Taking the Scenic Route

This week my jaw went from dull ache to shooting pain.  It was my lower jaw, and I couldn’t figure out what was going on because the area that actually hurt in my mouth was behind my molars.  It felt like I had a tooth coming in or a shard from my wisdom teeth coming up, except that it has been 21, almost 22 years since I had my wisdom teeth pulled, so it seemed unlikely.  I assumed it was deferred pain since the spot that hurt the worst didn’t make sense, but my whole left lower jaw, all the way to my ear and behind my ear was in excruciating pain.  I hated going to the dentist and was worried it would lead to a trip to the oral surgeon.

Took xrays (which suck because it was so far back and I have a bad gag reflex anyway) and he poked around in my mouth for a while, as confused as I was.  Then I hear an “ah hah!” and a “this is going to hurt a little bit”  I managed to stay on the chair through sheer force of will.  He dug out a popcorn hull behind my molar.  After he dug it out (Too much info coming…skip this if queasy…) he showed me the spot where it was swollen and puss came out.  ewwww ewwww EWWWWW!  It had a major infection.  I  felt like a big ole idiot.  All the problems in my mouth and a POPCORN HULL is what finally breaks me and sends me to the dentist.  Ah man. 

I was sent home with a funky toothpick holder (put in toothpick tip, break off the rest) to help clean the area out while it heals up and an antibiotic script for the next while to get rid of the infection.  My mouth tasted awful too.  yuck!