About a week and a half ago, I rolled over in my sleep, onto my left side. All of the sudden, my jaw started pulsating with pain. I wasn’t sure what was going on so I just rolled back onto my other side and it stopped. Two days later, the exact same thing happened but the pain remained for a few hours. Then, two days after that, it happened again but the pain did not go away. I thought I was having a TMJ issue. Nope!

That was eight days ago (a Wednesday). I asked Brian to make me some soft toast for breakfast. And, one bite from that piece of bread would send my world spiraling into a dark, painful abyss that seriously made me not want to be on this planet anymore. I am not exaggerating.

There was a seed in the toast. I bit down on it, and my world exploded into white, searing pain. I saw stars and I think the entire county heard me scream.

The extreme pain subsided a bit but I was left with a gnawing, constant ache the rest of the day. And, then I was up all night.

The next morning, I was so uncomfortable that Brian called our dentist. They were closed. He then called a different office in town, Trenton Family Dentistry, and they told him to bring me right in. The dentist’s name, by the way, is Dr. Filler (you can’t make up stuff like that!) and he is my new best friend! But, more on that later.

Here’s the x-ray:

The dentist explained that the black outline was my tooth elevated out of the socket and the area underneath it was an infection. And, yes, I’d cracked it.

The infection was likely there before the tooth cracked. The tooth was raised up. A previous dentist told me you’re supposed to run floss between your teeth, and pull it out sideways; not yank it upwards. Once the crack occurred, the infection lit up like fire, and it felt like acid was burning not only under and around that tooth, but also around the two teeth next to it.

The dentist couldn’t pull my tooth there. I have a bleeding disorder and he said I would have to go to an oral surgeon for that in case, you know, I start BLEEDING badly. He got me an oral surgeon appointment for the following Wednesday (6 DAYS AWAY!), and gave me a prescription for two days of pain meds (we later found out from the ER doctor that that’s all they can legally prescribe now in many cases). I knew that wasn’t going to last but I’ve always saved pain pills from surgeries and tooth extractions in case this type of emergency happens.

I had a toothache 25 years ago in Maine on a weekend that forced me to go to the ER. That was such a bad experience that I’ve since saved every single pain pill from every surgery and dental issue “just in case somebody gets a toothache on a weekend!” And, this past weekend was THAT weekend!!!

The next day, I was in absolute agony! The pain pills were only slightly taking the edge off. I was doing Advil and Tylenol shooters every two to three hours and I WAS MISERABLE! I have never felt that much pain in my life. I’ve had five babies (one was a c-section), a deviated septum with surgery (swimming accident), and two umbilical hernias. None of those even came CLOSE to causing the pain I was feeling.

I opened my laptop, and filled out the contact form on the new dentist’s website (they’re closed on Fridays). Within seconds, Dr. Filler called me!! He told me to go to the hospital. He explained that Erlanger Hospital in Chattanooga has an oral surgeon on call. It was starting to get late in the day and I knew there would be traffic so I popped more Advil and Tylenol, tried to get something in my stomach (the pain was causing waves of nausea), and tried to sleep. THAT didn’t work.

Early the next morning, Brian drove me to the emergency room. They were very kind, and it didn’t take long. However, I learned that they only call the oral surgeon if there is swelling that makes it difficult to breathe and swallow. Oh, I forgot to mention that my cheek had swelled up like a squirrel who only hoards nuts on one side. And, my lower lip was numb. The ER doc said the swelling was my body sending fluids to the injured area to try to heal it. Since I could still breathe and swallow, I’d have to keep living with the demon for the time being.

Oh, and here’s the best part. The doctor put his gloved finger into my mouth to feel around for a pocket of infection bulging from my gum. That guy is lucky he had all of his fingers left after that! My eyes started watering and that is not a moment I will ever forget in my life. It was EXCRUCIATING!!! Had he found a pocket of infection that he could get to, they could have drained it to give me some temporary relief. Unfortunately, the infection was underneath the roots.

He gave me a prescription for another two days of pain pills (Oxy without Acetaminophen), and told me to double up on the Advil and Tylenol doses. He said doing that actually works better than taking pain pills alone and, in some cases, makes taking pain pills unnecessary. I was starting to doubt that I would survive until the appointment on Wednesday but I was happy to have that advice. And, while I still wanted to claw my mouth out of my skull, it was a bit better…for a few hours.

