I broke up with my dentist yesterday

I used to like my dentist. I have bad teeth - although they look nice, it's a mere facade. I've paid for enough dental work in my life to send several dentist's children to community college. That said, I've spent some time in my dentist's office. Lately, though, I've had this weird phobia about going in for anything other than a cleaning. When my dentist suggested getting a crown on one of my upper left back teeth, I resisted - after all, the thought of the torture and shelling out the big bucks insurance doesn't cover seemed pretty premature when the tooth wasn't even bothering me.

Big mistake.

It started with a bit of a toothache Thursday night. I wasn't too alarmed, and ibuprofen took care of it. I woke up Friday with the worst. toothache. ever. Nothing took the edge off. It felt like there were little daggers digging into all of the teeth on the left side of my mouth. I went into work, broke into tears from the pain more than once (which is really really unlike me - I once fractured my pelvis and thought it was a muscle strain for two weeks. I went snowboarding and running on it!). My dentist couldn't see me until early Monday morning. I agreed to the appointment, but kept feeling worse and worse.

So I called the dentist's office, and stumbled upon an interesting fact: half of the dentists in Des Moines close at noon on Fridays. And its not as if they have weekend hours either. Great.

I left my dentist a message on his emergency line (cell phone) that I was in extreme pain and needed suggestions on how to deal. He did not call back.

So I said "Fuck it" and started calling around until I found 1. a dentist that was open and 2. a dentist that could see me and 3. a dentist accepting new patients and 4. a dentist who accepts our insurance.

Luckily I ended up in a great office. I'm pretty sure I'm going to switch to this doctor. It could have been really sketchy. Once, years ago in a similar dental emergency (when will I ever learn?), I ended up in the office of a man who worked alone. As in, no assistant, no receptionist, nothing. Just him, and his combover. Oh, and opera music blaring. He also eschewed high tech equipment, like x ray viewers and computers. Interestingly, the root canal he gave me hurt less than any other I've had.

So that brings me back to yesterday. I had an emergency root canal. My tooth was majorly infected. I'll have to spring for the crown, too. I could have just had it yanked, and saved a thousand bucks, but to me, having a full set of teeth (even if they are troublesome and rotten)? Priceless.

Oh, and remember how I mentioned that I'm bad with pills? Well, now I get to take antibiotics and pain meds too! Yay!