Rooting Away

I think a 9 month old mystery has finally been solved. That is, why I've been sick so much and why I've been tired more than usual.

I needed a root canal.

Sersly, I had a cavity fixed 9 months ago and it was a bad one. Painless (my dentist and all around good guy) told me I might have some trouble with it. Did I ever. Since it was repaired last fall, it remained sensitive. But all this time the nerves were festering and rotting inside my skull. I had headaches and, as you might recall, a load of sinus troubles last winter. I even started having pain in the maxillary temporal bone (whatever the hell it is) and shooting pains through my temple. A doctor even diagnosed me with TMJ (Temporomandibular Joint) disorder and have a load of muscle relaxers now.

All this came to a head (sic) over Memorial Day weekend (always over a holiday weekend!) when the tooth finally reared its ugly head and made it clear it was the problem, not the jaw or anything else.

And everyone was out of town. And out of cell phone range. I was screwed. But I had a fistfull of hydrocodone and an empty house.

I managed to score some antibiotics to start fighting the infection. Then I started running a fever, which gave me the chills and caused my teeth to chatter. Even THAT tooth. And it hurt. Not thinking, I thought it might be an allergy to the antibiotic and quit taking it. Turns out I was wrong again.

Anyhoo, two trips for root canal procedures later and I am feeling a lot better. But I am afraid I am not out of the woods yet. It seems there were some issues with one of the roots, and the tooth is more sensitive now than it was after the first procedure. But he also kicked my ass. I hope any new troubles will come up sooner than later. I don't want the next 9 to be like the last.

And remember kids, always practice good dental hygiene.