My First Cavity

since contracting CFS.  Yup.  My first trip to the dentist for tooth repair since getting sick.  Needless to say I was scared.  The cavity was in a tooth that is on the side of my head with THE most sensitive nerve in my face.  My tongue tip often tingles and my nose itches from it.  I don't get numbness I get the itchies from it and the dental hygenist has to numb my gums before she can clean my teeth.  Yup.  Hypersensitive nerve plus cavity not a good combination.

I had three things going for me: 1) the tooth didn't actually hurt yet, 2) the cavity was in a tooth that had broken off to the gum line and reconstructed almost 15 years ago (i.e. it was mostly dead material) and 3) lots of friends and resources on the internet that could give me pointers.

So here is how the visit went.

I had selected this new dentist a few months ago based on their website claims that they fully cater to patients' needs.  They have an office that is wheelchair accessible and a staff that dotes on the customers.

I had my teeth cleaned there a few months ago and was treated really well by the staff even after I told them about my hokey illness.  They took every care that I was comfortable, not in any pain and even that I wasn't dizzy or too hot.

Today I went in and explained that my illness was neurologic and that anything that affected my central nervous system would cause problems.  I told them that I shouldn't have adrenaline/epinephrine in the numbing shot which they accomodated without question.  They also gave me additional pain killer/numbing agent so that I wouldn't feel any pain.  I told them about the nerve problem.

The dentist came in and gave me lots of time for the shot to take effect.  Then he told me that he was going to go slow and if I had any pain at all to just indicate that to him and he would stop immediately.  As he drilled away at the tooth, initially everything was fine.  He did hit a tender spot and I winced and he immediately pulled out of my mouth.  He asked me what was going on and what I was feeling.  I told him it was pain.  He gave the shot a few more minutes to take hold and he might have changed to a smaller drill head and started drilling again with no problems.  He accidentally hit the painful place twice more and figured out exactly where the painful spot was and avoided it for the rest of the procedure.

They used a high suction device to continuously remove the debris from my mouth.  I didn't swallow anything nasty at any time during my visit.

The new filling was made out of cosmetic composite so I have a white filling that is indistinguishable from my tooth and no mercury at all in it!  Woohoo!!

He also made sure my dental appliance fit over my reshaped tooth.  The real trick will be trying to wear it tonight now that the shot has worn off.  Honestly, I couldn't really say if the appliance fit well since the right side of my head was numb by that point.

I came home and immediately took several activated charcoal caps to remove any toxins from my system including any mercury from the old tooth.  I will be drinking some clay after I finish this post.  It is hard to time these since they have to be between meals and pills so that they don't interact with the meds rendering them useless.

So now, ten hours later, I'm doing fine.  I'm not too wiped out (but that may change tomorrow).  My mouth doesn't hurt much and I only have a slight dull ache in my tooth.  I don't need pain meds.  I even forgot about it and mistakenly chewed on it when I had my evening snack.  Ouch!  It did hurt but not nearly as bad as I worried about.

All in all not a bad experience.  I'm happy with my new dentist.  They listened to me and were respectful of my needs.  I came away with a filling I was happy with with minimal disturbance to my CFS riddled body.