Monday, December 16, 2013

"I'm Not One To Complain, But..."

     Aw, who'm I kidding?  I'm a whiner, at least sometimes.

     The recurring I-don't-know-why inflammation thing  in my upper right jaw, where a tooth root punched through the bone years ago (resulting in the loss of two teeth, various surgeries, arguments with oral surgeons about there being a hole in the bone and weren't they apologetic when they found it?) has opened up again and is extremely painful.  It's been ramping up since Thursday or so, when some kind of lesion opened up in the middle of the scar and has gotten steadily worse.  Ibuprofen and salt-water rinses aren't helping much.

     I'm going to try to get into my dentist's early this morning, so 'scuse me if I'm scarce.  Actually writing this Sunday evening and preparing to go back to bed, 'cos I sure can't get much done awake.

     Darned if I know what this is.  The hole in the bone has been patched up twice and the docs -- an oral surgeon-endodontist (dentist)/ENT-surgeon (M.D.) -- were very careful to biopsy everything and have it looked over.  Nothing unusual turned up.  But it keeps coming back. It'd been pretty infrequent and mild.  This time it's not mild.

     0533 ETA: Or maybe not "off to the dentist."  It appears to have been snowing steadily most of the night and just getting to work could be challenge enough. 

     2044 ETA:  Didn't go.  Weather was too poor.  Took Vitamin I and kept my tongue off it and while things were neither "hunky-dory" nor were they "jake," it worked out. --For those who are late to the story, this particular misadventure began well over a decade ago and the worst of it stretched out over the first 4 or 5 years.  It's long past and a round dozen specialists couldn't fix it, so don't you start.  It just is.  It's like ugly wedding-gift furniture, something to be lived with.

10 comments:

Blackwing1 said...

We'll be hoping for the best possible outcome. Best of luck at the dentist's place, and my wishes to you for a painless outcome.

OldTexan said...

I am so very sorry for your reoccurrence of your thing in the jaw and I hope that it is a minor situation with a simple solution. I know that a pain in the mouth can be a major discomfort and snow and ice don't help your situation.

I am sure that I speak for a lot of your readers wishing you a good outcome requiring little or no followup.

rickn8or said...

What Blackwing and the Old Texan said.

But seriously, ask you dentist about J-B Weld...

Gewehr98 said...

Ouch. With all that road construction going on in your face, are you prone to abscesses? I got those when I experienced sublingual bone sequestrum in my lower jaw. There ain't enough Vitamin M in the world to nullify that...

Fuzzy Curmudgeon said...

Hope you were able to get out and get some relief from the dentist.

scottW said...

Similar problem once -- had a tooth while being worked on (crown) "shatter"...Had to be pulled with no replacement. Over a 2 year time span the socket would abscess for no reason and $1000's later nothing could be found for the reason - this included xrays after xrays after multiple dentist visits. During the last pain ridden visit while a Dentist was looking the old socket ruptured and he had no choice but to clean it out....Found a microscopic piece of the original tooth that was removed earlier. It could not be seen on xrays due to its location next to the jawbone...No problems since.

bob r said...

If you are not already doing so, I suggest vitamin D3 and K2. Both are very important to bone health/repair and unless you are taking supplements it is unlikely you are getting "enough" (enough is much higher than the RDA).

Roberta X said...

My GP M.D. monitors that, thank you.

Jeffro said...

Dammit.

Windy Wilson said...

"Ugly wedding-gift furniture."
My Uncle, now passed on, had three umbrella stands (for San Diego!) because people would write him and ask what his intended really wanted, and he got sarcastic after more than a few such requests.