Downside to Delaware

If there’s one thing in the world that I’ve grown accustomed to over the years, is a sense of urgency when referencing ANYTHING in the medical/dental fields.  Moving to Delaware has really been an eye opener to me. The area I live in certainly lives up to the nickname of “LOWER SLOWER Delaware”.  After all of the idiots I’ve met in the Medical fields down here while accompanying Karen on her doctors appointments, and even my experiences with the fucking asshole E.R. doctors in the BeeBee Lewes Hospital… my mind is just BLOWN on how horrible things function down here.

Todays Problem:  I’ve had issues with my teeth for probably the last 20 years, it’s genetics and other factors that just cause me to look at sugar and get a cavity. About a month ago I bit into something way too hard and chipped one of my molars. And when I say “Way too hard” that could mean anything from a pickle to the crusts on bread.. my teeth are just that freakishly soft. My father and I can easily compare our teeth to Chiclets, where my sister got my mothers genes and they’re cement in comparison. So having the crack really is nothing new, I figured just let it go and if and when the tooth starts to actually hurt I’ll take care of it. For me, and my extremely high pain tolerance that’s just the way things go. Yes, it’s unhealthy to not take care of them right then and there, but regardless of root canals and patch jobs, it’s just going to figure out a way to fall out of my mouth anyway. Case and point would be another molar that no dentist can seem to properly fix for me.

So, of course you could imagine my lack surprise when I woke up one morning (somewhat recently) and had a weird thing floating around my mouth. It was a large section of my recently chipped tooth. There was no blood, no weird ‘ooh…that’s definitely a cavity’ taste, it was just a broken tooth. I don’t know if I grind them when I’m sleeping, or if the dog was on the blanket and I punched myself in the face in my sleep when trying to cover myself and the blanket slipped, I don’t know. Who knows, it’s happened before (the punching thing) but knowing I had relatively soft food the night before made me question why things are just falling off of me.

For the last few weeks I’ve been dealing with it, chewing on the opposite side and really limiting how often I eat foods that require excessive amounts of chewing. A few people have even said to me that I may possibly have a thyroid problem because for as big as I am, I really don’t regularly consume enough calories during the day to maintain the weight I am.  This is well before any dental issues surfaced, I just never was tested for anything. So limiting consumption really is nothing “new” for me.

Last night, however, I got a SHOOTING pain straight up the side of my face… one that can only be connected to my horrible history with abscessed teeth. It’s something I’m used to, it’s not a new pain feeling for me, and something I’m commonly able to manage with a combination of aspirin and antibiotics. So, the shocker attached to it was the fact that the molar, which broke off in sections, is now a quarter of a molar and the remaining quarter is loose. Should I just wait for it to fall out? Sure, but at the same time I know there’s still the rest of tooth attached underneath the gums and having to deal with a fully impacted tooth is the absolute pits.

So, as I’ve done a few times over the course of the last few weeks (unsuccessfully mind you), I started calling the dental offices in the area. One, who is supposedly the best of the best “The Dental Group” in Lewes, as usual was incapable of answering the phone when I called over the past few weeks so you can imagine my surprise when someone actually picked up the phone today. Unfortunately it only caused me to have to be re-routed to another facility because after they charge you probably like $600+ for the “Initial / New Patient Visit”, they decide whether or not they’re capable of handling your current needs. I by-passed that shit and got in touch with an Oral Surgeon in Rehoboth, who takes the Care Credit Card and actually answered the phone on the first ring. After talking to the lady and explaining the situation she noted that she can get me in for Monday but there is no earlier availability. When noting that I’m prone to abscesses, and I feel one coming on she told me if the tooth gets worse to call them, but Monday is pretty much the earliest I can come in.

Now, I don’t know if being born and raised in New York has spoiled me, or what, but when someone calls you with an ’emergency’ situation… aren’t you supposed to do something about it? I know damn well if I was up in Glen Cove I could just call up Dr. Hoffman and be in the door either same day or following afternoon, X-Ray done, tooth extracted, I go home and sleep off the sedation. Why? Because that’s how you’re supposed to do shit!

I’m grateful that I do actually have the Monday appointment, and I know I shouldn’t have waited this long – I get it. BUT, when you’re someone who doesn’t feel any dental pain until it’s too late and irreversible, you just need to get things done when they need to be done.

I’m hoping, with fingers toes and eyes crossed, that nothing happens over the course of the next week. I do have a few antibiotics that I’m going to take to keep the potential abscess at bay so things aren’t delayed past Monday and maybe I’ll finally just start feeling normal again. For now, only broth for the next week and that should cover both the need to drink AND keep something in my stomach.

The biggest issue is every time I even swallow my own saliva I feel the tooth shifting around, I highly doubt it’s even going to last the next 6 days. ::UGH::