The Dentist

The first thing I said to my dentist this morning was: there's a reason I've waited this long to have this work done...and it isn't all about the money, although that's part of it.   I needed to have three teeth pulled in preparation for a six tooth bridge from canine to canine.   I was more nervous than I thought.  I chose to have a little Nitrous Oxide to help me relax while they numbed my bottom jaw.  The gas was helpful, I didn't feel any of the numbing injections and soon my lip felt fatter than my calf.  My tongue wasn't doing half bad either.  They stopped the gas and gave me oxygen.  Why do dentists always try to talk to you when your mouth is numb?

First they took a couple of molds of my teeth before they prepped my canine teeth to be the anchors of my new bridge.  That took awhile...filing down perfectly good teeth... my dentist was sitting during this part.  Next up the three extractions.  My dentist stood up for this!  The first two when pretty quickly, but the last, the tooth that broke in half five days before was NOT giving up!  They poked and prodded, tugged and pulled for what seemed to be forever...or ten minutes.  They took more xrays to discover that the root of that tooth had become part of my jaw...so they left it there.

Three hours later...I was on my way home to sleep and take it easy for the rest of the day.

With my temporary (plastic) bridge.

Before