(43-338) Scary Pain

On Monday, I bit into a chip and experienced the most unpleasant shooting pain in my tooth.  In my life, I had never felt such a bizarre and terrifying pain in my mouth; but thankfully it did not persist.  Then
last night I was eating a salad, and I experienced a similar pain - though not quite as brutal.  Since twice I'd felt the pain in the same part of my mouth, I started to panic.  Huge Dentalphobic that I am, I feared that the pain meant that something was going wrong with one of my teeth; and I got scared.

Now when I get scared about a tooth pain, what typically happens is that I obsess about it, and I manifest the pain that I fear so much.  I took some Ibuprofen, and an Alprazolam (for anxiety) because I didn't want my fear to make the pain worse.  I slept through the night (which was a great sign that nothing was wrong;) but when I got up, I was sure that my tooth hurt (even though I couldn't tell you which one it was.)  I took some more medicine and went to work.  I IM'd Luis and told him that I was nervous about my tooth; especially because we were going out of town on Saturday and he suggested that I go to the dentist.

The old me would have waited till the last possible minute to go to the dentist; but despite my fear I scheduled an appointment for today at 2 because I wanted to ensure that I'd be pain free for our trip.  I was REALLY proud of myself, because not only did I go to the dentist promptly, but I didn't take any Alprazolam prior to my appointment.  I kept telling myself "If there is something wrong with the tooth, it will feel better after that appointment, so there was nothing to be afraid of."   I told the receptionist, the dentist and his assistant that I was really hoping that it was a sinus problem or even nothing at all.  I said that if they couldn't find anything wrong then I knew I'd look crazy, but that was a chance I was willing to take, because I'd rather be safe than sorry.  They took x-rays, tested hot and cold, tapped on teeth picked at teeth and thankfully, nothing caused me any pain.  The Dentist explained that I may have bit into the chip the wrong way (and for me biting into a chip at all, is THE WRONG WAY.)  And even though you can't bruise a tooth, he explained that what he thinks happened to my tooth was the equivalent of bruising it.

When all was said and done the dentist assured me that he didn't see any sign of infection or abscess, and said that I should go to California, relax and have fun because nothing should go wrong with my tooth this weekend.  I thanked everyone profusely and left with a great sense of relief.   I was and am so proud of myself for not procrastinating, and I am hopeful that I won't ever feel that pain again.
Till next time...
Queen of EVERYTHING