Big Brave Boy

As I might have suggested yesterday, I have a toothache. As strange as it may sound, with the exceptions of "Self Inflicted" toothaches, I've never had a proper, full-on tooth ache. I've never had an ear ache either, but still.

Last night, I had pretty much NO sleep. When you have a face-ache, trying to lay on said-face is not that easy. No matter how I laid, I hurt and felt sick, even with painkillers.

It wouldn't be so bad if it was just a tooth ache, but in true Dan Fashion, my entire mouth hurt. My teeth felt tight (I know what I mean), and my gums are sore, red, inflamed... I've never had mouth problems, so this was all new to me. I started brushing my teeth this morning, but the feeling of the brush scrubbing over the gums made me want to cry. So it was mouthwash only this morning...

Kellie called her dentist and made me an emergency appointment which meant I got to see her again today. Such a hard life I lead ;) So I poodled on over to Canvey, had a cup of tea with my purdy girlie, and then we jumped in a cab.

I don't know if I've mentioned it here before, but I HATE dentists. They are ranked up there at #1 along with Snakes. I had several bad experiences in my formative years, and that was that. But, I felt that bad this morning, I WANTED a dentist. Of course, I was dreading it completely, but was tempted to hammer by bottom jaw off at 4am, so figured the dentist would be a good alternative.

I fill out the paperwork, asking Kellie questions like "Do you think I could be pregnant?" or "Did my AIDS results come back clear?" and then sat waiting.

Mrs Dentist Lady was very nice. I made sure I wrote helpful medical terms on my paperwork like "A bit of a girl" and "Wimp" and "Needles make me faint" so she was well prepared. She poked around all my teeth checking them all out, putting me at ease by telling me she was just having a look. The fact I was sweating the special Fear Sweat prolly showed her I was a wee bit nervy.

After having a look around, she told me the toothache was thanks to a wisdom tooth living just under my gum, bottom-back-right. All my other wisdom teeth have grown through fine and dandy, but this fourth one was a little covered still. The gums had what she classed as a "nasty looking infection" but she wasn't sure why as there was no outward signs of nastiness - smells, seepage, open wounds. She asked if my tongue piercing was new, but as it is 8 years old, she was happy that it wasn't that. My teeth, bar one, are in a great shape - but the infection has prolly been made more painful because she thinks I brush too hard.

However, like any specialist - much like a mechanic - she had to find something wrong. One of my teeth had a very small cavity, and she said that while it was OK for now, if it gets left it could become a problem. "Would you like a small filling now, or make an appointment. I know you don't like needles, but it'll be over with very fast.

"Now, here's my bind. Had I made an appointment, I would likely have never come back. She was of course, asking me if I would like a needle to be rammed into my mouth, part of a tooth drilled out, metal forced into the hole.... Blergh... However, my girlie was in the waiting room, so I decided to be all manly, sucked it up, and told her to do it.

The fear-sweat was flowing rather well.

She used the kids cream to numb part of my gum, then jabbed me. I didn't faint. After a few mins, she set to drilling and filling, and after about ten minutes, I was all done, and clutched a nice prescription for some antibiotics, advice to get some antiseptic mouthwash and a new, softer toothbrush.

We went to the chemist, got my stuff, went to a little coffee shop and had a cuppa and a teacake, took my meds, and proceeded to feel pants all day. I got to sit with Kellie all day who looked after me, so YAY. Got home, grabbed my son and Ruths girls from school, and once there, she made me a cuppa and then decided she'd make me dinner. Good job really as I wouldn't have bothered, and then taken my antibiotics on an empty tummy. Which could have been interesting. And Kellie told me I HAD to have something to eat. I think she might have stomped a foot too...

So me and the boy got back in at about 7pm and I'm now on the sofa, laptop on my, er, lap... Music on, Boy in bed, feeling sorry for myself. My gum now hurts too from the needle. So I went to the dentist, she couldn't fix it right there, drilled a completely different tooth...

I have to say though, it was prolly my best ever dentist visit. She was lovely, looked after me, and didn't spray me with my own tooth shards or anything...

Edit: Ooooh I forgot to add - the antibiotics are the sort they give for STDs too! So at least I know I'm clean for a change! hehe