L
lnj821
Junior member
- Joined
- Dec 5, 2010
- Messages
- 8
- Location
- Pennsylvania
I'm ashamed and totally embarrassed to say that I haven't been to the dentist in many years. You wouldn't know it by looking at me, but the last time I went was when I was 18 years old and had my wisdom teeth removed. That was 22 years ago. And now it looks as though I'm gonna have to go, because I have a bad tooth and it has really started to cause me a lot of pain.
One of my lateral incisors has a cavity that started as a small hole on the side of my tooth that has turned into a huge hole on the back of my tooth. About a year ago I started having pain, mostly on days when I was really stressed out, but it usually only lasted a day or two then subsided.
Now, I'm afraid that hole has made it to the nerve. The pain started 4 days ago, just in the area of that tooth, but now has spread to the whole upper right side of my jaw. As long as I'm not eating or drinking anything, keep my mouth shut and breath through my nose, the pain doesn't bother me. As soon as I eat or drink anything that is not the same temperature as my mouth the pain becomes excruciating.
When I think about calling the dentist it terrifies me and brings tears to my eyes. The thought of explaining why I haven't been to the dentist in 22 years is almost as horrifying as the pain in my mouth. How big of an idiot am I going to look like for not taking care of this sooner
I also broke one of my molars a year and a half ago on a piece of popcorn. The point is, I'd probably never go to the dentist again, if it weren't for this pain I'm having. I'm afraid it will get worse and I don't deal with pain very well. I have hated the thought of going to the dentist ever since I was a child.
I guess the biggest problem of all is that we don't have dental insurance and the dentist we deal with (shockingly I know, I do take my kids for their regular visits) expects payment at time of visit.
So needless to say I'm just a big ball of nerves. I don't want to go, and we don't have the money for me to go. But I'm afraid the longer I wait the more horrible the visit will be.
I don't know what my options will be. If it were a back tooth I'd have them pull it and be done with it. I seriously doubt a filling will be enough to solve the problem. The thought of a root canal kills me. I sure as heck wish I would have had this taken care of before it got to this point
Sorry to be such a downer, but I'm too embarrassed to talk about this problem with anyone other than my husband and he just tells me they better take a payment plan.
Thanks for listening and for any words of encouragement you can give me. I know I need to put my big girl pants on and just do it
One of my lateral incisors has a cavity that started as a small hole on the side of my tooth that has turned into a huge hole on the back of my tooth. About a year ago I started having pain, mostly on days when I was really stressed out, but it usually only lasted a day or two then subsided.
Now, I'm afraid that hole has made it to the nerve. The pain started 4 days ago, just in the area of that tooth, but now has spread to the whole upper right side of my jaw. As long as I'm not eating or drinking anything, keep my mouth shut and breath through my nose, the pain doesn't bother me. As soon as I eat or drink anything that is not the same temperature as my mouth the pain becomes excruciating.
When I think about calling the dentist it terrifies me and brings tears to my eyes. The thought of explaining why I haven't been to the dentist in 22 years is almost as horrifying as the pain in my mouth. How big of an idiot am I going to look like for not taking care of this sooner
I also broke one of my molars a year and a half ago on a piece of popcorn. The point is, I'd probably never go to the dentist again, if it weren't for this pain I'm having. I'm afraid it will get worse and I don't deal with pain very well. I have hated the thought of going to the dentist ever since I was a child.
I guess the biggest problem of all is that we don't have dental insurance and the dentist we deal with (shockingly I know, I do take my kids for their regular visits) expects payment at time of visit.
So needless to say I'm just a big ball of nerves. I don't want to go, and we don't have the money for me to go. But I'm afraid the longer I wait the more horrible the visit will be.
I don't know what my options will be. If it were a back tooth I'd have them pull it and be done with it. I seriously doubt a filling will be enough to solve the problem. The thought of a root canal kills me. I sure as heck wish I would have had this taken care of before it got to this point
Sorry to be such a downer, but I'm too embarrassed to talk about this problem with anyone other than my husband and he just tells me they better take a payment plan.
Thanks for listening and for any words of encouragement you can give me. I know I need to put my big girl pants on and just do it