Posted on by LydiaA1614

Project Smile Meets Murphy’s Law

tooth“Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.”

When I last reported on Project Smile (the long journey to fixing all my tooth problems), I had a tooth that was falling apart and exposing the nerve repaired. The last thing my dentist said was, “now there is a chance because it was so damaged that the tooth will act up again. If it does, it should be pulled.”

Now truth be told I was a little annoyed at this because I had wanted it pulled in the first place. I only agreed to the filling because I am running out of paired molars for chewing. Now that I have a swallowing problem, I definitely need to chew food thoroughly.

However, the filling held up pretty well over the holidays and has had its share of chewing workouts.

Well, last night, around 11 pm the tooth exploded into throbbing pain. I had to take two of my extra pain pills to be able to sleep through the night, with one wake-up to take the second pill.

I sent an email about 1 am to my dentist’s office letting them know I was having problems. I figured this would give them time to get it and figure out a plan of action before calling me. If I called when I got up and was lucid enough to talk, it would be all day before something was set up. I was right. The receptionist called around 10:30 am to tell me that the dentist agrees it must be pulled and he is referring me back to the dentist who pulled out the last two teeth.

This time I was prepared for that and really like the dentist who does the extractions. And he is quite fast, considering the fact that my teeth can fall apart on their own! I am sure I am going to pitch to him my desire to have all teeth removed and get dentures rather than fillings, crowns, a partial on top, and a bridge on the bottom.

As some of you know my dentist has been a very dear friend for a lot longer than he has been my dentist. I know he only wants what is best for me. He, his wife and their staff take such good care of me. They know how a few hours in the chair will affect me (it can put me out of commission for a couple of days). I hate to go behind his back, but he respects his colleague and I know he won’t mind me getting a second opinion. I will be going to my dentist for whatever the next step is and we both need to be on the same page.

While Murphy might try and muck up my plans, I know that I have God in my corner and that’s more than enough for me!

Lydia!

29 Replies to “Project Smile Meets Murphy’s Law”

  1. This is too much! I’m so sorry you’re dealing with all of this. It’s my turn in the chair next week. They’re deep cleaning and then bonding all of my teeth. Hopefully my pain meds will cover it and it won’t be a disaster! Good luck and you’re doing what’s right for you. Don’t worry about the dentist. Be well.

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    1. Thank you. My dentist has been a dear friend for many years longer than he has been my dentist. I know he isn’t trying to save my teeth because of the money he’ll make, he truly believes it is the better route for me because dentures can be a great success or an epic failure. Good luck to you as well.

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      3. It was a crazy visit. They started the “regular” cleaning, telling me they weren’t sure why it was booked as a deep cleaning, and ended up stopping everything. Now I have to return for a deep cleaning since they wasted that appt time attempting a basic one. As for the rest of it, the doc filled in some dead space between a few of my teeth that he felt was causing my pain. I have to return for the bonding. Ugh. It just doesn’t stop. Thanks for thinking of me!

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  4. I had more than my fair share of time in the dentist’s chair last year with the commensurate amount of pain both in mouth and body so you have my sympathy. I rock up woth a load of cushions and he provides the neck pillow – least he can do given what he’s about to out me through!

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    1. Ya, they have it all down in my file – neck pillow, bite block for my jaw, if I forgot my knee pillow they find one, and tell me each visit to raise my hand if I need to sit up and adjust positions. In fact, his assistant is getting good at reading me and sometimes just says “I think she needs a break!”

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      2. The dentist I was referred to for my previous extractions was knew to me and I was very nervous. But he and his assistant were marvelous. So this time I know what to expect with them.

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  8. Ouch. I feel for you. Over the holidays I had a crown that came off too. I thought it would be a simple glue the sucker back on, but no. *sigh* There were three cavities hiding under and around where the cap had been. I got in the next day for the three hour session. The dentist even had to do some laser gum surgery. And I got a new cap prep. The new one has since been glued back in place and I can chew on that side again.
    Good luck with your teeth. Maybe dentures is the answer for you.

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    1. Thanks, Janice. I understand what you went through as well. I had two crowns on very fragile teeth. One was glued back on three times until there was nothing for it to hold onto so I had to have the rest of the tooth surgically removed. I just came back from the dentist and it was a little difficult for him as the tooth did come off in pieces and the roots were twisted around each other. But so far so good! I will be blogging about my second opinion.

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  9. I’ve had my own fun experiences with teeth. Not as bad as yours though. I had to have my wisdom teeth out when I was about 23 years old. They all came out in little tiny chips. I swelled up really bad, got black and blue, couldn’t talk or eat. Then in my late 30s It was that I had TMJ because I had ringing in my ears. So $5000 and braces later I still had ringing in my ears. Since then I found out that ringing in the ears is a multiple sclerosis symptom. I also had twi eye teeth that were just little tiny pegs. So I got veneers on those. And I still have three baby teeth. They seem to be holding their own though!

    Prayers for healing going up. Blessings!

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