Root Canal

The long-dreaded day arrived - I was told I needed a root canal. I was shocked to hear this because, as I explained at least 10 times to the dentist who told me this, I brush my teeth three times a day and floss every day, for the explicit reason of - you guessed it - avoiding to have a root canal.

After my dentist explained that even she - a dentist - had to have a root canal, and discussing the pros and cons of just pulling the tooth, I decided to, yes - bite the bullet (sorry about that) and get this thing done.

Quite a few other people explained to me that the root canal procedure is no longer as agonizingly painful as it once was. One friend even said she had one and it wasn't so bad. Steeled, I headed to the specialist today and went under the drill. I will confess that the tears streamed down my face in fear of what would get even worse. The root canal procedure itself hadn't even started - this was just the injection stage and my mouth had already been frozen with some other rinse stuff.

I blame this on my childhood experiences with dentists and the video I watched this morning about firemen resuscitating a kitten.

Then, the root canal procedure started. Nothing - no pain, no sensitivity, all that worry and embarrassing crying for nothing.

I then got curious and asked for a mirror so I could watch but I guess the dentist figured that because my anxiety level was so high before it would probably be best to keep what was going on inside my mouth a mystery.

I did, however, get the before and after x-rays. In one you can see the roots, veins and nerves (which were apparently, and luckily for me, dead). In the second one you can see how he filled up the now much wider 'canal' with stuff to keep any infection out. He also put in a temporary filling and I need to get a crown soon. That, I kno, won't hurt !