First off, I have a deep and abiding fear of dentists, and I have bad teeth. Last year I got health insurance and went in to the dentist when they called me for a new patient check up. At that point I had not been in to a dentists' in over 6 years (since I was 12). They did an X-Ray, the dentist talked to his assistant like I wasn't there, never said a word to me, had the assistant tell me I needed a planing. Didn't mention the wisdom teeth or root canal that I heard the dentist tell her I needed. I was terrified from the minute I walked in the door. They didn't explain planing and scraping to me, didn't give me a brochure on it, nothing. I went in for the appointment. I was almost crying in the waiting room, I felt basically paralyzed. Normally they do half the mouth at an appointment. They only did a quarter of mine, and the entire time I was shaking uncontrollably and crying hard, completely tense, holding my fiance's hand. They had the sonic thing so it really didn't hurt much, but I just could not deal with it. I could not speak to anyone there, any questions about my toothpaste brand, brushing habits, etc had to be explained by my fiance. I scheduled the next appointment, but chickened out of going. I would have been easily talked into going, as I knew it was best for me, but my fiance didn't feel like he could take it emotionally to watch me go through it again, and I could not go unless he was forcing me. So I didn't go. Shortly thereafter I lost health insurance and it was no longer an issue, as I couldn't go anyway.
Now I am 28 weeks pregnant. The tooth that I believe they wanted to root canal now has a very deep cavity, it gets food in it, it is split in half, basically a quarter of the molar is gone. It still does not hurt. It is on the side of my mouth where I chew (I cannot chew on the other side as everything that I try to chew tastes like Big Red Gum and makes me nauseous - this has been the case for over 2 years), and if it gets a bit of food in and then I bite down, it will hurt with the pressure, but it does not hurt otherwise. Last night it hurt for the first time, it kept me awake and gave me a headache, it hurt much worse than when both of my wisdom teeth were coming in at the same time. Today it does not hurt.
It is deep, and bad, and I know it needs to be taken care of. I am going to be getting health insurance some time in the next week, and then I will have no reason not to go in.
What I want to know, is what will they do? Given my pregnancy, will they have some sort of stopgap that they can do so it doesn't hurt or get food in until after the baby is born? Will they want to do a root canal right away? Could they even suggest that when I'm pregnant?
I am basically clueless about everything related to dentists, what is okay in pregnancy, what is not okay, what sort of technology there is, etc. I don't even fully understand what a root canal is, or what sort of anesthesia is used, etc. And I'm kind of panicking. So I need any input you wonderful ladies can give, and hopefully there will be someone with a really good understanding of this stuff who can explain it to me.
And I'm sorry for the novel
Now I am 28 weeks pregnant. The tooth that I believe they wanted to root canal now has a very deep cavity, it gets food in it, it is split in half, basically a quarter of the molar is gone. It still does not hurt. It is on the side of my mouth where I chew (I cannot chew on the other side as everything that I try to chew tastes like Big Red Gum and makes me nauseous - this has been the case for over 2 years), and if it gets a bit of food in and then I bite down, it will hurt with the pressure, but it does not hurt otherwise. Last night it hurt for the first time, it kept me awake and gave me a headache, it hurt much worse than when both of my wisdom teeth were coming in at the same time. Today it does not hurt.
It is deep, and bad, and I know it needs to be taken care of. I am going to be getting health insurance some time in the next week, and then I will have no reason not to go in.
What I want to know, is what will they do? Given my pregnancy, will they have some sort of stopgap that they can do so it doesn't hurt or get food in until after the baby is born? Will they want to do a root canal right away? Could they even suggest that when I'm pregnant?
I am basically clueless about everything related to dentists, what is okay in pregnancy, what is not okay, what sort of technology there is, etc. I don't even fully understand what a root canal is, or what sort of anesthesia is used, etc. And I'm kind of panicking. So I need any input you wonderful ladies can give, and hopefully there will be someone with a really good understanding of this stuff who can explain it to me.
And I'm sorry for the novel
