Tooth Infection! Aiya!

May I start off by saying, every time I'm pregnant I get some sort of weird infection. With Chase, I had a skin infection where I broke out all over my body from being in a jacuzzi. Everyone else was in the same jacuzzi as I was and nothing happened to them. I looked like I had been hit by the plague. It was all over my lower abdomen, legs, butt, thighs and spread down my legs. What's worse was it left scars. I couldn't sit, I couldn't sleep. I was miserable.


So what's the infection this time? My tooth of course. So I have to say it's my fault because of the neglect towards my teeth. I'm almost kind of embarrassed to go to the dentist because I feel like they have gotten so bad that it's too late? The last time I went to the dentist I think I was 19 and I had two of my wisdom teeth pulled and fillings with just local anesthesia. Need I say more? I never went back. I had went to a dental exam maybe about 8 months ago. Just a little while before I was pregnant for an exam. They told me all of the stuff they needed done but said they wouldn't put me under besides the wisdom teeth extractions. I asked, if you're going to put me under..why can't you do it all at once? It just didn't make any sense to me. So I didn't go back either and it just sort of slipped into the back of my list of things to do. That and also because times got hard with money and I couldn't really afford for all the things.


So I had this hole in my tooth on my far left back molar. The hole was pretty big I'll admit, enough for me to get food stuck in it. Two Thursdays ago, while I was eating, a part of the molar chipped off. I'm guessing that it's because the hole had gotten so big that it thinned out part of the tooth. It looked like someone had just taken a corner of my tooth out and I can feel my nerve exposed. It didn't really bother me but I knew now I had to get it taken care of. Come the following Wednesday night, I started getting this toothache. It was to a point where I had to take Tylenol at night just to go to sleep. So I decided to go to this place that Kat referred me to. She had gone there a while ago and they did different types of sedation. I took off work early Thursday and had my appointment there. Since I'm 7 1/2 months pregnant, they only took 3 x-rays of the tooth that was bad instead of going paparazzi on my teeth. They also did a visual examination which is pretty much a diagnosis based off of what she can see and pictures. The tooth is so bad that it has to be extracted and a bone graph will have to be placed in, then later a fake tooth. I also need two wisdom teeth extractions along with fillings. My gums have deep pockets because I brush too hard and that I would need antibiotic spray in 5 areas of my gums which was not covered by my insurance and would cost me $200 dollars. At first they suggested that since I'm deathly afraid of needles, I should wait til after I deliver so they could sedate me and do everything at once. So I just got my teeth cleaned and was going to do the antibiotic spray for my gums.


After the cleaning the dentist came back in and she goes, "the other doctors and I have re-examined your tooth and decided that it has to come out. There is an infection and it's not good for you or your baby's health and it could definitely worsen." They were going to extract my tooth then and there but they needed my OB's approval because they would also need to prescribe me amoxicillin. I was ready to say, screw the spray for my gums, let's get this tooth out. Of course, my OB is not in the office on Thursdays to give the okay. They had requested the back-up doctor to fill out the form but I told them okay lets just do this next week then.


The next day I wake up with this excruciating toothache. It feels like a throbbing and constant reminder that life is miserable. I took two 500 ml Tylenol but by the 3rd hour the pain would be back and it says I can only take them every 4 hours not exceeding eight pills in 24 hrs. I called my OB's office at 9:05 (they open at 9) and they told me the faxed it back at the end of the day yesterday. In my head I go hallelujah! At least I can get my prescription for the infection if not maybe even get my tooth pulled! I called the dentist office, they are closed every other Friday and fortunately this was one of the Fridays in which they were open. I called them around 9:30am, because I got their answering service the first time. I told them my OB had faxed over the approval if they could let me know whether or not I can get the prescription for the amoxicillin at least. She told me she would let me know as soon as the doctor comes in. I call back again, by then its 1:46pm and  I thought they had forgotten bout me. (As you can sense through my urgency what type of pain I'm in.) She tells me, the doctor doesn't get in to 2pm, so she'll definitely let me know. I left work at 3 because I couldn't bear the pain. I called them at 3:30pm when I was halfway home to see if they had forwarded the prescription to the pharmacy yet. That way I can just pick it up on my way home. She answers and goes, "Oh, I was just about to call you to tell you we never received the approval fax from your OB's office." I call my OB's office and they are gone for the day. 


I WAS FURIOUS!!! If they had checked for the paper the first 2 times I had call, I probably would've been able to get back in touch with my OB's office before they closed and got them to refax it! I WAS SO MAD. I told them I'm pregnant, I'm in pain and I don't think I can make it pass this weekend...there was nothing they could do without an approval letter signed by my OB.


I was so mad I tell you. That was the start to my most dreadful weekend. I had plans to go to the swap meet, to go walk around and do things. I just had this look on my face like nothing in life could make me happy. It came to a point where I wanted to just get plyers and pull out the tooth myself. I felt like that would relieve the pain. I'd ask Brandon to punch me in the face, maybe that would alleviate the pain. I just wanted to lay down the whole weekend. The throbbing was throughout my face, my temple, my gums were swollen and I couldn't eat because every time I bit down it would just be the bad tooth there and it would hurt like hell. It was the longest weekend of my life. On top of that, I felt extremely bad for taking so much Tylenol..the worse part was the Tylenol wasn't even working anymore. I tried warm salt water, icing, I even held a shot of whiskey in my mouth for a minute. Nothing worked.


Sunday morning I woke up and my cheek was swollen. It's not that bad in this picture..

By Monday morning...this is how I looked.

I took the day off because I could no longer speak, it's sensitive to the touch and I needed to get it fixed. I drove to my OB's office after dropping off Chase at school. Showed up 5 minutes after they opened and asked them for the letter myself. That way I can just bring it over to the dentist. I also asked if there was anything he could prescribe me for the pain because I had been taking Tylenol and I don't know if that was even safe for the baby for me to take it for so long and so frequently. Thank goodness, the Dr prescribed me something stronger. It's a narcotic I'll just put it that way, but still safe for the baby.

I marched over to the dentist office and showed them the form, threw a pregnant bitch fit and demanded that I want my amoxicillin AT THE LEAST! I didn't know if they were going to be able to extract my tooth with my cheeks being that swollen. My original dentist wasn't there but there was another and he said he was going to pull it. Okay, I was terrified. It was what I had wanted but at the same time I was scared of the shot! So They gave me two shots to the mouth and one in the gums. I cursed and cried when they did the one in the gums. (Yes I cried, it was an involuntary reaction). Got another shot after that in the mouth. I asked them of I could grab my headphones out of the car so I didn't have to hear what they were doing.
One and a half song later on the Nicki Minaj Pandora station and my tooth was out. They even put the bone graph in and sewed some stuff up with a wire. That was fast but I think it was the adrenaline but I felt droopy afterwards.

That's me right after the extraction. I gotta go back next Wednesday to have something removed. My face is still swollen, if not more. I guess I'll have to wait til the amoxicillin does it's job with the infection before I won't look like Jay Leno anymore. The pain meds the doctor prescribed me is good, but it's hard to take and work at the same time. I'm only taking one and it literally makes me sweat and feel like I'm gonna get motion sickness. I have to take it though because I talk on the phone constantly for work and it's irritating the crap out of my jaw. Now I don't have a toothache. Just soreness. THANK GOODNESS!

This is me today. Happier camper til I came to work and not being able to eat very much is not doing so good for my body and the tolerance for my pain med..I wonder how long til the swelling goes away..