Leaves on this Family Tree

Withering Away

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Hoof and Mouth Disease minus the Hoof


Yeppers. You are looking at x-rays of teeth. They are not MY x-rays, but just as good at the moment.

I finally got into UB's School of Dentistry, after putting it off for 2 1/2 years. I will NEVER, do you hear me, N-E-V-E-R go that long again without getting a check up.

I called, finally, for 2 reasons: 1. my TMJ (or TMD as they call it) had come back, as Mom would say, "Hell bent on election" and 2. I had a cavity in my back right molar, at the gum line, that I could feel with my tongue. Talk about weird!

#2 above is why I posted this pix. If you look at the tooth the farthest back on the upper right side, you can see what looks, to me anyway, like another tooth in the jaw pushing toward it. That was what MY x-ray looked like. My Wisdom Teeth (and don't you DARE LAUGH) have never erupted. The last time I saw an x-ray of them, at Dr.Hillis' office inLogan, they were lined up perfectly to come in, if they ever decided to.

Well, all 4 Wisdom Teeth have now started leaning toward the molar that is next to them. The one in the upper right jaw was part of the cause of the cavity . . there isn't much room between it (inside the jawbone) and the molar in my mouth. SO the "gunk" that got behind the exposed molar was hard to remove...thus a cavity that was more like a crack between the tooth and the gum line.

Then, when Dhru, my dental student, who actually is a licensed dentist in India but has to get one in the US now, said that when she started in on it, instead of the cavity being right behind the opening in the tooth, it had , basically, dug a channel down into the tooth. So I sat with all of the stuff you have to wear in your mouth PLUS a block to rest the teeth on , due to the TMJ, for a little over 3 hours. BUT, the good side is that her Dr. in charge said she did a FANTASTIC job on it. So I am a happy camper... at least I thought I was.

I went back three days later and had another cavity filled... and since there was a smaller one next to it in the next tooth, Dhru filled it too. I swear, my mouth felt like it had been stretched from the east to west coast. All of the cavities were in places that were, of course, hard to reach. So she, basically, had her hand, arm and both feet in my mouth to get it open enough so she could get to where she needed to be. Well, it wasn't that bad, but that is sure what it felt like for a couple days after the second round.

Now, the jaw is feeling better, with only lapses into the pain I was having. My poor mouth is probably scared to feel pain after the last two weeks. If it keeps hurting, I am to call he at the end of March and she will get me into their TMJ Clinic (where I saw a Dr. COle who had been at the Dental school at IUPUI and knew Dr. Steed, who took care of my TMJ when I was in Indiana) and see about getting an oral appliance made for me. (The old one doesn't fit anymore.) Then,when this happens, I can relearn how to say "s's" again.


Signed~
Woman with someone else's foot in her mouth.
(3633)

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