teeth redux

The only recurring dream I have is about my teeth falling out. Teeth and blood spout out of my mouth. I pour blood and tooth pieces down the front of my body, onto the ground. It's painful. It's horrible. I have the dream every few months and always wake up disturbed.

Maybe the dream was a premonition.

Last Saturday, I was flossing my teeth before bed when pieces of one of my teeth fell out. It was surreal and I hoped that I was dreaming. I was not dreaming. I was panicking. I made a frantic call to the advice nurse - she didn't know much, just told me to call my dentist on Monday.

I spent Saturday night and all of Sunday and Monday with visions of root canals and false teeth dancing in my head. . .

I just got back from the dentist. My root canal fears were nearly correct. A lot of the tooth that had fallen apart was decayed. They couldn't tell from the x-ray if the decay had reached the nerve. If it had, a root canal would be in order. So he numbed me up and started drilling. My regular dentist fears were compounded by the financial anxiety of paying for a root canal - I know my insurance doesn't cover such things. Hamdu-illah, the nerve had not been reached. No root canal.

I just have a tooth that is more silver filling than actual tooth and a half-numb face.

I hope this will be the last of my short series of dental-themed blog entries.