Ouch.

I wish I could have taken a picture, but I wasn't in a position where I could. 

While I was exercising last week I put on my retainer and left it on my teeth for about an hour. I took it out and went to sleep and was awakened by excruciating pain in the middle of the night. 

Ever since I got my braces off my back tooth has hurt. Food would get stuck up in there so I would have to carry around floss in my purse wherever I went. 

This was different. It was a throbbing pain that wouldn't go away when I brushed and flossed. I knew I had to go to the dentist... 

Let me tell you a little secret... Dentists are freaking expensive especially when you don't have dental insurance... So get the darn dental insurance! 

I went to the dentist's office hoping and praying they could fix whatever was wrong. I went in and the dental hygienist tapped on my teeth and put a cold qtip on them. She finally took an xray of my trouble tooth. She left the room and when she came back she told me that the xray didn't save, so we had to do it again. I told her my bottom teeth were a little painful and I wanted to get everything checked so she tapped on those teeth too and then took xrays of the upper left and bottom left. The doctor came in and explained to me the reason the top tooth was hurting was because it was broken and it was being eaten away on the inside. He said it looked like I might need a root canal... 

I have never had a root canal, but I did know they were EXPENSIVE.

The dentist said that he didn't have time right then to go into the tooth to either fill it, or to see if I needed a root canal. He asked if I could go back at four, and of course I said yes. The receptionist printed out a bill of what I might have to pay. If I just needed a filling it would cost $200 (OUCH) and if I needed a root canal... it would cost me (brace yourselves) $2000. BIG TIME OUCH!!!

Three-thirty rolled around and Denny drove me to the dentist's for the second time that day. The entire time I was praying and crossing my fingers that I wouldn't have to have a root canal. What a horrible way to spend $2000. 

I went in and the dental hygienist put numbing stuff in between my lip and gum and let it sit for a while. The dentist then came in and numbed up my mouth with shots. The only one I could feel was the one he did on the roof of my mouth, and it only pinched. The hygienist had this pink sheet of rubber or something, she punched 5 holes in it really close to each other to put on my teeth to prevent the stuff from getting down my throat (I'm sure it had other purposes like keeping my tongue away from everything else going on in my mouth). 

Then they went to work. I sat there and listened and tried to determine where the drill was and what they were doing. When they were finished the dentist said it looked good. Only time will tell if I need to have a root canal. I need to wait for 2 weeks. If it still hurts, I will need a root canal. 

I am seriously hoping and praying that it doesn't hurt in two weeks!!!