This specific tooth in the back of my mouth… It’s gone through “oh we might need a root canal” to “I guess we could do with just a huge crown” a year ago, and then two months ago back to a “nope, infection. Root canal after all” to a “yeah, this kind of root canal requires a root canal specialist” to a “sorry, a root canal would just be a band-aid” to “you need a dental implant” to a “while we’re at it, let’s just also pull the wisdom tooth out since it’s chilling right behind the bad tooth”.
So they pull the teeth out, drill and carve and clear the bad tooth, the nerve, my jaw bone of all its diseased parts. Inject cadaver bone graft into my jaw bone. Stitch up the wounds. Gave me what seems like a mile-long list of diet and activity restrictions. One side of my face then swelled up to triple the size of the other side.
A week and a half later of eating and drinking soft and semi-solid room temperature everythings. I’m surprised I haven’t murdered someone yet.
@Dr_Milker Even with insurance this one tooth is gonna run me $5-6K at the end of this thing.
@Andrew0409 Oh yeah, it’s not the pain. No solid foods. No hot foods. No fried foods. No “vigorous activities” (yes, including that). Can’t brush teeth (use oral rinse). Can’t rinse or gargle. Can’t drink through a straw. Can’t even spit for f*ck’s sakes (“tilt down and let it fall out”). Worse of all… No alcohol.
Bananas. Applesauce. Greek yogurt. Cold or room-temp: Eggs, soup, pasta, steamed (cooled) veggies, smoothies. I almost bought a case of soylent but decided against it.
About ten years ago I learned (a dentist spotted dental wear) that I have had bruxism for most of my life. Long story short, he wanted to grind down and crown all 6 of my top, front teeth. Not covered by insurance. His best price was US$1,750 per tooth (>$10k total). He estimated I would need new crowns every ten years, maybe fifteen. I passed (although I did agree to buy a dental guard for the rock-bottom price of $500 - not covered by insurance).
IMHO Dentists in Taiwan are like a tooth factories, you go in with a small hole, and they will screw up your whole mouth in order to pull all your teeth and do crowns; root canals; implants. That’s how they make their money,…
Is this where we go to complain about wellness woes? cuz two days ago I contracted my first plague of the winter.
Ugh. So miserable. And since it’s viral all i can do is wait for it to run its course. Every time my nose is stuffed up like this I think back to blessed days when I took for granted my ability to breathe normally…
