Thursday, June 01, 2006

The Dentist Appointment from Hell

I'm getting used to going to the dentist. I'm trying to get my teeth all fixed before I have any more major problems (like root canals) to deal with. I don't even get nervous anymore while I sit in the waiting room.

That may change now.

I had to have one tooth done yesterday. The cavity turned out to be pretty deep, so it was a good thing that I had it fixed. But after the first two shots of novacaine failed to produce the desired numbing effect, they had to dig a little deeper with the needle. I don't know if they hit a nerve that automatically triggered the desire to promptly close my eyes and fall asleep or what, but by the time they started drilling, I was fighting to keep my eyes open.

And the drilling just didn't stop! When he was finally finished, the whole right side of my face was numb - including my ear! I was shaky and dizzy when I stood up and to tell you the truth, I really just wanted to curl up in a corner and take a nap.

The drive home was, let's just say, interesting. I literally fought to keep my eyes open on the way home. Returning to work was out of the question. When I got home, I fell on my bed, closed my eye - make that my left eye - and tried to go to sleep. My right eye refused to close, so I had to actually take my fingers and pull the eyelid down! I fell asleep and woke up an hour and a half later, ate some lunch, then went back to sleep and slept until 4:30 p.m.

I don't think I've ever had such a weird reaction to novacaine before. And unfortunately, I've got another dentist appointment the first week of July. Maybe I will have forgotten this experience by then.

But I doubt it.

8 comments:

  1. The one and only time I ever had fillings done was all in one day. I had FIVE. I too went straight to bed and slept for hours.

    After that my fillings were SO sensative I'd get a migrane if I ate anything too hot, or too cold. This went on for months. I learned to eat, or drink anything at room temp.

    It got better though.

    ReplyDelete
  2. OMG, that is awful. Does sound like the hit a nerve. Hope you are better today.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Yikes, that's awful!!! You should mention it when you go in for the next appointment. I HATE fillings too.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous5:41 PM

    How scary! Glad you made it home safely. Hope that never happens again.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Yikes! I hope the appointment in July goes better. And Tess is correct - mention it the next time. But on the flip side - you've given me a lightbulb moment *gg*

    ReplyDelete
  6. Ugh, how awful! I really need to make a dentist appointment. I keep putting it off thinking I don't have time, but I should get to it before I end up having to go through what you did!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Kelly - Yup, get thee to the dentist! I waited WAY too long to go and now I'm paying the price - both in pain and in money!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous3:12 PM

    You have me cringing, Melissa! So sorry you had such a bad experience. I had one of those deep injections, but I didn't react so badly. It did feel like I left half my head in the dentist office, though.

    ReplyDelete

I love to hear from you!

THERE IT IS

 It's back.  And who knows for how long? But for this day, for this moment, all is bliss. I'm happy, excited for the future, ready a...