Dynamic Subspace

Root Canal Derailment August 22, 2009

This past weekend, I developed a killer toothache under a crown in the back of my mouth. I had never experienced that kind of jackhammer pain before, and I had to endure it until Monday rolled around when I could find a dentist to see me. Unfortunately, the pain before and after seeing a dentist caused me to avoid reading for most of the week.

I did what I could over the weekend with Tylenol to reduce the pain, but when Monday morning arrived, I was up at 5:30am (after about two hours of sleep) looking for a near-by dentist on Google Maps. Luckily, I found Dr. Brian P. Lloyd, whose office was only a 1/4 mile away from our house.

I walked to Dr. Lloyd’s office at 8:00am hoping to get an appointment for later that day. Belinda and Sandy told me that they could work me in that day, which was a tremendous relief.

Following a barrage of x-rays and inspections, Dr. Lloyd explained to me that an abscess had formed under my tooth with the crown, and that a root canal would be the best solution to repairing the trouble. Unfortunately, they couldn’t see me that day for the lengthy procedure, but he gave me prescriptions for a pain killer and antibiotics to begin immediately.

My root canal was scheduled for Wednesday morning, and it went off without a hitch. Dr. Lloyd and his staff are very professional and friendly. Also, they explain what they are doing throughout the procedure while making sure that I was doing okay.

During the afternoon following the procedure, I felt pretty good–buoyed by the drugs and the feeling that the problem had been fixed–and I got a lot of errands done with Yufang. Unfortunately, I didn’t realize how much pain would return that evening and the following day.

On the day after the procedure, I sweated and hurt and slept all day long. However, I felt very much better on the second day after the procedure, which is advantageous, because I needed to go to KSU to help move 30 boxes of donated books.

Unfortunately, the bottom line about this whole ordeal is that I have not done any reading or other concentrating-necessary work all week long. Tonight, a simple Advil removes the soreness in my mouth, so I believe that I can get back down to work.

During my break from reading, I did take some time to get some things done that didn’t require a lot of deep thought. I assembled the Star Wars Lego Midi-size Millennium Falcon kit. I installed Microsoft Windows 7 on my computer in the living room. I got a really cheap futon from Wal-Mart for the living room. I will write a little more about these tiny adventures in subsequent blog posts.

Message for everyone out there: take care of your teeth and see a dentist regularly. My root canal came about due to a childhood filling that got loose and allowed food and bacteria to get under it, which necessitated the crown that I got in 2005. It has been a long process from healthy tooth to root canal, but these things can happen more quickly.

What I would like to know is when will we have nanotech teeth repair? It can be billed as “a dentist in a bottle” or “replace your teeth with just a sprinkle of nano-dentrifice.” Wouldn’t it be even cooler if you could re-grow your teeth as vampire, cat, or shark teeth? Obviously, there would be some downsides to this, but I foresee a lucrative secondary market for this kind of nanotech (as long as it doesn’t cause cancer or mutate into some kind of Greg Bear Blood Music noosphere).