Late last week I was having some pain in my lower jaw … the kind of pain associated with a tooth problem of some sort. On Monday I called make an appointment with the dentist to find that I would have to wait until Thursday morning. The dentist wasn’t going to be in on Tuesday and I wasn’t going to be available on Wednesday (more on that below). So, this morning bright and early I was at the dentist office while he poked around in my mouth. He discovered a cavity in the lower right far back tooth that would be “awkward” (his specific word) but he hoped he could fill it without having to take out the bridge that the tooth anchored. So, I got an injection of anesthetic and waited for a few minutes. My tongue was getting numb, but the tooth wasn’t. Four more times he put anesthetic in to deaden the tooth. It didn’t work. My tongue went completely numb. The back of my throat got numb. The area underneath my tongue got numb, but the culprit tooth and the one in front if it holding up the other side of the bridge were not numb. The dentist said he really couldn’t put in any more anesthetic … that four was his usual limit and he had already injected me five times. No choice but to reschedule. So I’ll go back on the 31st for another try and will be living on Ibuprofen until then. I asked him, “What are you going to do different on the 31st to have a better outcome?” He said he’d have to do a little research because obviously the nerve he was aiming for wasn’t where it was supposed to be. “How are you going to find the nerve?” He didn’t know, yet. He was going to talk to some other dentists. I’m supposed to be comforted by that….

Five injections of anesthetic were definitely enough. I felt pretty lousy the rest of the morning and finally went back to bed for an hour to clear up my head. Next Tuesday I go in to have a bridge in the front of my mouth replaced and crown put on another tooth. But, all the fussing in my mouth this morning loosened up the temporary cement job on the current bridge in the front of my mouth and I was back in the dentist office at 5:45 p.m. this evening getting the bridge cemented temporarily back in. I feel like I’ve been living in the dentist office and they all now call me by my first name like we’re family or something.

Yesterday we took mother and dad to Logan for a Temple session. It was a crisp, cold, clear day … never getting out of the mid-teens the entire day. We had a good session and did some shopping at Sams Club and Lowes before heading home. I put three pictures from the day in my photo gallery (go to the photo album and click on “gallery” on the top of the right side column).

We left the house at 6:20 a.m. and got back right at 5:00 p.m. after a full day, which included uprighting dad’s air compressor in the shop once more. He’s trying to fix the plumbing and needs to have the compressor on the side to get at where the copper tubing has to be soldered. But, it’s too heavy for him to lift back up to test whether or not the plumbing is sealed. But it was also for naught. One of the joints is leaking. He’s having as much problem with the air compressor as I am with my teeth! But, I can also blame his genes … dad had all of his teeth removed when I was in first grade because he was having so much problem with them.