I've been to the dentist......

This isn't craft related but I'll share it with you anyway.

I recently broke a filling away from one of my teeth while eating some very lovely Praline Almonds from Holland and Barrett. So after a few days of denial and a couple of toothache, I had an emergency appointment last Friday morning.

The news from my dentist....? I need a crown but not only do I need the tooth crowned as it has now become uber sensitive I need root canal treatment to get rid of the nerve before it's crowned or I will continue to suffer from toothache. GREAT!

My appointment was at 11.30 this morning and I'd be in the chair for about 30 minutes. To say I was bricking it was rather an understatement! In anticipation of the pain (and the gory stories some people had told me about root canal treatment) I took 3 ibuprofen at 10am so that they'd be completely in my system and aid the pain relief.

I had 3 injections in my gum (now suitably bruised!) and the impression was taken of my top teeth (a doddle) while the injections took proper effect. (Still bricking it at this stage!)

The temporary dressing was taken off the offending tooth. Yep, that bit was ok too.

Then..... the worst bit - removal of the nerve from the tooth..... I NEVER FELT A BLOODY THING!!!!!!! All that hype was a load of old baloney!!!!

The re build up of the tooth never went quite as planned though and had to be done 3 times until my fab dentist was satisfied with his work (such a perfectionist!) X-rays were taken to check that the pin thingy was in right to the bottom of my tooth and the temporary crown was cemented into place.

I go back on 11th March to get the proper crown fitted - this is a piece of cake - they pop the old one off, dry fit the actual crown for size then cement it into place! No aneasthetic injections needed - in and out in 10 mins.

For anyone having to go through root canal treatment, please don't worry, it is not as bad as some peeps make out.

Try the ibuprofen approach before you get to the dentist. It worked for me. Tell you dentist that you are nervous and (in my case) ask him to explain exactly what he was doing at every stage, there were no surprises.

Good luck!

x