Root Canal 2.0

You heard me....back to the root canal.  As you all know, I knew little about root canals until I had to have one 4 days into my stay here in Kaohsiung.  The dentist, who is about 12, did a fantastic job and my tooth felt great.  I scheduled follow-up appointments for a crown after I return from my daughter's wedding.  Well, over the weekend my tooth began to ache a bit.  I ignored it, thinking I had maybe eaten something that aggravated the tooth.  When I woke up yesterday I knew something was up.

I asked the nurse to set up a time to go into the dentist's office, which I thought would take a while, and they scheduled me for yesterday at 5:15.  Eventually they called the nurse to tell her they could only fit me in at 8:30.  I'm talking 8:30 p.m. here.  Imagine a dentist's office staying open that late in the states?  When I got there, he had everything set up for a root canal. I told him that I already had one and that I thought the filling might just be doing something funky so it's a bit sore. Well, WRONG!  He informed me that, often, a root canal has to be done 2-4 times before the tooth is completely ready for a crown.  WHAT!!!!!?????  So......I was there until 10:15 getting another root canal procedure.

After it was over I asked him how it went.  He told me he should be able to complete the process with one more procedure then he can fit the crown.  Sigh!  He said I have a very complicated tooth.  Of course I do.  Apparently my tooth is longer than usual and the canals are very thin and difficult to navigate.  Of course I do!  He knows he can finish the next time I come in.  Double SIGH!

I'll keep you updated on Root Canal 3.0 when that happens in 2 weeks.

On more positive notes:

1.  There has been torrential rain for the last 5 days. Last night was an absolutely beautiful night.  I was able to walk to and from the appointment (about 3 miles total) and I got to see the full moon.

It's the first sky I've seen in over a week and I was able to walk around without hardly sweating at all.  Today it is pouring again.  I never knew it could rain this much.

2.  The dentist is adorable.  His staff keeps making fun at him for speaking poor English but he actually does pretty well.  Not one of the staff members speaks any English so I'm thrilled that he does.

3.  Now that the major part of the root canal is over (version 1.0) the pain is so much less during and after the procedures and other than a sore jaw from keeping my mouth open for 70 minutes, I feel little discomfort.

4.  With the insurance here, I don't have to pay a penny for this procedure!  Nice right?!

When you balance it all out, the positives sure beat out the negatives!