Crown, part 2

Well, I survived phase one of, “Christy’s First Crown.” I did well until the dentist walked in the room. I almost cried right then and there. One lone tear escaped but thankfully, I held the rest at bay.

Dr. Andy leaned me back in the chair and immediately began shaking my lip – no warm-up or anything, just, “I’m going to shake your lip so you don’t feel the shot.” Well guess what, Dr. Andy?! You were right; I didn’t feel it. I was amazed and thankful and totally unaware that the shot should have been the least of my concerns.

The purpose of the shot: numb the gum. A side effect is the tongue gets numb, too. I was completely unable to control my tongue, which meant Dr. Andy’s assistant held it out of the way. I’m not sure what happened, but the way she was holding it clogged up my airway. I sat there thinking, “This is what drowning must feel like. I wonder if anyone’s ever drowned in a dentist’s chair? Maybe I’ll be the first…” I countered those thoughts with the Donut Man song, which helped.

The whole thing took just over an hour. Let me tell you, that was the longest hour I’ve experienced in a long time. (Please, smart alecks, do not tell me all hours are the same length. You weren’t sitting in that chair nearly drowning, now, were you?)

I came home, ate an orange and the dadgum temporary crown popped out.

Ugh.

They got me right back in and re-cemented the thing.

I can hardly wait for next Thursday when I’ll go back for the permanent crown... Until then I think I’ll refrain from chomping down on the right side of my mouth.

I thought I'd feel better wearing my favorite shoes:

A view from my spot in the dentist's chair:

Even under duress I was thinking of my dear blog readers and knew y'all would want a picture of the mold of my back teeth:

And here's a picture of the temporary crown that's now in the back of my mouth:

(In case you missed part one of the crown posts, which was riviting if I do say so myself, here's the link. )