Dentist

I spent almost 5 hours at the dentist today. I was supposed to get a night guard (since I grind my teeth at night) and get the prep work done for my new crown. I figured all in all it would take 1 hour, maybe 1 hour 15 minutes. Instead, nothing went right and I was there until after the place closed. The tooth that needs to be crowned was just not cooperating. First, the dentist insisted on taking out the filling the endodontist had put in and refilled it, all the while remarking, "Wow, they really filled this." Then dentist and his assistant (I do not know her proper title) prepped the tooth for the new crown and made the impression that would be sent to the lab which will make the permanent crown. Then they made a temporary crown, but it broke. Eventually, after making 4 temporary crowns, all of which either didn't fit or broke or both, they realized they would have to re-prep the tooth and start again.

The dentist had to change the size and shape of the tooth, which meant the entire impression for the permanent crown had to be done again. Then another temporary crown was made (number 5), but it would not come off the tooth (it has to be the right size for your bite, so it has to be drilled/sanded down to fit into your mouth correctly). The assistant eventually gave up in frustration and I had to wait for the dentist to come back (because, of course, my appointment was taking way too long and he had other patients to see, so he had to work around the other people also!). He got it off, but only by breaking it, so a sixth one had to be made. Of course, in order to make sure this one would come off, he had to do a whole lot of clean up and prep work to make sure the tooth was in proper shape. He did so and this time it worked! The temporary crown is properly seated on my tooth.

I arrived home almost 4 hours later than I thought I would, having completely missed a visit from some friends who came by for a couple of hours. But it was not all bad. The people taking care of me were very nice and determined to do a good job. I feel confident that my new permanent crown will be more comfortable than the last one and I hope that it won't come off all the time like the last one did!