Dental woes OR My jaw hurts, for all the wrong reasons

[Ghoulish Delight]

Well, yesterday was a joy. I went in to have my third, and final (hopefully ever!) filling. Now, before I talk about yesterday's adventure, let me preface it with the short version of my previous visit. I was getting 2 fillings at once that time, and one of them was particularly bad, on the verge of needing a root canal. It was so deep that once he dug out all the decay, the nerve was exposed. But, even with that, I weathered the procedure fairly well, no pain during or after.

Yesterday's was the third, on the other side of the mouth, and I think the least damaged of the teeth. Piece of cake, right? Especially after the major work last time. I get a few shots of anesthetic, wait for it to take affect, and he goes at me with the drill. About a minute in...I start to feel pain, so I make the universal, "ow that hurt," incomprehensible except to a dentist grunt. So he stops, and pumps me full of some more anisthetic. Once that takes hold, he fires up the drill again...and more pain! He looks baffled. He pokes my gum, I don't feel it. He yanks at my tooth, nothing. But the second that drill hits the tooth, ow! So now a third round of anisthetic. At this point, my entire left side is totally numb, for one stupid tooth. And yet, there's still pain!

He doesn't know what's wrong. It could be that I've got an extra nerve or something, or it could be that because my wisdom teeth are currently growing their way sideways under my teeth, they're causing some weird pressure on a nerve. But whatever it is, no way I could handle that pain.

So now what? Well, the only option left is nitrous. I'm worried, because what if I still feel it with the gas. A) I've got to pay $90 for any use of the gas and B) How the hell are we going to get this taken care of if this still hurts?

But the receptionist, who is always very helpful, cut me a deal and said that if it still hurt, I'd only have to pay $20 for the gas, so I figure that was worth the gamble. And it turns out it was, 'cause once I was on the gas, I didn't feel a bloody thing. Note to self: Always say it hurts, get the gas

So last night and today, my tooth is fine, but damn does my jaw hurt. I guess from the combination of just having my mouth open forever, having to stretch it unnaturally wide for the injections, and, oh yeah, getting stabbed at least a dozen (I think more) times by that bloody needle from hell.

The good news...I got a prescription for darvocet, just in case, out of it.