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Well, I have seen the dentist and gotten my teeth cleaned. I waited longer than usual between cleanings because I didn't want to deal with it while I was healing the eardrum.
I told the dentist that the nerve is still cold-sensitive where he put a crown on last fall. The good news is that he looked at it, and polished it down in a few places: one thing that can cause that sort of sensitivity is grinding that the person doesn't even notice while she's chewing, leading to ongoing lo=level inflammation. Apparently this is fairly common when a crown is fitted under anesthesia. So I am hoping this resolves it, but annoyed at the dentist for not urging me to come in back around Thanksgiving (before I got tangled with other things, including other medical issues). I'd never had a crown fitted under anesthesia before, so I had no reason to be looking out for this, but he did know about it.
Another possibility is that it may be near the end of a healing-on-its-own process; it transpired that sometimes this just takes five or six months (apparently this happened with one of his own teeth). The dentist said that he doesn't warn people that it might be that long because it's uncommon and he doesn't want to worry them. I pointed out that by not warning me, he had caused me to worry that if it hadn't gone away after the "few weeks" he told me to expect, it might never. So, we give this a bit longer, and I am supposed to call him next week with an update. He also said he is "not panicking yet" but when I asked whether the thing to do if we do get to the panicking stage is root canal, he said yes. Which would be another round of not fun, and (I am guessing) either removing and re-seating that crown, or making a brand new one. I really hope I don't have to decide between a root canal and a very-long-term cold-sensitive nerve.
I also mentioned my dry-mouth problem; they suggested a spray of the sort I'm already using, and gave me some lozenges to use at bedtime to increase saliva flow. I might even try them.
But, for the moment, my teeth are clean, and I stopped at Tully's for second breakfast (chocolate banana bread and a cup of tea), then picked up cat food. I let Petsmart sign me up for their "membership" discount program; no actual card, I gave them a phone number, name, and email address, and they gave me the lower price on the bag of cat food and promised (or threatened?) to email me coupons.
I told the dentist that the nerve is still cold-sensitive where he put a crown on last fall. The good news is that he looked at it, and polished it down in a few places: one thing that can cause that sort of sensitivity is grinding that the person doesn't even notice while she's chewing, leading to ongoing lo=level inflammation. Apparently this is fairly common when a crown is fitted under anesthesia. So I am hoping this resolves it, but annoyed at the dentist for not urging me to come in back around Thanksgiving (before I got tangled with other things, including other medical issues). I'd never had a crown fitted under anesthesia before, so I had no reason to be looking out for this, but he did know about it.
Another possibility is that it may be near the end of a healing-on-its-own process; it transpired that sometimes this just takes five or six months (apparently this happened with one of his own teeth). The dentist said that he doesn't warn people that it might be that long because it's uncommon and he doesn't want to worry them. I pointed out that by not warning me, he had caused me to worry that if it hadn't gone away after the "few weeks" he told me to expect, it might never. So, we give this a bit longer, and I am supposed to call him next week with an update. He also said he is "not panicking yet" but when I asked whether the thing to do if we do get to the panicking stage is root canal, he said yes. Which would be another round of not fun, and (I am guessing) either removing and re-seating that crown, or making a brand new one. I really hope I don't have to decide between a root canal and a very-long-term cold-sensitive nerve.
I also mentioned my dry-mouth problem; they suggested a spray of the sort I'm already using, and gave me some lozenges to use at bedtime to increase saliva flow. I might even try them.
But, for the moment, my teeth are clean, and I stopped at Tully's for second breakfast (chocolate banana bread and a cup of tea), then picked up cat food. I let Petsmart sign me up for their "membership" discount program; no actual card, I gave them a phone number, name, and email address, and they gave me the lower price on the bag of cat food and promised (or threatened?) to email me coupons.
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