root canal

Three years ago my life was so overwhelming to me that I seriously felt like going to the dentist was a break. I remember getting a crown done on a tooth and thinking how nice and peaceful it was to be able to sit in a chair and not be interrupted. I realized later my thought processes were a little twisted but life was crazy! Well, the tooth I got the crown on still had pain so a year later I went to a different dentist and he redid the crown hoping that it would get rid of the pain when I chewed on hard things. Well, it didn't work either. The next year I had a crown done on a different tooth and was pretty much out of money at that point. Another year passed and I finally got fed up with a tooth that hurts and decided to finally get a root canal done to help the troubled tooth. The endodontist explained that I must have a crack on the tooth and a root canal MIGHT help it if the pain is inside the roots and not on the outside of the roots. I decided to give it a try. As I lay in the chair this morning I was happy that I actually wished I was at home and I didn't feel like being at the dentist was a break. I will admit though that while I am not totally overwhelmed with life anymore, I still must be tired because I think I fell asleep. At first I thought it was going to be horrible because they put this mask over my mouth, (and being a Shields), we tend to breathe through our mouth and so it made me claustrophobic . I realized I could breathe through my nose and calmed down. Well, I am hoping after many dentist appointments and a few thousand dollars later that this is going to work. If not the next step is removing the tooth and getting a fake one. I'm not certain but I can imagine that will cost a pretty penny. Its sad when you want to get a job just to pay for your dentist bills. When we had dental insurance we hardly had any work done but thats the way the cookie crumbles I guess. I am glad that I must have had a good endontist as it didn't seem that bad. I'm still numb however so maybe I'll change my mind in an hour or two.