July 26, 2008
What is it they say about feeling pain? It lets you know you're alive? Well if that's the case I couldn't feel more un-dead today.
A week ago I was at a BBQ and bit into a hunk of grilled pork. I instantly felt tooth pain and thought I must have gotten some meat stuck between two teeth. I couldn't maneuver it without help so found someone that had dental floss. I went into the bathroom to extract the problem and with some effort . . . out came rocks. Well it appeared to be small stones, very small. I said out loud, "How the heck did rocks get in the meat?" Then I wondered if it was buck shot I was looking at, Costa Rican style.
I have had my share of eating wild game growing up that I knew to spit out the pellets, but something didn't seem quite right. After showing my discovery to a few folks at the party, it was determined, I had lost a filling. Another "first-time experiences" for me while in Costa Rica. Unfortunately, not a fun one.
When I got home, I got out my dental mirror and pick to take a closer look. Sure enough, my 35+ year-old filling had disintegrated, leaving a small hole in my tooth. I did my best to not wiggle, jiggle, play with or tongue the new sensation in my mouth, but I found myself toying with it . . . a lot.
My dear friend Terry checked on me the next day and was determined that I see a dentist. We just couldn't leave it the way it was. She kindly called around and gathered information for me regarding dentists and their availabilities, locally and in towns further away.
She offered to drive me to San Isidro, about an hour away, and made an appointment for a few days later. Until then, aspirin was keeping the pain at bay and frequent gargling with Listerine was hopefully helping prevent any infection.
Terry and I wondered the streets of San Isidro on "Dentist Day" and finally found the small, yet clean, office. Once there I had to wait about 10 minutes while Senora Dentista finished with another patient of hers.
Once I was in the chair, so far everything familiar to me, Terry stood close by to translate for me. Terry explained how I had lost part of my filling and the dentist began to poke around. I was fully aware that part of my tooth was very loose and she confirmed the reason why. In perfect English she stated, "It broken."
She needed to take an X-ray to see how deep the break went and a heavy apron was placed over me, after she asked if I was pregnant. I know that is a routine precautionary question to ask before X-rays are taken so I wasn't offended. But just that morning I told Terry how bloated and fat I've been feeling lately. How few pairs of my jeans are comfy and the only top I felt comfortable in that morning was a very loose, empire waistline (pregnant type) shirt. So, it was, ha ha, SO FUNNY, ha ha, when she asked if I was, ha ha, pregnant. So funny!! NOT.
The X-ray showed that my tooth was broken in two. Lengthwise. From front to back, and all the way down. Luckily she also discovered that this tooth had previous root treatment done to it, explaining why my pain had been minimal. She gave me two choices. She said I would need a crown, but that she could not do that. What she could do for me that day was to either put in a temporary filling to help hold the two parts of my tooth together or she could pull out the inside half that was the loosest.
Knowing Terry and I wanted to do some shopping and have LUNCH on our girl's day out, I decided to forgo the pain, blood, and swelling of her pulling half my tooth away from my gums. A temporary filling will be fine for now, thanks.
So she did that bit and it also felt very normal to my dental experiences in the states. After the filling was well packed into the great divide of my tooth, she began on my cleaning. THIS is where it became a comedy.
A tube, to suck up all the moisture, was hung over my bottom lip and the pick with a water attachment was brought out. She scraped and picked away at all my teeth while water went everywhere. It was spraying all over my teeth and out of my mouth. It was running down my chin, my neck, and on down my shirt. I would try to tilt my head, just a tad, so the water in my mouth would drain to the tube side, but she would gently move my head back toward her. The way she moved around my mouth caused my "bib" to bunch up and slide around. Because of this, for most of the time in the chair, my shirt was fully exposed, and damp.
When it was time to do the outside of my upper front teeth, she moved my lip out of the way and started spraying and picking again. With nowhere else for the water to go, I experienced a near drowning. It felt like a water sprinkler had come on and it was raining down on me. I just laid there, with eyes closed, knowing that what little make-up I had applied that morning for "girl's day out" was running down my face.
Finally the water works stopped and it was time to polish the teeth. This was always my favorite part of going to the dentist in the states. Mainly because I knew I was almost finished, but also because of the wonderful glossy feeling it gives to my teeth.
I knew I wasn't going to be asked what flavor of polish I wanted. In the past I've had bubble gum, fresh mint, cinnamon, chocolate, and strawberry, but I got standard issued third-world gunky paste. It was applied with her finger (gloved at least) then "polished," not with a vibrating buffering tool, but with what felt like a gauze pad, her thumb and forefinger. Hmmmm... It lacked the panache of an electronic utensil I had come to enjoy.
With some grit left behind, she did a quick floss between my teeth. It wasn't floss though. I'm not sure what it was actually. It felt like thin cardboard. Similar to sand paper without the sand. As I recall when flossing, one is to move it between each tooth, going all the way to the gums. She didn't apply the same technique. She went only as far as she could until there was some resistance (teeth touching each other) and that was it. She missed a few and didn't even bother with the back teeth.
Oh well, better than nothing AND I was done!!! I indicated to la dentista that I needed to rinse my mouth and a cup of water was given to me. With the spit bowl pointed out, I swished around a mouthful of water and leaned over to expel it. That's when I saw the previous patient's spittle caught in the strainer at the bottom of the little bowl. GROSS. Blood clots, spit and other matter, just inches from my nose. I was ready to leave. I was good to go. Just $54 and my teeth were clean and I had a temporary filling in place.
Boy was it temporary. It lasted 37 hours. When it fell out so did the rest of my filling that had still been hanging in there. The inside half of my tooth has gotten looser and the gum above it is a little red and swollen. I've caught myself wiggling it throughout each day and have wondered when it might decide to come on out. When it does, I'll see what my options are.
For now, I'm not eating as much as normal and I only attempt things that don't require a lot of chewing. When the pain creeps up I stop fiddling with it and take some aspirin during the day, a glass of wine at night. I haven't had to wiggle and pull a tooth out since I was about 14 so it's bringing back some memories. I don't remember pulling out my first tooth at age six, but 40 years later, you can bet I won't forget THIS one.
Comments
Saratica (anonymous) says...
You've probably gotten it fixed by now, but I've used both Dr. Mermelstein 2296-3546 in Rohrmoser and Dr. Gil at Clínica Gil (the Escazú branch), 2225-6411 (all of his dentists are great)... excellent, probably about the same as you paid there. Hope it's fixed by now!!!
August 5, 2008 at 1:27 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
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