I'm what you would call a Professional Nutcase. Early Sunday morning, around 4 AM or so, I was awakened by the taste of blood in my mouth and felt something else in there too. I switched on the light and spit out what I found to be a sizable chunk of my rearmost left bottom molar. This tooth had been dead for almost 15 years since a root~canal was done on it in the mid 90's. I had no idea how it happened, because I didn't eat anything hard or chewy the night before... My evening before bed snack was a cup of blueberry yogurt. The blood was from the filling that was in the tooth that now was razor sharp and slicing into my tongue.
Reverting back once again to my military training, I "Adapted & Improvised" Finding my MacGuyver Tool (Leatherman Tool, and if I have to explain who MacGuyver was, you're too young!) and decided what to do next.
There is a spiffy pliers function, but since this was way in the back I knew I wouldn't be able to do much with that...
So I did the next best thing... There's a pretty cool rough side/fine side file...
Hmmm, sez I. Methinks I know what I'll do!
I went to the bathroom, and looking in the mirror I slowly and gently filed the rough edges off of the remaining filling and jagged edges of the remaining enamel, saving my tongue from further injury.
Problem solved!
RT's Home Dentistry!
I'll have to get it fixed soon, but since My COBRA is going to cost me over $600 a month, I'll deal with it until I get back to work at the end of August when my health & dental kick back in.
Photos & insane commentary Copyright 2009 Thomas J Wolfenden
There is a spiffy pliers function, but since this was way in the back I knew I wouldn't be able to do much with that...
So I did the next best thing... There's a pretty cool rough side/fine side file...Hmmm, sez I. Methinks I know what I'll do!
I went to the bathroom, and looking in the mirror I slowly and gently filed the rough edges off of the remaining filling and jagged edges of the remaining enamel, saving my tongue from further injury.
Problem solved!
RT's Home Dentistry!
I'll have to get it fixed soon, but since My COBRA is going to cost me over $600 a month, I'll deal with it until I get back to work at the end of August when my health & dental kick back in.
Photos & insane commentary Copyright 2009 Thomas J Wolfenden
8 comments:
I keep thinking about getting myself some hygienist instruments so that I could do some at-home cleanings. But, then, I DID work in a dental office as an assistant and was starting to do cleanings when I quit, so I would know a BIT about what I was doing. ;)
The thing that disturbs me about this whole thing is the fact I have a dead tooth, also--and I never got it capped. AND I grind my teeth horrifically, so I just may have a similar story to tell at some point in the future. ACK!!!
CMK: I have several caps, but this tooth my dentist said was well enough for just a filling, at that time, but like I said it was several years ago. And if there was ANY pain at all (besides the sliced tongue) I would have definately gone to the dentist as soon as possiple and paid out-of-pocket. I may be crazy, but I'm not stupid! I've also been putting of getting a few front teeth pulled and getting a bridge made. That will wait until I get back to work.
Cobra is ridiculously expensive! What kind of chumps have we become?! I'm with you, I'd wait until regular insurance kicks back in. Maybe Obamacare will kick in and next time you go to the dentist he'll pull out the old pliers like you did!
I think you meant to say MacGuyver...
Becky: I know, and it takes so long to kick in I'll be back to work by the time it would actually be available. I'll just soldier on until then. And yes, you're correct, it is "MacGuyver"... I've just edited the text. ;)
My tooth was deemed good enough to go with only a filling, also. And that was 15+ years ago. It has darkened to almost black (YUCK!!!) and something needs to be done with it, but no one can come up with a solution. I don't want to go with the "drill out the filling and bleach it from the inside" thing, because I'm afraid the drilling might shatter the tooth--and then where am I? Dental problems are the pits.
And don't EVER get me going on about insurance!!!!!
(Please don't think I was chastising you for 'doing it yourself.' We all have to do what we have to do--and I KNOW you aren't an idiot! ;))
CMK: I know you weren't chastising me! LOL... If it had happened any other time I probably would have gone to the dentist, but this was 4 AM on a Sunday morning and I had to do what I had done to get back to sleep... Besides, it was cheap and good for a blog post!
Yikes!!!!
Do you grind your teeth at night?
Leazwell: Not that I know of... I do snore to wake the nieghbors though... This was just a fluke I think. I'll get it fixed in September.
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