So I had a crown in one of my upper right molars that fell out in early 2021.  I was going to make an appointment with the dentist to get it put back in, but there was no rush to it.  I thought.   Back in, I think April of last year, while eating, I chipped a piece of the tooth off and now the crown would no longer fit.  SO then, too late to do things easily, I made an appointment with the dentist. 

He confirmed the crown would not fit and there wasn't enough of the tooth left to put a new crown in. (the tooth was like an upside volcano: just a rim of tooth and empty inside...an upside down cone)  But he did put a glob of the stuff used for fillings in it to fill in and make it...solid-ish.   And everything was fine.

Until earlier this year, when they glob of stuff fell out.  I made an appointment in early May to just get the tooth pulled.  When I went in, the dentist looked it over and said, it's a dead tooth, but I could have it for another 5 years or more without problem.  He's pull it if I wanted, but he didn't see a reason to do it right then.  SO we didn't.  And he put another glob of that stuff in it.

In last June, that glob fell out and there was bit more of the tooth that went with it. So I made an appointment just to pull it.  I wasn't eating on it, and obviously, it wouldn't last 5 years like this. 

Thursday was the day to get it pulled.  I had him prescribe me a valium to take before my appointment.  I love my dentist and everybody who works in his office, but I HATE going to the dentist. Always have, he's my third dentist in my life, and by far the best one, but I felt the same way about them too.  And the last time I had a tooth pulled, while we waited for the Novocain to take effect I was so nervous, I was pacing around his office, rubbing my fingers together obsessively.  I don't know that the valium did all that much to calm me down, but hey, I did set peacefully in the chair and not pace, so that's good. 

When he got to work, I felt no pain, but I could feel a lil pressure and what he was doing.  I had told him ahead of time my molar roots are really weirdly shaped and he said he remembered from the last time.  So he tried pulling it normally, with no success.  And then he got the drill out.  He told me later he had to cut it into three pieces and pull it out separately.   Honestly, it sounds a whole lot worse than it was or felt.    And it didn't take long at all.   I got to his office at 2:45, he took me almost right away and I was back home (i live right across the street) by 3:09.  I think the total time of the extraction was like 5 minutes or so. It seemed a lot longer in the chair, but I don't think it was any more than that.

So I came home and I bled all night.    Went to through all the gauze he gave me.  When I saw it was running low I went to CVS and got more.  I bled a lot longer than I thought it should have, but then I'm on a daily aspirin regimen, so that's probably why.  I took the anti-biotics (so I wouldn't get dry socket had that once before, oh GOD the pain) and the Tylenol with codeine for pain.  There's been a dull ache that grows stronger or weaker periodically, and that sucks, but it could be worse.  And I'm putting a cold compress on the outside periodically too, cause that's sore when I smile or laugh or talk sometimes or chew sometimes.  But that's kinda more muscular than the other pain.

Anyway, it's been over 50 hours since I had the tooth removed.  All in all, it's not something I'd want to go through again (although with the way my teeth are, I'm sure it WILL happen again), but it wasn't as bad as it could be, I guess .

POLT