you can chew on the other side, or eat soft foods. Mash up your dinner. Eat soup, or puree style foods if you really cant trust yourself. tomorrow you should be fine to eat normal foods.

Carbocaine is novacaine without the epinephrine in it. They use epi because it restricts blood flow to the area, and creates less bleeding in the surgical field. If you are extra nervous, and your in mid panic, you can cause the stuff to flush right out, almost as fast as they give it. Its important to relax, meditate, go to your happy place. It hurt so much because the area was so infected, and swollen. tender tissue is very tough to numb.

Im glad its all over.

I just had soup. (it had okra in it...ewww! had to be selective in whatever green stuff I was scooping up) It wasnt bad, and I ate some Ritz Crackers with it, so I'm not starving to death any more.

I'm going to haul out a jar of Prego and some spaghetti noodles for dinner later tonight.

Right now I'm rewarding myself with the last Hershey bar from our stash. Just letting it melt in my mouth and enjoying the taste of the chocolate. (I can still taste the Oil of Clove that's on the teeny tiny cotton balls under the temporary filling...weird mixture with the chocolate)

I wanted to eat these cookies that my parents buy at Costco that have cranberries, almonds and raisins in them, but they're crunchy and kind of chewy, and thought that maybe I should save those for some other time.

Erin
Here is a tip for the future, when the numbness seems to be hanging on forever.
Drink some hot [not scalding] coffee or tea and the numbness will disappear fairly quickly!
At first I thought he was pulling my leg and just wanted to watch me drool the liquid all over, but I have done it and it really does work!

Glad you survived the root canal and hang in there the worst is over.


Take Care
Risby

I have given up completely on being numbed! Now I just go to an oral surgeon for everything and tell him to put me out! After having several fillings where I could still feel the drill, I now have panic/anxiety attacks any time I go to the dentist. I can barely even stand to have my teeth cleaned!

At least the worst is over, and you should start feeling lots better now!

I know that if I ever have to have another root canal, I'm going to be having a panic attack when they get out the rubber dam that goes over the tooth while they're working.

I finally figured out why I'm claustrophobic, and it all relates to that stupid rubber dam and being tied down by the dentist.

When the tech got that rubber dam out and was getting ready to hand it to the dentist to put over my tooth, I had an actual flashback to when I was about 4 or 5 years old and the quack dentist that we had then tied me to a chair, propped my mouth open with metal clamp thingies and put the rubber dam over my face to do dental work.

It's because of that...a...umm...jerk...that I'm claustrophobic now. I hate having anything near my face (like a giant MRI magnet, or the plastic head holder thingie they use in the brain MRI's) I really really did not like having that rubber dam in front of my face the other day.

I think I WAS having a panic attack during the root canal. I was shaking so much then that my arms are really sore from all the shaking now.

At least I feel better now, and not just the tooth. I feel better, I'm kind of having some weird MS tingly feelings this weekend, but I feel good...like I'd been feeling sick for a really long time, and I'm suddenly better. I must have had one heck of an infection in that tooth. I didnt realize I was in pain all the time.

It's kind of nice to not be in pain. I feel like I have pulled muscles, but that's a lot better than feeling sick and wanting to cry because my face hurt.

I was just talking to my boyfriend a little bit ago.

He's had a toothache for a few days. Well, now he's complaining of a LOT of pain. I asked him a few questions, and he sounds like he's got an abscess too. He took something like 5 or 6 advil (eeek!!!) to kill the pain earlier. Hope his liver (or is it his kidneys?) live thru that.

He cant afford to go to the ER, and I'm willing to bet that he really desperately needs an antibiotic NOW before he even thinks of having anything drilled into.

He said that Orajel didnt even touch the pain (it worked pretty good for me the other day)

I just wish that he hadnt told me that he poked the sore spot with something to make it bleed. (ewww! I hope that didnt spread any infection to other really important parts of his body!) I dont understand why he does that. Ewww!

I hope he can get thru it and get to the dentist monday. (he goes to the dental school for any dental work he needs, hope he doesnt scare any students)

I wish I had some antibiotics to give him. (my dentist gave me a couple of Rx's to use after the last couple of fillings I had done...gave those to my dad 2 months ago when he had a couple of dental infections)

I'm almost done with my Keflex (abx that's good for dental infections) and no one's getting them away from me, I want my infection to be dead by the time I'm done with the abx's. Otherwise I'd give them to the boyfriend.

He sounds like he's worse off than I was last week...I cant even imagine how much he hurts. I have a good idea, but if he's popping Advil like Tic-Tacs, then he's way worse than I was.

I kind of wish that I'd told him that I could smell infection in his mouth a few weeks ago. (It's a smell that if you've ever smelled it, you wont forget it. I told my dad about his last 2 dental infections because I could smell them from across the room. His dentist told me I was right) Maybe if I'd told my boyfriend I could smell it then, he might have gotten to a dentist earlier. I just didnt want to offend him by telling him that he had an odor.

You know what's worse tha a root canal? Half a root canal.

I went for mine two weeks ago, after a week of anti biotics - due to infection (which triggered a UTI and kidney stones).

Doc #1 started, but I still had a lot of pain. He gave me another shot and the pain went away, but my BP dropped and I almost fainted.

They were freaked and stopped.

I had to go to an edodontrist, who had to use 2 different kinds of shots to numb me. He kept oxygen tanks by the door, he was so scared I was gonna get all funny on him.

Took him 4 hrs to finish that tooth. My whole jaw still aches.

Never again. They can PULL em if they get that bad!

I think Dej's post about the Carbocaine is good for people with MS to know about. I was having a wisdom tooth pulled a few years back and the regular Novacaine caused my heart to race and for me to have nerve pain in my neck and arm. Ever since then I've requested Carbocaine ( after reading about it on another MS board about someone having a similar effect from Novacaine) when I need dental work done and I like it much better!


I hope you're feeling better today, Erin!

I find regular novacaine makes my heart race, and tends to ramp up my anxiety. I always ask for carbacaine. its been my saving grace. I take a xanax or two before I go, and try to find my happy place. I used to sweat, and my BP would go crazy.

They can give you ONE with the epi in it to keep the field clear of blood, and the rest carbacaine to keep YOU clear. hehe.