I have bad teeth.
I have great gums, but bad teeth. Always have.
Last visit to the dentist, she replaced a crown that needed it. And told me to come in soon to put a crown on the tooth in front of it (30, I think). A tooth with more filling than tooth left, really. So I went this morning.
I have two crowns already ("a tooth for every baby"), both root canal teeth, one on top and one on bottom on the right side. This one doesn't have a root canal. I was worried. How the heck does this work, anyway?
Well, she shot me up twice with the novocaine and let me sit a moment for it to take. My tongue was half numb but nothing else, really. She started working and I came out of the chair at her. She gave me two more shots in the same general area and waited a few moments. Still nothing.
She mumbled something that ended with "caine" at the dental assistant and she then gave me three more shots that I couldn't even feel going in, but I could hear, sort of, the grinding sound of the needle getting down into the tissue. Into bone? I don't know. But I'm such a baby about tooth pain so I was all for this.
She did the work, put on a temporary crown, and sent me on my way. All was well. I took 3 ibuprofen as I left the office, about 10:00. I was still numb while I talked to the psychologist about Sophia. It wasn't until we met up with Mike for lunch that the pain started. It was time for more ibuprofen, but it wasn't doing anything anymore at that point. Throbbing red pain. I called back.
Various back and forth tag messages and finally Target had a prescription for me. I wasn't expecting narcotics--just a topical, maybe? Something a bit stronger? Any advice?
Nope. Vicodin. Lots of vicodin. And it works. It takes all the pain away all gone. and makes me absolutely loopy. Whoa. Shouldn't drive a car kind of loopy. But I don't hurt.
She thinks it'll be ok by tomorrow. I think so. It's already less when it starts to break through. And until then, well, I guess I sometimes wonder why people get addicted to prescription pain killers (meaning, people who aren't in pain). This feeling isn't exactly a good one....
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7 comments:
So, wait. How does that work, with vicodin and nursing?
I could never get addicted to that stuff. Even the Stadol shot they gave me when I had baby #1 made me so sick. Even codeine I had when I got my wisdom teeth pulled! I refused to take the percoset they gave me at the hospital after baby #2 (10 lb 3 oz - he was a whopper).
But, if that's the rule, 1 crown for every baby, I am totally screwed.
It isn't a rule--old wive's tale that happens to be true in my case! As for nursing, vicodin is an L3--there is a moderate risk but it's for neonates. Older babies aren't an issue. It's given to nursing mothers rather frequently.
ouch.
Three unrelated comments: I have the opposite problem, good teeth and bad gums. I think most everyone is a baby when it comes to tooth pain. And isn't Vicodin what House is addicted to?
THAT'S what Mike meant when he said I could be like House...
Yeesh. I hate Vicodin too, and I'm a child of the '70s!
My Chi-town brother doesn't have dental pain. He can't tell when something is going wrong. Very expensive problem - everything is a root canal by the time he notices. So I guess the pain might not be all bad.
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