I went back to my dentist today for a follow up regarding the pain I’m experiencing with the tooth that was prepped for a crown. I’ve now been booked in to see a specialist on Tuesday: an endodontist [1]. I find it curious that an endodontist is a specialist (according to the Wikipedia link) in the “inside [of] the tooth”. So, all that drilling, grinding and scraping a normal dentist does, that’s on the outside? News to me: seems odd that it hurts like it does. Apparently, endodontists are the guys who do root canals- I was really sort of hoping to avoid that, but the pain trumps my desire to minimize time in the dentists chair, I guess.
Anyway, my non-endodontic dentist pulled off my temporary crown, checked for infection (none), put some pain deadening stuff on my crown-prepped tooth stub, and installed my permanent crown using temporary cement. “Don’t be too worried if it falls off: just call us and we’ll get you in right away to put it back”, he says: yeah, $900 worth of fancy ceramics falls off and say, gets swallowed or lost on the ground, I won’t worry one bit. And I’m booked in to back to back weekly dental appointments for several weeks now…my worst nightmare.
The other thing he did was prescribe an anti-inflammatory. It’s not one I’ve used before: Pms-Dexamethasone [2]. So of course I had to look it up on line as the previous link attests. Interesting reading, particularly this part:
Psychiatric disturbances: Corticosteroid use may cause psychiatric disturbances, including depression, euphoria, insomnia, mood swings, and personality changes. Pre-existing psychiatric conditions may be exacerbated by corticosteroid use.
Oh that’s good to know. Like I’m not already prone to mood swings: technically, I was diagnosed as “chronically depressed” about a decade ago, but I definitely cycle through stages. Fortunately, Irene is away this weekend visiting her folks, so hopefully she’ll avoid taking the brunt of any odd side effects this might cause in me.
I can say, however, that it seems the Dexamethasone has done some good, although I’ve only had the first dose. I was getting to the point where painkillers were only taking the edge off the pain. Note this is with me taking eight or so extra strength Tylenol a day, plus a couple of Tylenol 3’s if the pain woke me in the middle of the night (which has been happening most nights). Right now I’m feeling pretty pain-free: a bit of relief is nice.
When all of this started, I had one tooth which was more filling than tooth that had cracked and from which a small piece had dislodged. I had no pain, and was well over a thousand dollars richer. Remind me again why this is dentistry thing is good for me?
Yes, I know I’m whining- this is my blog, dagnab it, and I’ll whine if I want to!