So I’ve had this vague awareness of a sensitive place in one of my teeth for a while, and in the past week it’s gotten quite sharp when something cold encounters it, so, grimly irritated about the prospect of a cavity (not so much the dentist; I don’t mind dentists, but I only have 2 cavities and that’s from drinking too much soda 25 years ago and I’m still pissed off about it), I called a local dentist and made an appointment. The sharpness of the pain seemed to fade a bit in the past couple days, but having made the appointment, off I went.
I have no cavities!
In fact, the dentist was basically like “okay so we’ll do x-rays because I can’t see any obvious holes,” did the x-rays, “er, so, no, there’s really no cavities here, your teeth are in *great* condition.” (and for an Irish person to say ‘great’ instead of ‘grand’ is like an American going for ‘superlative’ instead of ‘great’)
She quizzed me on whether I grind or clench my teeth (not to the best of my knowledge), and whether I was in consistent pain (I’m really not), and put something HORRIBLY COLD on my teeth to see if it hurt and it fucking well did. Then she did it again on the top to see if there was a dead tooth that might possibly be referring the pain, but there wasn’t and it still fucking well hurt. That, however, was the only unpleasant part of the whole thing.
I have a little bit of gum…thingy…you know, where it’s been abraded too much and has shrunk (that’s not the right word) so there’s a little bit of nerve exposure, she said, and that’s her best guess for what’s causing the pain. Receded. Slight recession of the gums. Don’t brush your teeth too hard, people! Just brush them gently for a long time! And floss! She admired my flossing habits.
She prescribed Sensodyne toothpaste and mouthwash (blick), and basically said “come back in 3 months, tell us how you’re doing, & we’ll clean your teeth and see if anything looks different.” So. There we are.