Occasionally when I am eating dinner, I’ll crunch down on a bone fragment that was hidden in the ground beef. Sometimes I’ll feel a piece of my molar break off. Other times, I think, “Oh shit…I hope I didn’t crack my tooth on that.”
I’m pretty sure my first root canal a few years ago was caused by cracking my tooth on an unexpected olive pit. When it happened back then, I figured I just chipped the edge of my molar. Then I got a dull ache a few days later which progressed into a steady ache. A month and $3500 later, I had a root canal and a crown.
So now that I’ve had a dull ache in the same molar for a week, I’ve got a bad feeling. When I woke up with this pain my first thought was “I must have really been grinding my teeth in my sleep. It’ll probably feel fine tomorrow.”
A few days later I thought, let me give it a few more days and see if it goes away.
Today I made an appointment to see the dentist.
I had a moment of clarity this morning.
- Tooth aches don’t spontaneously go away.
- This isn’t getting better.
- I know I have a compromised molar and it’s no coincidence the pain is there.
I’ve been grinding my teething my sleep for my entire life. I didn’t suddenly “grind too hard”.
It’s an infection. I’ve got a cracked molar again.
F*** me.
Well, life will go on. I’ll see the dentist and maybe an endodontist again. It will cost me some money. And it will get addressed. It’s better to face facts than live in fantasy land.
It turns out the dentist cannot see for two weeks anyway. Since I’m not in significant pain, I’ll wait. Who knows? Maybe it will get spontaneously better before my appointment – right after I win the lottery.