Thursday, September 13, 2007

My First Italian Root Canal

After several days of persistent toothaches, Tuesday night it got so bad that I went to three pharmacies (all closed) and considered going to the emergency room. I was light-headed and nauseous from the pain. I finally went back home after picking up Marcus and his parents at the train station and dug around for my leftover pain-killers from my wisdom tooth adventure last December. No luck. I took some migraine medicine and was able to fall asleep. The next morning, I called my dentist and asked if they could squeeze me in and they did. As it turns out, (I'll leave out all the details) I had the beginnings of an abscess. My dentist explained that while my fillings were belli, they require the use of a paste which can kill the nerve if it gets too close. I guess that's what happened. The nerve was dead and infection was beginning to build up. So, he cleaned out the canals by hand (the first time I got a root canal it was all using machines) and medicated them, hoping that it would kill the bacteria. I have antibiotics just in case. When I went up to pay, their computer system was down so I have to go back next week. This is just the second time we will have used our newly purchased Italian health insurance. Gulp. We'll see how much it will cost. So, my first dental visit in Italy gets a thumbs up, even though I nearly punched the dentist and came close to crying. If you're ever in the neighborhood and looking for a good, reliable dentist, be sure and check out the "Dental House". Yes...that's Italian but run by the Dutch.

2 comments:

Brian said...

There seem to be some major details left out of this story.

1) Your heroic teammate who accompanied you.

2) Your heroic teammate who heard the super-detailed version of the events in the car on the way home.

3) The dentist who smelled the tools he was using.

Anonymous said...

I had a GERMAN root canal done in the early summer and it took four (planned in advanced, of course) appointments, but everything went fine..... we won't talk about Randy's experience, he would get jealous of us.

We were across the Adriatic in Croatia two weeks ago. Were glad to share some of your sun.