Sunday, March 13, 2011

Dental Misery

I am really starting to dislike dentists.

A year and a half ago I saw the traveling dentist when he came to Faro. He fixed up an old filling and fixed a cavity. We left the next day for a vacation to the East Coast and I was miserable. The dentist hadn't filed down the new fillings, so the other side of my jaw couldn't come together. I found a dentist in Cape Breton to file them down.

When we returned home I was still in a lot of pain where the work was done so we headed into Whitehorse to see another dentist. All of the work that was done in Faro was done so poorly that it all had to be redone. A root canal was done on a molar, but it could not be fixed. The molar had to come out. I went back home to heal from that and ended up with a massive infection where that tooth had been. Six trips later (and out of pocket $6000 that was above and beyond what was covered by our dental coverage) the work was repaired and a bridge put in. However, the bridge has not been great. I still have problems chewing anything hard on that side.

A week or so ago the bridge really started hurting. It felt similar to when I had an infection a year ago. On Friday I went to the health centre, but they couldn't see any sign of infection and they suggested some tylenol and advil for the pain. By Sunday morning I was really miserable and called an emergency dental line in Whitehorse. Thankfully I found a dentist with Myrraya Dental Clinic willing to see me. Turns out a tooth that is part of that bridge was infected and needing a root canal. This dentist was amazing. She numbed me up so well I couldn't even close one eye! I was done in under two hours and was very impressed with her and her assistant.

I am really hoping this is the end of my problems, but I doubt it. This dentist told me the bridge that was put in last year by another dentist isn't a top quality one and it will probably need to be redone in a few years. She also said I have some really odd nerves that spread out from my molars. If the same tooth starts bothering me again, I will need to head to Vancouver or Edmonton to have the root canal redone. Ugggg.

One of the most frustrating parts is that I take really good care of my teeth. I brush, I floss and I go for regular check ups. Sadly, I guess I just have bad luck with my teeth no matter what I do.

So for now, I have my feet up and the tv on in the hotel in Whitehorse. No kids, no husband... I guess I had better enjoy my alone time even if I am in pain!

8 comments:

Fawn said...

And you didn't think you'd get a break like this until Inuvik! I can't believe you don't want to come over and show me how to thread my serger. ;)

Hope everything starts feeling better by morning, Kara!

Unknown said...

Hmmm. I had a similar problem wth work I had done in HR. Oy! Nothing is worse than dental misery...

Breigh (Canadutch) said...

Oh noooooo. I'm pretty sure that sounds like the worst thing that could possibly happen. Nobody should spend that much time in a dentist chair :( God I hate the dentist!

Anonymous said...

Ouch!

You could call Greyhound, maybe the tote has arrived.

Morena said...

Isn't that just the plight of a mother... Alone, no kids, no husband and you feel like crap. Enjoy it the best you can. Feel better soon.

Kristi-Bisti said...

Wow. that is some bad stuff going on in that mouth of yours! I hope the work they just did will fix you up for a long time!

jen said...

OMG Kara, that is totally horrible! And sounds very familiar to the bad dentistry luck Nathan always has. It's the weirdest thing, he is constantly going back in for one cavity that was filled wrong like 3 years ago!
I hope this is the end of it!

Anonymous said...

your tale of tooth woe is a typical northern dentist story. in iqaluit a simple cavity repair left me in so much pain that i had to rush to see a dentist in ottawa where i was attending a meeting. turns out the nerve was damaged by the dentist. i ended up spending about $3,000 on a emergency report, a root canal and then a crown. since then i only go to dentists in the south. in iqaluit the dentists also like to pull teeth instead of saving them. i know many people who suffer from infections, etc. due to the actions of the local butchers.