Tooth Ache

I've been feeling some odd sensations in an odd place in my lower jaw for a few weeks, but it was just odd and always went away. One reason it was odd is that there is NO TOOTH in that spot. I had a problematic tooth there years ago. In fact, in 1974, it was my first root canal. In the early 1990s, that root canal went bad and was replaced. BTW, NEVER do that! That was probably my worst dental experience EVER. Then in the early 2000s, THAT root canal went bad and the tooth was pulled. So WTF??? Why is there pain there now?

The two perfectly good teeth next to the pulled tooth were ground down to nubs in order to put a permanent bridge on them. Basically I got two crowns over good teeth with a fake tooth in the middle. It has looked, felt, and worked really well until now. The strange sensations started up months ago, actually, but I have been busy and ignored it. Also, I just couldn't understand how there could be pain in a nonexistent tooth.

Now I can't ignore it. I think it's probably the tooth to the right side of the bridge. The previously perfectly good tooth has probably gone bad. One reason that I didn't want to deal with this is that it's going to involve that three-tooth bridge. Maybe I need another root canal, but I dread that. I've had seven of them, and they are NOT fun! The other worrisome thing is that maybe it's some infection in the jaw bone. The pain is deep down there, too. Yesterday after lunch I was in extreme pain. I took four Advils and went to bed for a few hours until the whole area calmed down. After dinner, I took four more Advils to get through choir practice. I drank a double shot of whiskey before bed. This morning, I can feel it throbbing, but it's nothing like yesterday afternoon yet.

The other odd thing is that I had a dental check up in early June with a complete set of xrays taken, and I was pronounced in great dental health. A few weeks later, the tooth on the top broke off, necessitating a new crown. I just got that crown put in last week, and it's still giving me some issues of sensitivity with chewing and to temperature extremes. NOW I have to deal with this more painful issue on the other side. UGH. Not happy.

And of course, dealing with stress and unhappiness triggers bad eating habits. Ha ha!! With this tooth pain and sensitivity, eating is hard, so maybe this will actually help the bad eating habits. At least for a little while! LOL

Yesterday I only had 1100 calories, partly from tooth pain and partly by design. I did have a good "diet day," as my father used to call it. I dropped one pound today back to 249.5 from yesterday's 250.8. Tonight we are going to the Republican club meeting to hear presidential candidate, Herman Cain, speak. We have never heard him (or heard of him, truthfully), so we thought it would be good to go. There is a pizza and salad buffet with it. I will do my best to eat a lot of salad and limit the pizza.

My new dental office takes walk-in emergencies. I found that out when I broke the other tooth. I called up to get an appointment, but they said just come on in any time and sign in as an emergency. I got there when they opened at 7:30 a.m. and didn't have to wait too long to be seen. Today I have a handyman coming to clean out the dryer vent up in the attic. He's coming at 10 a.m., so I can't go to the dentist until after he's gone. I might have gone over at 7:30 except that Mark has to leave in a few minutes to go to Lakeland for a NARFE meeting. He's now going to be on the board of that chapter, so I think today he's having a transition meeting to learn the duties of the new job. At least, I think it's something like that! LOL At any rate, I didn't want to be at the dentist still waiting to be seen because Mark would leave, and then no one would be there to let the handyman in. I bet I have to wait a long time if I go in there around lunch time, but I'm going to do it anyway. I cannot go through another day like yesterday. It was too painful and too scary.