus if it's not in the current ones.

[best-ken-ever.livejournal.com]

Booo, Met. Well, any option better than nothing, I guess.

Yeah! I noticed that all of my professors liked to copy and paste the plagiarism clause from another syllabus. I think the University wrote one for everyone to use, though. (One of these days, kids will learn to think for themselves...right?)

[zandperl.livejournal.com]

The information wants to be free! And attributed! And... aw, heck, it wants to be

[galbinus-caeli.livejournal.com]

Percocet is great if all you have to do is play easy video games and hold down the couch. Not so good if you need to get anything done. After my extraction I only took the percs for a day then was fine on tylenol.

[zandperl.livejournal.com]

I'm still numb from the novacaine, so I'm good for now. I'm supposed to meet a friend for dinner though I can make her drive if needed. Tomorrow I'm supposed to go to meetings all day. And by the end of tomorrow I need to have syllabi ready to send to the print shop so they'll be printed by Monday morning.

[kadath.livejournal.com]

If you're going to take percs, I recommend investing in your laxative of choice, too.

[zandperl.livejournal.com]

Ugh, thanks for the warning. I'm hoping I don't have to though, as I'm already having enough trouble concentrating enough to write the syllabi that I need done by tomorrow night.

[galbinus-caeli.livejournal.com]

Take a perc with you. When the novacaine wears off you might be very uncomfortable.

[zandperl.livejournal.com]

I'd really rather not have to take it, due to fun things like not being able to drive and constipation. I'm going to start w/ OTC painkillers. I've already got naproxen (Alleve) in me, and maybe I'll do some ibuprofen (Advil) as well since you can take multiple different types. But I won't take acetaminophen (Tylenol) since that's already in the percocet combo thingit and I don't want to OD.

[galbinus-caeli.livejournal.com]

Lets hope you are one of the lucky people who don't need anything much at all.

[zandperl.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm hoping. It's probably going to be another case where the anticipation's worse than the reality - the root canal process itself was no where near as bad as I'd feared. Of course, now I'm all distracted and not working on the syllabi...

[galbinus-caeli.livejournal.com]

My one and only root canal was also a non event. Lie down on a table, get shot up with drugs, have someone mess around in my mouth for a while, then spend the next few days feeling like I had been punched in the jaw.