back from oral surgeon

i didnt have the tooth pulled.  i would be happier about it but i believe im just putting off the inevitable.

im in discomfort right now, less than i was two days ago, more than yesterday.  i believe this is because when i eat, the abscess enlarges, when i stop, it get smaller.  i asked the oral surgeon why that was.  he doesnt know. goddammit.  what good is he if he cant answer my questions. ok, i dont expect him to know everything. but doesnt that seem like something an oral surgeon would know.  could i be the only person who ever asked that.  granted, i think analytically, so i might be more likely to ask it than others.  nonetheless.......

anyway, DH accompanied me. admittedly, this did make this visit a bit easier. i hate going to the dentist.  ok, you might say, so do millions of others. however, i also hate going to the doctor (although usually less so) and i hate doing most thinks. frankly, it makes me anxious. most things make me anxious.  i suffer from a low grade depression.  but im digressing.

the dentist said i need to have the tooth pulled. this poor man has told me that twice before. i first went to him with this abscess december, 2010.  it was a formerly root canalled tooth.  when a tooth like this has an abscess, you need an apicoectomy.  this is surgery on the gum.  ive had it several times before.  so i endured it this time. and it thought that would be it.  it wasnt.  about six months later, the abscess came back, so i returned. the surgeon said the procedure didnt take the first time.  he offered to do it a second time, saying it is less likely to take this time.  since my insurance only allows the procedure once per tooth, the surgeon incurred the cost.  that certainly was nice of him.  but ive often wondered why,  did he feel he didnt do the best job the first time. 

so today, once again, he said the tooth should be pulled. and i had reconciled myself to that happening.  however, dh asked if there were some way to treat a systemic problem i might be having.  the surgeon didnt know.  and didnt say where we might get it.  and neither dh nor i asked.  then the surgeon said i had undergone two root canals on this tooth. wo. i was not aware a tooth could be root canalled twice.  (were you.) 

to be continued.