Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Laughing Gas is Not That Funny

Last week, when I went to my biannual dentist appointment, I found out my crown was leaking and needed to be replaced.  And that the tooth next to it had a cavity.  Eek.

So for the past week, I've been dreading the appointment to replace the crown and fill the cavity.  Mainly, I was dreading the shot (or as it turned out shots-- there were 3!) but also the sound of the drilling.  I haven't had that done in many years, so I had forgotten how much it hurts and how bad it sounds.

Fortunately, although I hadn't had it since I was a kid, I did remember laughing gas, and as soon as I arrived at my appointment today I requested it.  I was hoping to just feel loopy, the way I remembered it from when I was a kid.

But the laughing gas barely had any effect at all.  I could tell at the very beginning that I was getting a slight all-over-tingly-feeling, but that was gone in about 30 seconds, and I just kept wondering, "Do I feel different?  Is this working?"  Such a disappointment.  I had set my expectations of laughing gas way too high, no pun intended.

Fortunately, the shots weren't that bad.  Being that I give myself 4 insulin shots a day, shots are really not that big of a deal to me, as they were when I was a little kid.

And although the drilling was loud, the laughing gas mask was too, so it helped drown out the noise.

The worst thing about the day, was after the anethesia wore off and I was eating my dinner, avoiding the worked-on side of my mouth, I realized how sore my tooth and gums are now.  And it's all very sensitive to heat and cold.  EWW.

The best thing was that I brought home my old crown, and plan on putting it under my pillow tonight.  I'm pretty sure the Tooth Fairy pays a premium for porcelain crowns...
old crown, for Tooth Fairy


2 comments:

Unknown said...

I am bummed that was such a yuck experience. Hope you are better now!

Kerri said...

thank you- yes, much better now. will be even BETTER once i get the real crown on and this temporary one off! :)