Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Dead tooth walking...

Around this time last year my bottom left molar started giving me trouble. It was infected and in desperate need of a root canal. I got it filled in here in Liberia with hopes that I could get the root canal in Mexico when I came home. Things didn't work out so well in Mexico and I never did anything with it. I was healed. The filling had stopped it from chipping away and it wasn't infected any more.
Flash forward to last month. It got infected again and was giving me real trouble. I needed to get it pulled. I waited and made excuses which brings me to today. I am at Trinity Dental Clinic in Liberia. My buddy Keith, one of my surfer friends, is the dentist here. I am waiting in the lobby reading a comic book version of the Gospel of Matthew. Solid choice Keith.
Its after the extraction now. Keith shot me up with some dynomite pain killers and numbing agents. When he hit me with the novacaine it felt like I was being electricuted through my lip. I won't lie I made some noise. Keith said it was because he hit the nerve directly with the needle. It was crazy. The tooth popped out with no real issues. I still had an infection and my tooth looked pretty gross. Keith proceeded to show me how infected it was by scraping off the flesh from the tooth. There was a lot of blood and I was not realy interested. I asked him for the tooth so that I can get some money back from the tooth fairy. The novacaine is starting to fade. More later.
I just realized how big the tooth was. I may have just forfitted a full eigth of my chewing power. I am already regretting this decision.
The novacaine is all gone and I was able to eat dinner which I was pretty amped about. I never want to miss a Ma Mary meal. Its amazing how much rice can fit into the pit where a tooth used to be.

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