The Saga of the Tooth

Back in February, I had a tooth that went bad..it had been crowned over a root canal, but decay set in under the crown and it was time to remove the poor thing...Options were either a bridge with two new crowns on the adjoining teeth..or an implant...

I asked around and the consensus was the bridge is a PITA to keep clean..and that I might be happier with the implant..

I opted for the implant...and went to the periodontist associated with my dental office..from the information given, I knew there was some risk of numbness especially if the nerve canal was breached..and that the numbness typically can last from 3 - 6 months or more..

The periodontist pulled the bad tooth and  placed the stem/screw piece of the implant...and I went home..the lidocane wore off..but my jaw stayed numb..Periodontist looked at the x-ray and said the stem is not into the nerve canal so he had no idea why my jaw was still numb...but to be on the safe side, he took the implant stem back out... and filled the hole with bone material..and said to give that a few more months and we can try again..my jaw meanwhile still was numb, but the numbness was getting less and less..

So..in July, I had the implant stem put back in..a shorter, stubbier, plumper version... and thankfully, the numbness in my jaw did not get any worse..it was however, a good bit more painful than the first stem placement. I discovered that cutting Percoset's in half and taking half every 4 hours was way better than taking a whole Percoset every 8 hours..

Its six weeks later..and my jaw still is a wee, wee bit numb..but I can see there is light at the end of the tunnel..

I get the abutment put on in October and the measurements for the new crown in November..and by Christmas I will have a full set of choppers again!

And hopefully, full feeling back! Oh that will be nice...