I had a mini panic this morning when it became clear that for logistical reasons Number Guy was not going to be able to make it to the dentist with me. He would be able to turn up half way through, but I didn't know how the dentist would feel about me being 'under the influnce' without a responsible adult with me. Thankfully one of the Spooglers came to my assistance.
L had already said to me that if Number Guy wasn't available she would be able to come with me. I managed to go into the surgery by myself (which was good, because I wasn't sure whether or not I would end up in a crying, snotty heap, which is so bad for the ego!) while L waited outside. I am so grateful to her for coming.
We decided to leave the bottom tooth alone and concentrate on the two upper ones that were causing the bother. The injections were almost painless and thankfully this time there was no problem with the local. Turns out that one of the teeth had a secondary cavity underneath the filling. Boy, am I glad that this was dealt with now since that is hopefully one root canal less to worry about.
Talking of worry, I am now of course wondering why the top two were concentrated on. Is this because the dentist is worried about the bottom local not working....? See how I need absolutely no assistance in thinking of 'worst case scenarios'? Which reminds me. Remember that film, 'Marathon Man', I think it was? Well, when I was having the root treatment a couple of weeks ago, in the middle of all the local-not-working trauma, this sprang into my mind. You know, the bit where they drill into his teeth to torture him???*
Ok, enough already. Hope y'all have a great, dentist-free weekend.
* If I've mentioned this before, just put the repetition down to the diazepam ;0)
What a week you've had!! Hope the weekend brings good stuff your way...
ReplyDeleteThe top teeth have two nerves feeding in, whereas the bottom have yet another. The nerves are in different places, and aren't necessarily easy to get, so if he concentrated on one nerve it's probably more that he didn't want to have to time it such that he'd get the bottom one numb - and staying numb - through the top ones' turn.
ReplyDeleteTo put it differently: if he were to numb both top and bottom at the outset, the bottom would have some time to wear off before he got to it, or vice versa. If he were to numb the bottom one after you'd had the top ones done, then by the time the bottom one had had time to get numb, the top ones' anesthesia would be wearing off, and you'd be in pain.
Either way, it's a bad choice, with any amount of work to be done.
Simple fillings, yep, they can do both in one sitting. Any degree of complexity and they'll opt to do it in two sittings, just so you're not having pain.