Let me begin by saying my teeth are the bane of my existence. I have terrible teeth – I won’t go into details now – and they’ve been a problem since I was 13.
Even just going to the dentist is a big production. It involves taking an antibiotic an hour before the appointment, switching to my smaller, manual chair, and getting physically picked up and transferred over onto the dentist’s chair.
This latest problem began December 21, when I broke a filling in the last molar at the back of the left side of my jaw. The remaining tooth was all sharp, jagged edges. My dentist’s office was closed for two weeks. My poor tongue took a beating. You know how whenever there is a change in your mouth and you can’t keep your tongue away from it? The pain was excruciating. A day later I had two whopping canker sores, one on my cheek and one on my tongue. For two weeks I was in agony whenever I spoke, ate or drank. They seriously affected my ability to chow down on Christmas dinner. Oh well. Looking on the bright side, it probably saved me from overeating.
The worst of the pain subsided after a couple of weeks. Since I already had an appointment scheduled for January 26, I decided to tough it out until then.
On Sunday just passed, something else happened to the tooth. I don’t know if another piece broke off, but I was in agony all over again, this time even worse. Whenever my tongue moved, even just a tiny little bit, I could actually hear it scraping against the jagged edge. I tasted blood constantly. There’s nothing worse than dental pain. Actually, there’s only one thing worse than dental pain and that’s labour.
When you live in a body that doesn’t work “normally,” whatever that is, you get used to a certain amount of discomfort and pain as standard operating procedure. When one more thing happens, though, it tips you over the edge beyond what you can tolerate. Everything seems to get worse. The neuropathic pain in my lower legs suddenly became more than I could handle. I actually made a fashion concession and only wore baggy pants for three days. I was a hurtin’ unit.
My appointment was yesterday afternoon. Leo – I adore my dentist – polished the heck out of the offending molar and now there’s very little of it remaining above my gumline. The gums in the back corners of my lower jaw on both sides are still very tender, as is my tongue. A few more days of rinsing with salt and warm water will probably take care of it, but I’m feeling much better.
I’m back to wearing skinny jeans again.