Tooth # 19
The Saga Continues

imagine you have a cavity. a cavity that begins to hurt when you're on an airplane to the other side of the world for a good chunk of time. blasted altitude. now you do what you can while you're away to reduce any further decay in this tooth, you brush and floss after anything enters your mouth and it seems to do the trick. A few months later you're home and muster up the courage to go to your dentist. He gives you 4 times the normal dosage of novacaine and can't numb the tooth. You spend the rest of the day entertaining your co-workers/best friends with your half numb face. You return two days later for the exact same procedure and the exact same outcome---nothing. A week later you're in the chair again, Dr. Wang is now beyond irritating, and you understand better why some people use foul language. You tell him to just drill and you'll hit him (with pleasure) if anything begins to hurt. Drill....drill....drool... spit sucky tool lodged in your mouth to save your shirt from saliva stains.....OUCH...ok there's the root, you feel it, let's stop. You get a temporary filling and leave Dr. Wangs very very very frustrated. a month and a half passes and you feel no irritation in tooth # 19 whatsoever. until one fall evening you bite into something and it feels as if you chomped down on a magnet and foil. well well well the nerve is back. You basically don't eat anything you have to chew for a few days and survive on tylenol. another day passes and hmmnnn the pain is gone. the endodontist won't see you for a few days. you're in the endodontist's office all pumped for the root canal. you're ready. you're crying. there's a boy in the waiting room with you, a very cute one at that, you're wearing the same shoes, he's crying too, you talk about how you hate teeth. he goes. you feel a little better. you see the endodontist. he tells you the nerve in your tooth is now dead which is why your left gland and lower gum is swollen. you need to go on penicillin for a week before you can have the root canal. you leave the endodontists, no different than before you came, except for a tiny white prescription. at rite aid, the pharmacist accusingly asks if you're allergic to penicillin. "not to my knowledge" is your reply. and he says that their records say you're allergic to penicillin. you call your mother for hours to figure this out. however, your mother believes that cellphones cause brain damage and so tracking her down is near impossible. you learn she's at azteca with your older sister (the one who plays bingo) so you leave your sister a message. she doesn't return your call until she's out of the restaurant and no longer with your mother. your sister gets in a high speed chase with your red headed mother. sister and mother are on the side of the road. mother is talking into the cellphone at arms length to save spare herself brain-damage. Your mother tells you she lied to the pharmacy when you were younger because she was afraid someone would give you penicillin when you were young and that you might be allergic. you question your mother's ability to reason. you get the penicillin, pop a pill and now wait in a sea of fear and anticipation for the swelling to go down and your root canal next thursday.