The Dentist

Nothing strikes fear into this 34 year old like the words, "The Dentist."

Part of it comes from the hack job I suffered from our local dentist a number of years ago when he shattered a tooth and placed a crown on it. Less that a year later, he did the same thing.

Having my wisdom teeth cut out were not nearly as painful as that initial crown. In fact, that initial crown proved to me the power of aspirin, for once I used up all the codein I was issued for my wisdom teeth (I didn't have to use any codein because they didn't hurt a bit), I began to wake up in the middle of the night from a dead sleep with this piercing ache from inside the temporary crown. That meant a quick scramble to a gas station in the middle of the night for some Tylenol. That helped. For about four hours. Then it flaired up again.

So I haven't been back.

In fact, it has been so long since I've seen the dentist that I was ashamed to even admit it.

But I have been dealing with a cracked tooth for the better part of four years now. Then a few weeks ago I began to feel a clicking in my jaw. About ten days ago, it turned to an ache. I figured that something must be wrong with the top mollar on the back of my right side.

This hurt enough - and obviously wasn't going to go away - so I began to hunt for possible dentists. Our next door neighbor happens to work for a dentist in TRF. I called his office, but he happens to be on vacation this week. The secretary referred me to several other dentists. The first one wasn't even accepting new patients. Lovely. The second one was booked for a month.

Finally, I had to turn to a dentist that several people warned me about. But I was desparate. I was relieved to find that this dentist too was booked solid (he couldn't be so bad then if people still went to him). However, the secretary said that they would call me if they had a cancellation.

Sure enough, they did. So off I went.

A lot has changed in the 6 years since I last went.

No more wearing that heavy led vest for X-rays. In fact, there was a TV monitor right next to the chair, so I instanly saw the X-rays. Then the assistant took a device that actually contained a camera, and she showed me exactly what she was seeing.

Wonderful.

Then while I was waiting for the dentist, I even got to watch ESPN and see Mel's grades for the draft.

But that didn't last long, for the doctor came in right away.

It seems my worst fears did not come true. I did not have an abcessed tooth or even a large cavity.

The doctor wondered if maybe there isn't a small fissure-like crack in the tooth which could be causing the pain.

This was the same problem I had with a tooth when I decided to switch dentists. My previous dentist was trying to place a filling in my tooth when he hit upon the fissure - and I remember this vividly - part of my tooth shot from my mouth and he said, "Oh, my . . ."

Of course, that was followed by an explanation that I would need a very expensive crown (that was the only option he gave me). Then this dentist had the gall to say that the crown may only last a short while before the tooth begins to die and, in that case, I would need a root canal, which I fear like nothing else (I had one friend whose mother said it was worse than giving birth; I had another say that her root canal was no problem at all).

At least this time, I knew what to expect. So far, we are just scheduled for a crown. After that a good cleaning. Then we might begin to take a look at this cracked tooth of mine.