One of Those with an Interesting Tooth

I have to write about this so it will (hopfully) stop consuming space in my brain. In other words I'm obsessing about it and I wish I could stop.

About two weeks ago I started experiencing pain in my lower left jaw when I bit down on certain things. It was rare and the pain did not last long so I would forget about it On Monday the pain was more severe and lasted longer so I decided I better call the dentist. I do not go to the dentist regularly anymore. I was good through high school (1977) and then stopped going. They weren't finding anything; just cleaning them. I figured I could do that myself. I went again in 2002 and was not happy with the chair side manner of the woman who took care of me so I stopped going again.

Today the dentist, bless his heart, commented on "It's been awhile" but that's all he said. I told him my problem and he took two xrays. He said, "You have a very interesting tooth". Thanks, I think. (I said). He said that the inside of my tooth was deterioriating but given the (good) state of the outside of my teeth and gums he didn't think it was decay. He said it was likely this thing called resorption where basically my tooth was dissolving itself. But he wasn't certain and wanted me to go to see an endodontist for evaluation and, if necessary, root canal.

Wonderful. :( So he got me an appointment for 4:00 and all day I obsessed about this potential root canal. I've never had one. I've never had any work done (beyond cleaning) on my teeth. I went to the appointment and was greeted by a doctor on crutches. He took another xray and showed me where the inside of my tooth is missing. A lot of it. He said given the general condition of the outside he recommends trying to save it with the root canal. He patiently explained what he would do. I said, "Are you going to do this with me awake?" He said, yes, it would be like getting a cavity filled. I've never had a filling. Oh, he says, "You're one of those". And he went on to explain exactly how he would numb the area and then do the procedure.

So I go back on Saturday to have this done. I'm not happy about this at all. I imagine if the numbing agent works right it will be fine. Since both doctors poked all around with pointy things and the second one blew cold air into my mouth and none of it hurt I'm taking that as a good sign. Still, my blood pressure was up and will likely be high again on Saturday.

I asked what caused this resorption. The doc said it's usually a result of trauma to the tooth. I don't remember anything though. I'm also wondering if this is something that might be happening in my other teeth. It's a little unnerving to think that I take good care of them and still they can go bad on me. Grrrrrr....