Root Canal

Today was the day of my endodontic appointment. I arrived at the dentist's office at 12:15 p.m. to discover that not only was I scheduled for a root canal, but I also needed to have part of my gum removed because it had grown over the broken tooth. (And, that will teach me not to brush off the dentist when he describes upcoming treatments to me. I vaguely remember him saying something about the gum, blah, blah, blah, the last time I was in, but I only paid attention to the part about the root canal.) The dental assistant was a bit alarmed that I was oblivious to all of the extra work required before today's endodontic appointment, but I climbed into the chair and told them to do whatever was necessary. After getting four shots of anesthetic, my mouth was totally numb and, as far as I was concerned, they could prod and drill all they wanted. The dentist dug away at the bony structure and ended up cauterizing my gum. The endodontist, who is in the same office building, came over to have a peek, and declared that everything looked just fine for him to begin the root canal. Forty minutes after I arrived, I was on my way over to the endodontist's area. There, I got another shot of Novocaine after I notified the guy that, yes indeed, I could feel his dental "explorer" poking around my tooth. A little over an hour later, my root was removed, the tooth was cleaned out, and I was on my way out the door with a sagging lip and a prescription for 600 mg. Motrin tablets. I took one of the extra, extra strength Motrin, and now that the anesthetic is wearing off, the tooth and surrounding gums feel pretty good. So far. I go back to the dentist next week to be fitted with a post and crown. I still have more dental work in my future, but this particular tooth was so close to the front of my mouth that I was afraid it would break off completely and I would look especially goofy. Glad that part of the procedure is done!