Dental Appointment To Fill Two Cavities
[ Thursday March 16th 2023 at 3:13 pm ]
I just finished my dental appointment and I am on my way home. I am presently doing my impression of a ventriloquist. I just had two cavities. The freezing is preventing me from moving the muscles on the right side of my mouth. My speech is all screwed up. I had just recently saw a video where they talked about speech involved controlled air flow to stimulate the vocal cords. I should be back to normal in a few hours.
There were 2 cavities. When my lower teeth were cleaned last week I was under the impression one cavity was just starting to form and a "wait and see" approach would be the appropriate treatment for it. However the dentist decided to fill both cavities today. They are beside each other. I am not a dentist. I don't know what is right now. I also can't see inside my mouth. I trusted the dentist's decision wanting to do both today.
As it turns out this was the right decision. Both cavities were serious. One was caught just in time and has been repaired.
The other cavity is problematic. The pain medication I use doesn't discriminate between teeth pain and the pain my physical disability causes me. It was masking what should have been a very painful cavity prompting me to go to the dentist. The nerve of the tooth had to be exposed to remove the damaged portion of the tooth in the hopes of fixing it. Since the nerve of the tooth was exposed we don't know if a filling will be successful or not. It is now a "wait and see" process.
I have a follow up appointment in 3 months. The best outcome is that I don't feel further pain and the nerve has calmed down from the damage it suffered as the cavity as expanding. If this is the case the temporary cavity will be removed and a permanent one put it. Otherwise I face the decision of having the tooth pulled or a root canal that will slowly kill off the tooth. This happened to me once before. A temporary cavity worked. I am hoping my body will co-operate a second time.
I was pleasantly surprised when both the receptionist staff called me by my first name as well as the hygienist that cleaned my lower teeth last week. I try hard to build relationships with people. It was nice being greeted. In fact I was so comfortable that I almost fell asleep while the cavity was being repaired.