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.

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

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

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  4. Anonymous5:41 PM

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

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  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*

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  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!

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  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!

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  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.

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