DISCLAIMER: I have no dental training, I apologize if my terminology is slightly off.
Last Thursday I broke a molar...badly. The beginning of the end of my tooth was about a month and a half ago when I bit down hard on a olive pit smack in the middle of my filling. There was some initial pain but it subsided quickly. Just to be safe I went to my dentist who x-rayed my tooth. Although no initial problems were identified, the size and age of the filling concerned the dentist and she said that I would eventually need a root canal but until the tooth presented a problem, she did not want to touch it. Fast forward to last Thursday when I was eatting pad thai of all things (NOODLES) a quarter of the crown just broke off. No pain, no blood. I was pretty freaked out. I called the dentist for a emergency appointment and went into hear my options. The options were not good. The first option involved shaved gums, a root canal, and a crown. All of which would only last me about 10 years (if lucky) since the tooth was so badly compromised. The other option, a implant AKA a fake tooth. The doctor was very careful not to imply which choice I should go with but the implant seemed like the more reasonable and less painful choice. The stuffed my broken tooth with some gross putty stuff and sent me on my way to schedule a extraction, a bone graft and to discuss the costs of the procedures. A dental implant is considered a "cosmetic procedure" so I am paying for most of the procedure.
So on Saturday, they will pull my tooth and drill into my jaw and place the implant plug. I will need to wait 5-6 months to allow my bone to fuse to the piece. I am pretty frightened. My only real basis for this fear is all the fillings I have had and my widom tooth extraction which I was under general anesthesia for. Recovering from my wisdom teeth extraction was tough and alot more painful than I anticipated pre-op BUT I was asleep for the whole teeth being ripped my gums. It makes me queasy to think that I am going to be awake when a tooth is pulled from my mouth and a hole drilled in my jaw. I requested valium to make me more relaxed. I am hoping that the recovery will be less painful then the wisdom extraction recovery because this is just one side of my mouth opposed to both sides, top and bottom. I will keep you posted on how it goes.
2 comments:
I needed some valium to get through that post. It made me anxious and gaggy all at once.
Melissa,
When I had my four wisdom teeth removed, I was not knocked out. I had been given 8 shots of nov. and laughing gas. I could not feel a thing. I felt movement, but no pain. The only time people have issues with teeth removal if they are in wrong or infected. I think you will be fine since you lost half the tooth already without pain.
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