today. Not exactly a wonderful time. I needed a root canal done and a crown replaced. Because of the time needed to do these procedures, I took the day off.
Not a bad move on my part. They warned that I may not want to go back afterward, and they were right.
The crown work went well. Impression and such were made and the old one came off. The temporary is on and fits nicely.
The problems started though when they were doing the root canal. As I mentioned here, I had an issue going on for a while and didn't know it.
Apparently, the body tries to take care of itself. Since there was an issue with the tooth, my body tried to fix it itself. And that caused the dentist problems.
While trying to do the canals (3 total in that tooth) he hit calcification in each one of them. Much like the body rebuilding bone around a break. He said drilling through the stuff was not a good thing. The slow drill would allow for accuracy but it would take forever. The high speed drill would handle the job, but accuracy would be out the window. Kind of like hitting a rock in the ground, or a hard spot while drilling through wood. The drill would kick off target.
So, to rectify the situation, he packed the tooth with medicine that would soften the calcification and put a soft temporary filling in. When I go back in two weeks for the permanent crown, he will finish the root canal.
Yippy! Another 2+ hours in the Chair of Challenge. As it was, I spent almost 3 hours in it today.
I don't think any of us was prepared for this outcome. But he was right, I wasn't in any mood, or condition, to go back to work afterward.
Guess I'll just have to schedule another day off. If I have as much fun next time, I'll need it.
Teeth happen.
WD - I am so sorry! I hope things go better next time. Maybe your dentist can upgrade his equipment to lasers in the near future...?
Posted by: Martie | April 19, 2007 at 05:37 AM
Oooh, that sounds horrible. I have never had a root canal (knock on wood) and fervently hope that I never need one after reading about your experience!
Posted by: bogie | April 21, 2007 at 05:40 AM