Toothache 2010

Back in March last year - this was what I wrote and experienced:

Interesting start to the week... since Sunday I have had a toothache that has slowly got more painful each hour and each day.  I have taken so many pills, nothing worked. Argh... no sleep and a terrible pain.  I needed to get something to help me sleep and the dentist was not available until the next day.  I didn't want to go through another night of waking up and feeling pain... lots of pain... like someone hooking your tooth pulling at it.

My face has now swelled on the left hand side of my face.  My eye is half closed and just touching my cheek sends me to the roof.  To smile or to laugh hurts.  Anything that requires me to use the muscle in my face is very painful.  I can't sleep on that side of my face.  All I want to do is sleep. It's not a pretty place to be in and just take stronger mediciation just to relieve the pain for temporary periods of time so I can sleep.  The strongest pain killer only lasts for a little under two hours at a time. Most of them just shade the pain, dulling it slightly without causing huge headaches.

I visited the dentist today.  He said he can't do anything until the swelling goes down and I have antibotics to fight the infection in my system.  Totally in tears now and feeling as if I can't keep going on like this.  The dentist did say that I needed to make a decision: root canal or extract the tooth.  Decisions had to be made.  At first I said root canal but still wasn't sure due to the success rate after such procedure, how long it lasted plus the huge cost to have it done.

Home again and more sleep, antibotics and more pain killers.

Once the swelling went down a little, I had a thought that I may need to extract the tooth... vanity took the better of me and I had to check in the mirror my tooth on the side of my mouth if this would affect my smile and if it could be seen when I smiled. 

A few days later, the swelling had decreased a little and time to go back to the dentist.  Now to find out which tooth is infected and which one was causing all that pain.  Not as easy to find when all the left side of my face was infected and swollen.

Once the tooth was found - I had a decision to be made:

1. a root canal surgery? a lot of money to pay for this (do have some savings in the bank) but no guarantee that the root canal will last or

2. extract the tooth? less money but no tooth, a hole for the tongue to play with later.  :) and will my smile show the hole where my tooth was?  I practiced smiling until I realised no, it is not that noticable.  I decided to get rid of the tooth.  Once I had made the decision and the dentist started to extract... I was thinking have I made the right decision?  it's too late now. arghh.

A few weeks later, the tooth cavity had healed up.  I have lived to tell, that I am alright and a lot better since then.  What an experience!!!

This happened over a few weeks, but it felt like months.  I do appreciate my teeth and my sleep for that matter.

Thanks for listening.