We came back home and I sent Dr. Filler an update (by then, he’d started texting me and he kept in contact with me all weekend!). The following morning (Sunday), I once again used the contact form on their website because I didn’t want to bother him by texting his phone on a Sunday. I begged him, “Can one of your staff PRETTY PLEASE find an oral surgeon who can yank this demon out tomorrow?” (That would have been Monday.)

Well, my new best buddy, Dr. Filler, saw the message, and texted me right away, saying he would personally call someone first thing the next morning. And, just after 8:00 a.m. on Monday, a different oral surgeon’s office called, saying they could see me that day! The drive there was TORTURE. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the location where they do extractions. It was just an exam. I’d have to wait until the following morning (Tuesday) to get it yanked. I spent another night wanting to die and then we got up very early, and drove there. During the ride, I was fantasizing about them sticking a big, long needle directly into my gum to STOP THE PAIN!!!!

We didn’t have to wait long once we arrived. They pulled us into a room, and hooked me up to monitors and an IV. They then took Brian back to the waiting room. The nurse came in with three syringes. Two small ones and one large one filled with a white substance. I knew what that was. They call it Milk of Amnesia (it’s what Michael Jackson overdosed on). The real name is Propofol. It is very fast acting and patients can wake up very quickly once it’s no longer being administered. The nurse inserted one of the smaller syringes into my IV. She said, “This will relax you.” She then inserted the other one, and said, “This one is for pain.”

That was when I said one word…which wasn’t really a word. “Oooooohhhhhhh….”

And, that’s the last thing I remember until I “woke up” in recovery. Here’s the thing. They had to get me out of the dental chair after the procedure, put me in a wheelchair, wheel me down to recovery, and then move me to another chair. I have NO memory of any of that. Nothing. It’s a total blank!

The first thing I remember was watching them wheel another woman into recovery, and helping that poor, semi-conscious woman into a chair. She then started saying, over and over again, “I REALLY like it here! I REALLY like it here!!” (Yes, I chuckled.)

I was completely alert by then. I asked the nice woman caring for me, “I bet you have some funny stories about what people say when they are wheeled in here, huh?”

She sighed, and said, “I’ve gotten tired of it over the years…”

Then, I thought to myself, ‘What was I saying when they wheeled ME in here?’ I will never know…and I don’t WANT to know!!

I missed almost an entire week of work but my BookLocker.com team kept things going just fine!

Here’s what I learned:

Hydrocodone with Acetaminophen does not work as well as Oxycodone with Acetaminophen.

Both bottles said to take one pill every six hours. That was NOT enough. Not even close!

The more pills you take, the less effective they become and that happens VERY quickly. It certainly explains why some people overuse or get addicted to them.

My first pill lasted for almost four hours (which is why I started popping Advil and Tylenol). Three days later, the pain pills were lasting for about an hour and a half and they did NOT kill all of the pain.

Oxycodone without Acetaminophen allowed me to treat my pain with even MORE Advil and Tylenol, interchangeably. I took a LOT of meds!! I’ll post a picture below of part of my pill schedule. Forgive the typos. I was in NO condition to check my spelling!

Oh, I forgot to mention that, with my bleeding disorder, I’m not even supposed to take NSAIDS. I was in so much pain, I didn’t care. I also forgot to mention that, on day two, the dentist added a second antibiotic because my condition was getting worse, not better.

I listen to a series of videos on TikTok by a care provider who warns people about hospitals not giving people appropriate pain relief, even after spinal surgeries!! I saw another video of a toddler with a horribly broken hand and the ER wouldn’t give her pain meds because they thought she’d get addicted. Her family had to drive her out of state, to another hospital! I understand that some people do abuse those drugs but MOST PEOPLE DO NOT. And, people need those meds! It’s absolutely infuriating. Had I not had those when I was dealing with the hot acid infected demon in my mouth for a week, there’s no telling what I might have resorted to. And, don’t think I wasn’t thinking about it.

RELATED

• No BZZZZZ! When Dentists Do NOT Overtreat Children!! – by Ali Hibberts, Director of Publishing Services at BookLocker
• Bad Dentist!
• The Case of the Stolen Tooth!
• Tooth Stuck in Badminton Net…
• Mason’s “Looth Tooth”
• I Broke Another Toe + Our New Intern Is Missing Some Teeth…

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