Scary thing

So over the weekend I broke a tooth.  I wasn't doing anything exciting to break it, just chewing gum and some of it wound up in the gum, then another hunk fell out Monday when I brushed my teeth.  Ick.

After hemming and hawing, I called around to find a dentist who could see me stat because it hurt now that it was out.  This morning I went in and was told they couldn't be sure if I needed a root canal or just a filling replaced without xrays.

So I considered, and considered that waiting to fill what might not be that big a thing could lead to a root canal, and then decided to take the risk and get the xray.

I had completely not considered that there might be no avoiding an xray, so I didn't research it at all.

My dentist (who was probably my age, go figure, this should not surprise me at all anymore and yet it does... like the 16 year old MD I had when I got admitted to get my gallbladder out who was probably just a brand new MD fresh from residency and not 16 at all) said the risk is unknown although it wasn't considered unsafe like xrays in the first trimester would be.  It was up to me, and with the spouse at work and unreachable, it was up to just me.

So I jumped and I'm nervous but mostly I'm excited that my tooth doesn't hurt any more.  Now the rest of my teeth hurt because I had them all cleaned!  And with no dental insurance for me, now we're broke too! A thrilling way to spend my Wednesday before the evil exam.

And now, back to fake-ovudine and other HIV drugs and immunomodification.  Ugh.