Another Wisdom Tooth

Wednesday 16^th March – The Endodontist

The Endodontist

I got up at seven and had a paracetamol/codeine 500mg/30mg in the hope it might somehow help things to not hurt, then got ready and drove to Brisbane Endodontics, arriving about a minute late for my eight o’clock appointment. I filled out my details and saw Dr Sam Tseng at what I think would have been around 8:20, and was finished by 9:10.

He explained the concept of root canals, crowns, etc. and showed me a few photos and diagrams and told me how much it was going to cost. I showed him the photos from when I had the nerve exposure and my previous x-rays; he then took an x-ray and explained that what others had thought was infection was the base of my sinus, numbed me, put what felt like a rubber glove in my mouth, and drilled lots.

He said that he found four canals, and there was tissue so it didn’t look like the nerves had died yet, but he said that it was inevitable that they would have.

Overall, it was far less painful and awful than I was expecting, though he did warn me that the tooth would hurt after.

Today’s appointment cost $1,400, of which my useless health fund paid $216.35, leaving me to pay $1183.65.

My next appointment with the endodontist will cost $1,000 I believe, and a crown will cost around $1,600 I’m told. I suspect my health insurance won’t pay anything for any of this, as I believe it’s reached its cap.

He agreed with the advice I’d been given by the dentist that I should remove the wisdom tooth as it doesn’t serve a purpose since its matching bottom wisdom tooth had been removed, was slightly over-erupted and would over-erupt more, and would trap plaque and increase the risk of damage to the tooth having the root canal. He said it is a small tooth and the extraction should be straightforward.

I made an appointment to have the wisdom tooth removed tomorrow.

Thursday 17^th March – Another Wisdom Tooth

Morning

The morning was spent in anticipation.

2:30 PM – The Dentist

I drove to the dentist and had a discussion about whether I should have my wisdom tooth removed. I’m not a fan of removing things—or pain for that matter. The dentist showed me bits of my mouth with her video tube thing and explained how since the removal of its friend the bottom wisdom tooth, the top wisdom tooth had been lonely and wasn’t able to chew at all. She said the choice was really up to me—there was no requirement to have it removed, but that removing it may reduce the risk to the tooth beside it and make it easier to put a crown on it, and easier to keep it clean. In the end, having had two dentists and an endodontist recommend its removal, I decided to go ahead.

The actual removal took all of fifteen seconds—which is fortunate as the feeling of a tooth coming out is what nightmares are made of, and I’d just decided I really did not like the feeling and really did not want to experience more of it, when she said “it’s out”.

Evening

I spent the evening putting an ice pack on for twenty minutes, then off for ten, and lazing about in bed propped up on a beanbag.

Bronwen

Bronwen picked her Mum up from the airport and spent the night at her parents’ place, while I lazed about trying to sleep in the shape of a triangle so as not to put my head down low.

Friday 18^th March – Eating Soft Things

Day

Despite having spent all yesterday evening in bed, I still managed to sleep for fourteen hours overnight. After making the terrible mistake of trying to eat some pumpkin soup (it’s really disgusting) I decided to stick to rice pudding with cream and ice cream, and perhaps some yoghurt and honey if I got too sick of that.