So at lunch today I got, um, debrided. Not as fun as it sounds. (Definitions: pulp, debride) Basically, it’s the first half of a root canal: they drilled through the tooth enamel and basically took out the top of the old, decaying nerve. Apart from a mild discomfort in my jaw, pretty much all the pain is gone 🙂 I haven’t even taken any painkillers since I got back from the dentist. Hooray! Thanks go to Mom and Mavis, both of whom pushed me to get it treated sooner rather than later. The second half of the treatment will take place on March 3rd (my originally scheduled appointment), where they’ll drill out the remaining bits of dead nerve.
Considering I’ve already eaten on the tooth (by mistake, mind you) and it didn’t hurt, I’d say that was $37 well spent. Can I just leave it at that? Ha, ha. Yeah. I’m likely going to need a crown on the tooth too. I was researching prices on these things today; root canals on rear molars generally cost more than those on frontal teeth because of their increased complexity: there are usually three nerves (canals) in lower molars and four in the upper ones, compared to a single in a frontal tooth. Depending on the dentist, a root canal for a rear molar can run between $550 to $860; root canals on rear teeth are typically followed by the placement of a crown (cap), since the resulting tooth is structurally weaker; these typically cost between $600 to $1050, depending on whether you get porcelain or gold. You might be surprised to learn gold has a benefit over porcelain besides attracting the bling set: gold apparently wears at the same rate as tooth enamel, unlike porcelain (which is much harder). Who knew?
Since you’ve put up with my less-than-easy-reading for the last three posts, here’s something you might enjoy which you may not have seen: a half-hour interview with Clerks/Chasing Amy/Dogma creator/director Kevin Smith discussing his connection to that enduring Canadian melodrama Degrassi:

• Kevin Smith Live from Degrassi High

So, a few things I didn’t mention yet. It’s looking like a root canal. The next possible appointment is March 3rd. Tomorrow, if the antibiotic hasn’t helped more, I’ll be finding a new dentist. At Jeff’s BBQ tonight — which was awesome, by the way, thank you Jeff — Kemp said he’d find out the name of the dentist which his coworkers use and recommend.
Also noteworthy: the pain peaked Friday — with me calling Cam and Melissa at 11pm because I was feeling lightheaded. I got some food in me and that helped a lot; because of the pain my meal preparation activities had gone by the wayside and I had neglected to make dinner. Eating’s pretty necessary.
Saturday the pain was much less, and I felt much more optimistic. It now only hurt when I touched the molar, or consumed something that was a different temperature than my mouth. Because our HPSN — METI‘s major tradeshow — is coming up, I spent the majority of Saturday at work. I managed to get away with taking just two Vicodin that day, compared to five the day before.
Today was similar to yesterday, in that it’s just temperature and pressure that cause pain — no more waves of pain like on Thursday and Friday. I’m hoping that’s the antibiotic kicking in. Anyhow, just a quick update. Gotta get to sleep before the drugs wear off, y’know.
PS: My longtime-friend Tex just got hisself a blog. Check it out.

Looking down from the lookout tower at Myakka River State Park
Warning: the following post contains graphic depictions of pain. If that kind of thing doesn’t sit well with you, you might consider skipping this post.
For the past two days I have had a serious toothache. The tooth in question is the furthest-back molar on the left side of my lower jaw. Yesterday I located a dentist, made an appointment and now have the prescription painkiller vicodin, which doesn’t seem to be doing much of anything.
At times the pain can be much less local than that molar, extending to all the teeth on the left side of my lower jaw, to my left ear and even an inch or two of the scalp behind my ear. When it does this, the center of the pain is still my teeth; my ear stings like it’s frostbitten; and my scalp is just numb.
The pain comes in waves; I liken the sensation to the time I got hit across the face by someone winding up to throw a backhand with a frisbee (think: a fully-extended forearm across the jaw). This occurs every 30 minutes or so, sometimes twice within 10 minutes.
The dentist also prescribed an antibiotic, amoxicillin, a type of penicillin. I don’t think I’m allergic, but my [snip… this was written at 8:25am… continuing now, 3:27pm]
Actually, I’ve now taken two doses of amoxicillin without ill side-effect, so I’m pretty certain now that I’m not allergic. Additionally, you know how I was saying the vicodin was having no effect? Well, something I hadn’t mentioned yet was that drinking water relieved the pain somewhat. When I came back from work at lunch (I’m going to be home the rest of the afternoon), I had a thought — what if I’m drinking so much water that the painkiller was in and out of my bloodstream before it got a chance to bind with the appropriate nerves? And before you think that’s a ridiculous notion, you should know that, until about 1pm today, I was emptying my bladder every 15 minutes. Well, I called my dentist to ask about this, but his office is closed on Fridays. So I called the pharmacy, and they said it was unlikely, and that I should simply take another dose. (a) I didn’t buy his explanation that it was unlikely (I didn’t explain how often I’d been going to the bathroom — only that I’d been drinking a lot of water), and (b) I wasn’t thrilled about the idea of doubling up my dose. I still had another hour to go before it was time to take another vicodin (I’m supposed to take one every 4-6 hours), but at this point the pain was making being conscious pretty unbearable, so I took one, and specifically did NOT drink any more water than was necessary to swallow the pill. So far, it’s been working pretty well (*crosses fingers*).
Think it’s time for a nap.