I thought that it was simply a hurt jaw from chewing on a Powerbar. I'm still not used to their chewiness. I figured that it would go away once I finished off my afternoon snack. It started bothering me at lunch, which I had up near Lincoln Center after I turned in my application for the Lincoln Center Film Society Lord of the Rings weekend. I am a member of the society, but I turned in my application late (along with a blank check) so I'm still unsure if I will have a seat.

After I finished the Powerbar, I gave my mouth a rest and figured it would be okay by dinner. I was wrong. Dinner wasn't painful, but bothersome. This was worse than any other mouth pain I've had before, but it wasn't a tooth ache. It was my jaw, specifically the joint of my jaw, that really hurt. Sleep on it, I thought.

The next morning, I woke with the left side of my face puffy, warm, and really painful.

I paniced. I drove to the Immedicenter soon after they opened, even though I dislike the place. About a year ago, I decided I didn't really like my GP who was a nice man but semi-distracted and I didn't trust his judgment. I didn't know of where else to call, so I went to the Immedicenter. The doctor there took a quick look at me, gave me an antibiotic and some pain medication, and decided that I should see a dentist. "9 times out of 10, any pain near the mouth is a dental problem."

Argh.

I haven't been to a dentist in over a year and the last dentist I went to was a great guy but a very far drive. I called them to make an emergency appointment but received a "this phone number has been disconnected", so I called Mike's dentist. I figured that since Mike already had a relationship with them, they might be able to accomodate me. Happily, they took me in and by noon, I was in the old dentist's chair.

The dentist told me that I had great teeth and he couldn't see anything on the surface. A quick x-ray later and he said two things:

1. I had a fairly impacted wisdom tooth on the lower left of my jaw. This is a surprise to me. The last time I went to the dentist, he said that I had "buds" and would probably never have wisdom teeth. Not having wisdom teeth would be a good thing: I don't have enough room in my mouth and they would have to be removed.
2. He could not say for certain what the problem would be because he lacked the equipment to take an x-ray far into the back of my jaw to see the root of the impaced wisdom tooth. For that, I would need to see an oral surgeon.

The dentist was kind enough to call the two oral surgeons he knew to see if they could get me an appointment. One was on vacation but the other would take me in right away. Ironically, the oral surgeon was located in the same building as the GP I no longer like. Once I got into the office, I was wisked into a patient room which was a little scary.

The room reminded me of the small area that Mike and I stayed in when he was in the ER for his kidney stone. Other than the requisite dental lights and spit bowl, there was hooks on the ceiling for IV bags and the dental chair had arm cuffs to help strap a patient down. Or something. It was fairly uncomfortable since I couldn't rest my arms there and ended up laying them across my chest. I felt silly and stupid and Egyptian mummy-ish.

I met the oral surgeon, Dr. R, and immediately took a liking to him. He was quiet, friendly, and frank. He had a large x-ray made of my mouth and came to the conclusion that the puffiness and redness was due to an infection of the glands around the lower left impacted wisdom tooth. The root looks healthy, so he couldn't place a direct relationship between the infection and the impacted wisdom tooth, however the root is directly at the center of my soreness. I also had a total of three wisdom teeth, all impacted to different degrees: one on the upper left, one on the upper right, and one on the bottom left. They should be coming out in the next year or two. He asked me what I was currently taking and showed him my prescriptions. He gave me a much stronger antibiotic (which I would need to take every 6 hours) and booked two follow-up checkups and a wisdom tooth consultation. "We need to treat the infection and then we'll get rid of that tooth."

That was October 31st. Now, I've gotten a clean bill of health: infection is gone. I've got an appointment on December 12th to get the mischievious impacted wisdom tooth out. I will be doing it in the office and only getting the bottom right tooth taken out. I wanted to do all three, but only if I was completely sedated and if my dental insurance could over it. Unfortunately, it doesn't; it only covers enough for a tooth a year and no hospitalization. Els will drive me and Mike has agreed to accompany me. Sigh. I'm not looking forward to it.