June 16th, 2006 by GoldenAppleCorp
On Tuesday, I saw my dentist for a crown fitting. There was much drilling and even more pain for about an hour. A bitchin’ temporary gold-colored crown (made of aluminum) was put on till the real one comes in. There was some soreness to the area after the novacaine wore off. He had warned me about this and suggest 2 Aleve for pain as needed. Last night, however, there was more pain than Aleve could handle. My mom gave me a narcotic (she is seriously hooked up) and it barely touched the pain. I had hoped it was only temporary, but again this morning I woke up with swelling and pain, much more than the day I had the procedure done. AT suggests the delayed pain could be due to tissue bruising. Having had two abcesses myself, I’m worried that there could be an infection. It has that pulsating
thing going, which is never good.
I called his office a few minutes ago, only to discover that not only have they already closed the office for the day, they won’t be back in until Wednesday. Great. If I do have an infection I’m totally screwed. Unfortunately there are no other dentists in the area (read 50 miles) that take our peculiar insurance.
I’m not sure if this is just a dentist thing, but absolutely nothing he did was explained to me. I don’t know from one appointment to the next what is going to happen, and there is all manner of equipment unceremoniously crammed into my mouth at any given time. I don’t want a play-by-play, or detailed descriptions about every little thing he does, but it wouldn’t hurt him to give me the broad strokes. When he’s done working on my teeth, he’s up and at the next patient before his assistant has gotten all the various instruments out of my mouth. If I have any questions, I have only her to ask, and usually end up getting vague and dubious answers.
What’s a girl to do?
June 16th, 2006 at 12:58 pm
They’re not there until Wednesday? WTF? Was there an after hours number for these party people to call you back on?
June 16th, 2006 at 5:13 pm
i guess they used whiskey for that in olden days… maybe vodka would help the infection better. can you get any ether?
i also suggest swishing with some hydrogen peroxide, one cap full of water with one cap full of hydrogen peroxide for one minute, spit it out and rinse. it should help any infection. i think you can do this several times daily (there’s usually directions on the bottle).
June 16th, 2006 at 5:15 pm
if you get ether let me know, i may visit.
June 16th, 2006 at 5:54 pm
Okay - the medical side of me can’t keep my mouth shut (no pun intended)t. If the pain gets worse and you DO think you have an infection, you should be seen. Mouths are pretty nasty (FYI people mouths are even nastier than dog mouths, and I’m not sure if that’s very comforting considering dogs lick their butts and enjoy eating cat turds). I agree with AT, surely the dental office has some sort of emergency contact number. Can you guys go to the emergency room without paying some ridiculous deductible? What about your regular physician? Granted my knowledge of people medicine isn’t good, but I’m not sure waiting until next wed would be a good idea if you do have an infection.
June 16th, 2006 at 8:14 pm
The voicemail that picked up did indeed provide an emergency number, but did not say who the number belongs to. I don’t know if it’s the dentist’s cell number, a different dentist, emergency room, etc.
I’m not sure how much our deductable is for ER visits, but after the past couple of times I’ve gone to the ER and was told it wasn’t really an emergency and still had to pay hundreds of bucks, I’m kind of hesistant to do it again. That, and man, have you seen the type of people that are in ERs at night?
The minute I get ether, mojo, I’ll let you know.
June 17th, 2006 at 8:34 am
Well, after being in some serious pain last night (as well as having a good hour or so where I was paranoid my head was going to rot off), I resolved to go to the emergency room this morning if the emergency number offered by my dentist’s voicemail provided no solution. Whew, that was a long sentence.
Anyway, apparently the number given is his cell phone, and he didn’t sound too awake when I called him at 8:15. Whoops. After a string of questions, he got the Walgreen’s number from me and said he’s calling in an antibiotic. He also said to use hydrogen peroxide and water. Good call, mojo.
In the meantime, the swelling has gotten worse, so that when I bite down, I’m actually hitting gum before I hit the temporary crown. It hurts to pop my ears, swallow or open my mouth too wide. AT will be relieved that I can’t yell at him today.