Monday, October 10, 2005

I survived my first visit to the dentist

I'm alive. I'm a bit ashamed, yes, but not all hope is lost. I have some problems that need to be dealt with, but the dentist said that we're working with the mind set that we will be saving the teeth that I have. I have gum disease... no surprise as 75% of the population has it. After we get some other issues taken care of we'll be treating that vigorously. I have my next appointment for this Friday for some major things including wisdom teeth extraction, a root canal, and some fillings. After that I'll be looking into getting my gums healthy and a crown for the tooth that will have the root canal.
And I'm going to be drugged up. He prescribed ativan for me to take on Thursday night and then again an hour and a half before my appointment. Hopefully I'll be knocked out enough to not be aware of what's going on.
It will cost an arm and a leg as I figured, but I better get it done now before I start losing more teeth. I guess it's a good thing I got that credit card paid off. Insurance helps some, but it only pays $1500 a year so I'll be owing about $2600 still. But I guess it will be worth it in the long run.

3 comments:

Susanlee said...

Ive found that the best thing for me to take, as far as over the counter, if Im having tooth pain, (and have to do things that require concentration as opposed to sleeping, which is what the dentists drugs usually make me do) is to take Ketoprofen, which is Orudis instead of tylenol or ibueprofin. Im not sure why it works better but it does, and it has the added bonus of looking like Easter M&Ms. I actually took it instead of my prescription when I had my wisdom teeth done because the hydrocodone they gave me made me have nightmares.

Tabatha Aikins said...

Well, it's a good thing that there's hope left. In cases like these, giving up is not an option, so it's always best to think positive. So, how did your dental appointments go?

Julius Ainsworth said...

This is coming way too late, but here’s a round of applause for surviving your very first dentist visit! Is there any particular reason that you did it late? It’s okay though and there’s nothing to be ashamed of. Hopefully, most of your dental issues have since been dealt with.