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Root canal!
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).
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).
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