In movies when you see the criminal mastermind torturing the intrepid spy by yanking out their teeth with a pair of pliers, the spy usually recovers, toughs it out, smiles with a gap-toothed grin but I'm afraid to say that if it was me, I'd be singing like a canary. Every single secret would be divulged. I just cannot stand this type of pain.
I always thought I had high pain tolerance. I've had to put up with a lot over the last few years (having my gall bladder out, having a cyst removed, endless shots in the arm) but nothing compares to that nagging throbbing pain from a gum abscess. It gets so bad that at various times during the day you'd gladly put an end to yourself just so you don't have to feel that wretched any more.
I've gone from feeling relatively energetic (most of the time) to feeling each and every one of my 57 years.
Despite several visits to the dentist over the last couple of weeks I don't seem to have made much progress, so I'm now at a point where I have a decision to make:
1) Get the tooth yanked out. That will be very painful, and permanent but at least there's a future possibility that I'd be able to get an implant to replace it
2) Get root canal surgery, which is expensive and not always 100% successful. On a tooth that already has cracks in it, is wobbly and also has a whacking great big filling in it.
I get the feeling my dentist is trying to steer me down the most expensive route possible (going down the root canal filling route) and doesn't really have my best interests at heart. Right now I feel like I can't think straight or concentrate on anything else other than this pain, and the eventuality of whichever choice I make.
Yeah yeah I hear you. It's only a tooth. It's not like losing a limb. But fuuuuuck it hurts so much.
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