A Toothy Tale

On Feb 4, midnight, my molar suddenly became painful. It felt very tight, just like after brace adjustments (3 times more painful).

On Feb 9, I went to see a dentist. He did some cleaning, x-raying, some scaling and some charging (SGD160). He suggested root canal, but I told him I was going back home to the Philippines on March 12 and would rather do it there. So, we discussed to remove my old white filling, put some medicine over the supposed decay which was at the bottom of the filling and replace with a new one. But this would be done on the following week.

On Feb19, the dentist removed the filling and replaced it with a silver one. Even with injected anesthesia, I could still feel some pain while he was removing the old filling.

Anyway, my tooth was better afterwards.
On Feb 28, I suddenly felt something weird on my molar again. The bite felt very off.
So, thinking that it may be due to lack of use, I tried to chew using the right side of my mouth.

I ordered this pita. But, I only tasked my injured molar to chew on the fries. I knew it wouldn't be able to handle the Pita (which was okay, but not something I would order again).

That night, it became doubly weird-feeling. So, I went to see the dentist again.

He said that there seems to be infection (or abscess), and that infection was pushing my tooth upwards, making me feel as if the bite was not right (when in fact the top and bottom tooth were not touching each other at all).

He doesn't recommend me to take antibiotics again, because I just took 2-3 weeks back.

Since I was going back to Manila the next week, he was saying I could wait till then (if I could handle the pain).

I thought I could handle it, because I believe I have a strong tolerance for pain.. but then, my gums became swollen and painful. This time it didn't feel tight, it was worse! It felt like the gum was contracting every second.

So I decided to visit another dentist the next day.

I went to a dental chain and the generalist said it's either I extract it, root canal it, or take antibiotics.

I chose antibiotics.. but she warned me that it would take 15 hours for the meds to take effect. I was okay with that, anyway it was still tolerable.

I paid SGD45 for that dental visit.

Come nighttime, the pain became even worse, and when my mouth snaps and there's tooth contact, an extremely painful sensation shoots up and down my tooth nerves which stays for about 30 seconds (hell I tell you). The pain is tear jerking, and I couldn't punch my jaw to divert the pain, because the gum was swollen. I didn't want to rupture it (I have a wild imagination).

Honestly, it was sooo painful that I was googling if toothache can actually cause death.

Anyway, I tried some home remedies...

I ate butter, because they say it's anti-inflammatory. Oh, I didn't mention that the nerve on my neck was also swollen, so even eating (swallowing) porridge was torture.

Pure vanilla extract - I gargled the vanilla extract, and put some on a cotton bud and placed in on my swollen gum.

It has a numbing effect, which lasted for about 5 seconds.

Sea salt - I gargled sea salt, and even brought a bottle of salt water with me so that I could gargle in the office.

My painkillers - Ibuprofen

Herbal tea with cooling properties

Cerelac, to relieve my teeth from the task of chewing

On Sunday Mar 6, I went to GPA, which is located in Goldhill, 7 minutes walk from where I live.

They're one of the few clinics in Singapore that offers laser gum treatments. My boyfriend researched this for me, and I'm grateful because I really didn't want to do root canal.

Very posh.

The dental surgeon took an xray, and apparently my molar is already suffering from bone loss. Only half of the supporting bone for that tooth is left. Therefore, it's not recommended to do root canal.

I decided to have him kill the bacteria using the laser thingy. I felt like he put some topical anesthesia, but when he started lasering my gum, I could feel everything! I almost cried because it was so damn painful! Like needles pricking my gums. Fast and furious pokes! It went on for about 4-7 minutes (or maybe just 3 minutes).

That visit cost me another SGD272.

After the procedure, my gum became even more painful. It was literally killing me.

It's difficult to describe the pain. All I can say is, for the first time in my life, I became almost hysterical. I was crying and laughing at the same time.

I had to take the painkillers, so I had to eat. I mashed a banana just to fill my stomach.

My painkiller

Finally, after 2 hours, the painkiller took effect. I became calmer and was able to eat my alphabet soup.

*******************

Today, March 26, the tooth still doesn't feel normal. It's not painful, but it's just not the same.

Siiiiigh.

Anyway, I told you it was a tale... a very long one.