Sunday, October 14, 2012

Best Root Canal I Ever Had?

Best root canal I ever had!

Really?  Can you believe I would write such a thing.

This from a women conditioned to tear up in the Dentist chair?

I didn't always tear up but after 5 crowns, all of which required numerous injections of novocaine due to my "special" nerves, the first time I had a root canal I immediately started tearing at the thought of the pain.  The Endodontist assured me I wouldn't feel a thing.  I did.  Sigh....  They basically performed what I refer to as, for lack of the proper medical term, an epidural for the tooth.

Once that root canal was done, they permanently affixed the crown and for the last 7 years I've lived life with a bite that has never been right.  Oooo - a rhyme.  There were small corrections tried over time but I finally went to the Orthodontist this June as my bite has become quite open due to my teeth not fitting together properly - I need a fork and knife to eat pizza in front of company.  My teeth are still absolutely straight but the tongue has pushed at them since the teeth didn't sit together anymore.

We are doing a little bit to help with that but the first thing he wanted me to do was get that root canal re-done:  a re-treatment.  What he saw in these x-rays vs others taken was suspected bone loss and roots that didn't appear to be fully cleaned out. 

Dutifully, I went to the consultation for and the re-treatment of that tooth.  The Endodontist and Dental technician both commented that I might notice some improvement in bite and general well-being after re-treatment.  Why?  Because it appears that there has been a low-grade infection in the bone at the root site for several years.  The inflammation coming and going cause the bite issues and in their mind, stress on the immune system.  I might feel less tired, have more energy, better sinus drainage, etc....

I looked like I had a stroke that day - the aenesthesia took some time to wear off.  I did have a headache for several days.  Then I started to wake up.  I felt like the tired, little cloud I've been under for a long time had disappeared as had the pressure on my left side/neck.  Who knew?  It wasn't painful so I never imagined the other symptoms I had were a result of an incomplete root canal.

Bart will attest to my change in attitude.  I will not repeat what he said, haha, but there has definitely been improvement in how I feel and my energy level.  I thought it was all just middle age.......

Why does this matter?  As in all things, a rotten apple can spoil the whole bunch.  Taking care of your teeth/oral health is critical for the rest of your body.  Similar to the breathing being important to muscle health and so on and so forth.  So I'm working on getting all the "parts" fixed.  Next may be the rotator cuff......I'm just falling apart.

Add speech therapy for the tooth/tongue problem - darn those "t"s.....

1 comment:

Judy said...

Wow -- that doesn't sound terribly fun, but glad to hear it looks like things are improving!