Dental Problem

More of the temporary crown may have broken off it is sharp again and my tongue hurts lots.

First post on my new medical/dental blog

I am beginning this blog today but the notes go back a couple years. Recently I had kept a paper diary of what my doctors told me. As I get older I find it harder to remember what they tell me and when. I have now decided it will be more manageable and easier to read electronically as a Blogger blog.

Alternate titles for this blog were "Can It Get Any Worse?" and "You want to do what?"

Dental Emergency Treatment

Christmas holidays are over and my dentist and his staff are back at work. I called first thing this morning and his scheduler told me to come in at 3:00. The doctor ground down the sharp edges of the broken temporary crown where it was cutting my tongue. I feel much better now. The new, hopefully unbreakable , bridge will get installed on January 8.

My Tongue Hurts

The pain in my tongue is getting worse. It's hard to swallow and chewing anything is impossible. The pain killers aren't helping me sleep. I called the dentist's office hoping to get a referral to some weekend emergency dentist associated with him. There isn't any. Leave your number and somebody will call.

A few minutes later my dentist's receptionist calls me back. She is his emergency contact person. The only thing to do is to have him drive in from his home west of Mobile. Or get some Fixodent and glue it back in. I get some and it works, but the break is vertical so there's little strength. Oh well, I can keep reapplying until Monday morning. My tongue feels better already.

Just One Bite...

Lunch at Jackson's, the town's fanciest restaurant, a chew of bowtie pasta and chicken and the temporary breaks off at the expected place, near the cantilevered bit. The break is very sharp and it cuts into my tongue. At least it has taken my mind off the milder pain from the dry socket at #31.

By evening I am on pain killers and can hardly swallow. Or talk.

More Problems Where Tooth #31 Used To Be

I will never have dental procedured done just before a holiday. Called the dental surgeon to see if I could get the hole where #31 was packed with the medication, but he's closed (as is my regular dentist) until December 29, pain is less but it is a bother.

Discomfort from Recent Dental Work

#31 stings a lot now and then. At times it feels like dry socket pain. Making the impressions was very uncomfortable and removing them took a lot of effort. Something may have gotten dislodged on the socket.

Also the temporary bridge for #28, #29 and #30 doesn't feel right and it hurts to chew on that side of my mouth. So I don't.

For $1900 I expected better results. Perhaps it will get better?

#31 Flaring up

After doing so well through the cruise, the hole in my mouth where #31 was has started hurting again. Did I brush it and/or irrigate it too vigorously last night? Or did the prep for the bridge irritate it?

Dental Work -- Bridge Prep

10:00 A.M. my dentist preps tooth #28 a lot and #29 a little for a bridge, #30 is long gone. It seems to take forever. His assistant has to redo the casting for the temporary and when I finally get out of the chair I had been in it for two hours and forty-five minutes. I am so lame I can hardly walk.

The Knee Operation Planning Begins

At 11:30 I called the orthopedic surgeon's Physician Assistant. He examined me on November 3. He told me to call when I wanted to start the process for the surgery. He couldn't be reached and I had to leave a message for his nurse to call me back. She called me back at 12:30 and said I must speak with the surgeon' nurse. She asked if the surgeon had examined me when I had the appointment on November 3? I told her no. She sounded doubtful.

Same day, in the mail was a bill from them for $47.33 that was not covered by my insurance. But it was, so I will ask about it the next time I go over there.
I would call them but the wait to get a person is 20 minutes

BTW, the original 20 minutes exam cost the insurance $440 plus $181 for x-rays.