Hello Bryanna & her infinitely helpful dental wisdom,

Thank you for the reminder as to when the test results should become available; I'll mark it on my calendar to give them a call. I just hope that I remember to look at my calendar!

I value your feedback regarding my OS. To be honest, he is a very kind, thorough, semi-shy, inquisitive surgeon. He always takes a few moments to think through what might actually be going on with my situation.
His analogy is that its similar to how a person would dissect a puzzle. He mentioned that of his 30-35 years in the OS field, he has had only 1 patient who had to undergo 3 surgeries for the original issue that had brought them to him in the first place.

I feel bad because it seems that he is "cleaning up" OS1's original mess from January. I give him a ton of credit; he's never complained that I wasn't his patient, asked me to go back to OS1, etc.----rather he's stepped up to the plate and is doing his
absolute best. I appreciate him.

To answer your question, yes the molar had been crowned a few years ago. Unfortunately, the tooth fractured under the crown and the dentist discovered the infection between that molar and the horizontally-positioned wisdom tooth. Then it was off to the OS.

I'm sure that if I asked the OS about the details of his findings, he'd try to share what he could before I began crossing my eyes. lol You mentioned the surgical report; I've never seen one before but if I were to guess, it's a review of what took place during the surgery.
Maybe even before and after? Man, I feel like such a lay person.

Slots & Mini Caverns; sounds like a board game. lol At my appointment, the OS only looked into my mouth. He didn't put on gloves, poke around or anything. He only looked---and said that it looked good. We didn't go into any in-depth discussion regarding pain, restrictions,
exercises, etc.---he did want details regarding the numbness and tingling changes that had taken place. He seemed very curious about those things. I have the distinct feeling that his ultimate goal is to get the area healed up once and for all. That would make two of us!

He asked how long it took for the bad tissue to reemerge after the previous debridement and I told him it was 3 weeks. So----he (we) seems to be patiently waiting to see what happens. He did say that if he has to go in again, I'll have even more scar tissue. When he said that,
I think my darn eyes began to cross.

On a side note, the left underside of my tongue started to ache yesterday evening. I hadn't experienced that before now. Also, I am having some pain come around the front of my upper chin and into my lower teeth. That feeling is familiar---I had pain in that area before
I saw the dentist in January. As I'm typing this message, it occurred to me that I ought to keep notes on what I am feeling and where---am I on the right track? It would be helpful to be able to hand my notes to the OS if he wants location details regarding pain and discomfort.

Thank you for listening. Time to let the dogs out. Have a great evening and thank you, Bryanna. ~Laughter