Definitely root canal

A couple weeks ago I went to the dentist and was told "maybe root canal." I didn't like that assessment, so I've been taking the mystery pill packets and hoping that the problem resolves itself. Well . . . no luck, and on Friday, in addition to a very sore tooth and white stuff oozing from my gums, I had a nice large bulge around the tooth that periodically erupted. Gross! I stopped by the dentist's office after school yesterday, but they were already closed. However, their sign said they're open most of the day on Saturdays ("Saturday" is now a new word in my Korean vocabulary), so I was there when they opened the doors this morning. I told the dentist just to go ahead and do whatever it takes to fix this darn thing.

(Here's something I think is really funny. During my first visit to this dentist about two weeks ago, hardly anyone spoke in English to me. Even the dentist only spoke a few sentences to me. On my second visit a week later, people who said NOTHING to me in English on my first visit spoke to me in complete sentences, and I had a whole conversation with the dentist, whose English turns out to be excellent. Were they just shy the first time, or did they brush up on their English in the course of a week?)

The dentist gave me a couple shots of anesthetic, let me sit for a while, and then came back and asked if it was numb. My tongue was numb, and so was the inside of my cheek, so I said "yes." He started to drill, and all of a sudden, there was this TERRIBLE pain. Ummm . . . not numb. I seem to have a really high pain tolerance, but I'm a nervous patient and a bit jumpy. This only partially numb tooth didn't help! So another couple shots and more waiting. It took a total of 8 shots of anesthetic before they found the right place to numb the tooth. As a result, the entire right side of my face was numb, and I was drooling and having trouble speaking for most of the rest of the day. It ended up taking two hours, but the first part of the root canal is done. As much as I hated to spend a beautiful Saturday cooped up indoors, I'm very glad to have taken care of this on a weekend and NOT on a day when I'd have to go teach later in the afternoon!

It's a little sore now, and the periodically erupting bulge is still there (and still gross), but all in all, I'm not THAT uncomfortable. I go back on Thursday for Root Canal Part 2.

(Total cost of three visits to the dentist, xrays, two weeks worth of prescription antibiotics and painkillers, and Root Canal Part 1: $21.)