Realms of the Raven

So let me preface this with the fact that most people do not like going to the dentist. It's never a fun thing but of all my friends (except maybe Yasmine) I am easily the person who would rather hack off body parts, walk on glass, etc than actually go to the dentist.

After years of thinking about why, I've come to the conclusion that it must be because of something that happened as a child where I was being hurt but no one would stop. I have an amazingly high tolerance to any of the "caine" drugs like Novocaine, Xylocaine, etc and it takes a lot to get me numb and more must be given far more frequently than most people. This is true in dental work and even when I had a mole removed with a local.

But last Tuesday I was eating some very NON-crunchy pasta when I bit down onto something that had nothing to do with pasta. I spat out what was clearly a good sized chunk of a tooth. About 1/2 of one of the upper back molars had calved off.

Oh hell.

Despite the urge to scream, I was completely aware that this was NOT something I could just ignore. My dentist was closed for the day and wouldn't be open until Thursday so I could at least relax that the Day of Dental Doom was a few days off. I contented myself with hoping that the tooth just wouldn't start hurting.

Thankfully it was okay (at least no pain) and I tried to keep it clean. I called the dentist on Thursday but they didn't have a long enough opening until Monday (today). That was okay since it really wasn't hurting and I was going to the Emerald City Writers Conference over the weekend.

All went well until last night where by the time I went to bed the tonsil on that side was hugely swollen and it hurt to swallow. Dang - bacteria had clearly gotten in there. This morning I woke with the still swollen throat and the additional gift of a 101.2 fever.

Off to the dentist for my 2pm appt. The second I walk in the door, they handed my the valium and I chatted for a bit with the receptionist to find that my nemesis - the bitchy assistant that yells at me because I'm scared - no longer works there and the dentist I will see that tday is one that works part of the time at the WSU dental fears clinic!! Wow - a tiny inkling of hope.

I still wouldn't choose this as a great thing to go do but it wasn't as bad as I feared. The tooth was salvagable and they cleaned it up and sealed it but I get to go back in for a root canal on Friday am. Joy.

It took almost 5 hours for my face to completely un-numb but I'll take that over the pain any day. I still have a fever and my throat still hurts but that should clear up soon.