Oh yes....this will be fun...

I am not afraid of much...well, snakes...I am very afraid of snakes.  And I don't like being home by myself at night...in the dark....  So I guess I do have some fears.  One of my BIG ones is related to my teeth.  I HATE tooth pain.  I know that no one LIKES tooth pain, but I like to think that my fear of tooth pain may be a little greater than the average person.  I had quite a bit of teeth work done when I was a kid (that happens when you have several cavities and are missing two front permanent teeth).  Some of my most vivid childhood memories are sitting in the dentist chair, full of laughing gas and feeling that HORRIBLE nerve pain caused by that wretched drilling tool.  So you can imagine my excitement when I started having one of my very back teeth bother me.  Yeah...I was thrilled.  

I finally realized that it wasn't going away on its own and made the trip to the dentist.  I love my dentist.  Not because he is the best dentist around (he might be; I don't know and let's be honest...I don't care) but because he doesn't cause me pain.  The hygienist apologized for having to take the x-Ray and the dentist was SUPER gentle.  Whew!  

Well, the Endodontist that he referred me to made up for all of the non-pain I felt by my visit to my non-pain dentist.  I opened my mouth expecting the same consideration.  I had somehow convinced myself that he could figure out what was wrong with my tooth without touching it in any way.  Clearly I was wrong and maybe my expectations were slightly off, but that doesn't excuse him from BANGING on my teeth with his wicked little hammer.   And that wasn't even the worst!!!  No, no..then we took our air pressure thing and shot it with it.   What?!?!  This was proceeded with "ok. So I need you to tell me when it starts hurting and then tell me when the pain ends".  So, let me get this straight, you are going to intentionally cause me pain?!  Awful.  It was just plain awful.  

Diagnosis...cracked tooth.  Solution....root canal.  Oh yes....this will be fun.