Step Two at the Dentist. Prepping for the Temporary Crown

The Work for this Temporary Crown was worse Than the Root Canal I had Done 2 Months Ago

I will say, I kind of put off this dental work for a while. Things kept coming up and I kept moving the appointment back. I was more than happy to continue to move the appointment back, even though I had a good experience with this dentist the last time. I still don’t like going to the dentist.

This dentist has always been good about getting me in the office right away. I didn’t have to wait more than five minutes in the waiting room.

They pulled me back and right away shot me up with novicane. The first shot didn’t get me numb enough, so the doc had to come back and stick me again. At least the second shot didn’t hurt because I was numb from the first shot. When I left, the entire left side of my face was numb, from my cheekbone all the way back to my ear. I even felt a bit of numbness in my forehead.

They wrapped that rubber shield around my tooth and went in to fix the tooth next to the one I was having the crown made for with a filling. As the numbness got stronger and the longer I had my eyes closed, the further I fell into sleep-land. In fact, when I woke, they said I had been out for 30 minutes while they were doing the filling.

They worked on me for nearly two hours. They drilled away most of my tooth leaving a little nub for the crown to hold onto. The hardest part was when the slid these thick strings under my gums so the crown would have a place to sit.

The temporary crown is made out of a hard plastic. They said that I had to stay away from hard and sticky foods. The temporary tooth can easily be broken or dislodged from its spot.

I have one more appointment to set the permanent crown. It’s going to be made out of porcelain and is supposed to last the rest of my life as long as I take care of it.

This is a very good reason to brush and floss everyday.

Have I Told You? I Hate Going to the Dentist; Especially when I Need a Root Canal.

10:30am – I am sitting here in the waiting room at the dentist’s office. This tooth has needed to be fixed for nearly three years. I guess if they had fixed it a couple of years ago, I would not need a root canal today.

This is my first experience with a root canal. I have heard so many horror stories about people going in to have this procedure and being in pain for days or even weeks.

The dentist assistant said since I am having it taken care of right now instead of waiting ’til it started to hurt, the root canal should not be that bad.

12:30pm – This, I believe, has been the best experience I have ever had at the dentist (when they have had to do more than just a filling).

They put a rubber shield around the tooth they were working on so I wouldn’t get tooth particles mixed in with the saliva building up in my mouth. They gave me a guard that held my mouth open so my jaw would not get tired. The nurse was also generous enough to clean out my mouth every so often so I didn’t choke.

The dentist did a really good job at making sure I was numb. After he got into the tooth and I started to feel the nerve, he stopped and shot novicane directly into the nerve to make it numb. That was the only time that the root canal hurt was when he stuck me that second time. The first shot was numb from the numbing gel, so I barely felt that one.

7:30pm – The numb lip was gone by about 1:30 this afternoon. I was able to eat a late lunch. The tooth and jaw didn’t really get sore ’til I got to work later this evening. Even that soreness was pretty light. I think this whole experience was ten times better than the last time I went to the dentist to get a filling.