My first tooth...

Warning: This is a bit graphic and probably too much information.

Holy cow.

This morning I noticed that the bit of tenderness in my jaw that made eating not so fun had managed to get perceptively worse, so I thought - better get me to a dentist. Not that I wanted to go mind you, I hate every member of the profession just 'cause, but there are some things you just gotta do (Read: I had arrived at the point where the pain was not something I could will away).

I expected that there would be a wait and have been repeatedly told that getting into a dentist here was difficult. But no, the second practice I rang up said they had vacancies and that in fact they had a cancellation for this afternoon and would I like to take it? Damn.... Well, yes, I suppose I really should.

So I did...

They took x-rays to see what was going on.

Let me 'splain. Me and my teeth do not get along. I tell you, I have THE worst luck and THE worst teeth. I brush, I use mouthwash, but no. I have fillings in all of my molars and caps on many of the front ones. I had my first root-canal treatment at 17, my second at 21. My body doesn't seem to like calcium much.

Anyway, The x-ray revealed another possible two root-canals in the making: One completely hopeless tooth that probably couldn't be salvaged even with the root canal and another that had a cracked filling which could lead to a possible second root-canal.

EEEEEEEEK!

The lovely lady dentist gave me a choice; anti-biotics to calm the pain, then root canal on hopeless tooth with the possibility of collapse of the tooth (yes, that's happened too - I have a wisdom tooth somewhere in my mouth which they re-planted into the space another collapsed tooth had vacated) and at the cost of some 400 plus pounds, or, remove said hopeless tooth completely for the bargain price of 40 quid.

Well, I have no money. So the choice was painful but clear. Extract, excavate, uproot and discard. In other words: Remove The Tooth.

OUCH! OUCH OUCH OUCH! OUCH OUCH OUCH OUCH OUCH OUCH! I hate dentists... lovely people, but crap they hurt like hell!!!

So, I am now minus one tooth. I have survived my very first extraction. I am still on the anti-biotics though and I have to go back to have an assessment done on the other one and they didn't even look at the top row.

*whimper*.

One day, when I have money, I'll get a replacement denture or something. But in the meantime... I have a bleeding hole in my mouth. Literally!

OUCH!