After spending the last week off of work and in and out of the hospital with
migraines, I was sitting at my computer at home yesterday when I realized
that the root canal filling which the dentist just put in not more than a
month ago was crumbling.
Of course, my first reaction was to run to the bathroom cussing and angry,
but then my husband reminded me that he was just talking to someone last
week about lots of migraines being caused by people clenching their teeth at
night!
I knew I was clenching my teeth when they were hurting, but maybe I always
clench them, and I only realize it when my teeth are hurting.
Maybe a simple night time mouthpiece could get me off all these migraine
drugs!
I called my dentist, and they said they absolutely could help, except for
the small matter of the money I still owe them for the root canal.
Apparently, I maxed out my insurance benefits for the year, with a single
root canal! (I guess the $382 I already gave them didn’t quite cover it.)
So, perhaps my migraine problems are about to be drastically reduced, just
as soon as I find something cheap to bite down on at night, and something to
stuff in the gaping hole in the back of my mouth.
All in all, I’m feeling much better!
Heather Annastasia Siladi
CityBeat's Living Out Loud - Cincinnati Blog 
That gaping hole in the back of your mouth won’t get better, it will only get worse. Find some money somewhere and have it fixed!
I clench my teeth too and have worn a mouthpiece for years. I don’t like it, but it’s better than paying all those doctor bills.
Something to bite down on?
Just think of Stephanie and bite on a piece of wood! Ha!
Gotta go to work. I like that the posts are getting up eariler now.
Keep feeling better, Heather. 🙂
Polly,
Yeah, I know. I’ve actually had the hole for years, and I only recently had the root canal because I just got insurance. Along with a lack of money, however, I also have a crippling fear of the dentist. This is a problem because I have to be in a lot of pain in order to go, and since they took all the nerve endings out of my tooth, it doesn’t hurt anymore. (Actually, pain doesn’t motivate me that well either, like I said, the hole was there for years.)
I’m thinking of going to Mexico to have it fixed, since the complicated part is done. All I need is a filling and a crown.
My mom’s a hygienist. She cleans my teeth every day. Kidding. Hell, it sure seems like it. I’m her worst patient…at the office, I can’t sit still, and I complain incessantly. Then I demand stickers for my good behavior.
They say I grind terribly, like I’m shredding my teeth or something, but I don’t get headaches ever. Maybe I shouldn’t say that…last time I said I said “never” I got food poisoning. I have a mouthpiece and don’t wear it. I tried once…in my sleep, I pulled it out and threw it across the room. Mom thinks my mouthpiece could cure world hunger, among other things.
My husband grinds his teeth at night and so does my son. Sometimes, I have to kick my husband to make him stop. That’s got to be the most terrible sound on earth!!!
I have a cousin who grinded his teeth when he didn’t get what he wanted when we were little. The front teeth! Grown men would drop to their knees and beg him to stop. His mom would smack the shit out of him.
Well who the hell DOESN’T HATE the dentist! I try very hard not to go.
You’re really going to Mexico? Wouldn’t it be cheaper to have it done here?
CA –
Speaking of mouthpice, where has Stephanie been. I miss those catfights between her and Heather!!!!!!!!!
Heather,
I don’t think there’s any worse pain than migraines and teeth problems.
I feel for you girl.
Eddie:
It’s not just that I dislike the dentist, sure everyone hates going to the dentist (that’s why they have the highest suicide rate of any profession). No, this is an irrational sort of terror. When the chair starts to lay back, I sweat, tremble, and have trouble breathing.
And I’m not afraid of the pain. When I had my wisdom teeth out, I got dry socket on both sides. I cleaned it and took care of it at home rather than go back to the dentist, and doing it at home hurt much, much more. I never knew what “blinding pain” meant before, but when I would clean out the socket, the pain would ring in my ears, and the bathroom would fade to white.
My point is that I was more comfortable with the excruciating pain of the dry socket than the simple act of laying back in the dentist’s chair.
Karen: Mexico is way cheaper. Whether I’ll actually go, who knows?
I don’t think there’s any worse pain than migraines and teeth problems.
Hey Beth………….
Try childbirth.
Heather,
I guess I don’t understand why traveling from Cincinnati to Mexico would be cheaper. Mexico is a long ways away but maybe you know something I don’t.
woman. whatever.
Oh! No, I live in San Diego now. I’m practically IN mexico. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have assumed everyone knew that, but it wasn’t too long ago that someone was upset that I kept “bragging” about living in California.
Yup, I’m just living it up here.
heather,
yeah. this is a familiar one. and people always seem surprised to talk about it. i kept my wisdom teeth. yeah. they wanted them cheap when i was 18. i said no. i skipped the dentist for a long time. then, after years of fear, i went and had a great experience. see there was the childhood trauma from being tripped on the playground in primary years, breaking the first front tooth, then the bicycle crash breaking it again a couple years later. i was so scraped up that i can still remember that moment getting out of the car at the dentist’s office. oh, oh, road rash, yeah. and then he put two posts in the front tooth without novacaine, a cap. but very few fillings over the years. started riding the bike to and from the dentist. the lean years, getting a permanent cap for the tooth that feels ok but never matched in color, and just letting go, not wanting to think about it, feel it, remember it. so, in my late twenties, the time after it was so pleasant, it was awful. and i leapt out of the dental hygienist’s chair and went home, called to complain. many years later, i guess i faced the fear. well, i’ve had one root canal. i get terrible chronic headaches. when i clean regularly on the teeth, the headaches are less awful. i was told i grind and need a mouthpiece, but no way. just not willing. i think they are mostly stress. the pain of holding up a life that seems so marginal, so little, and then little successes and psychic pain that haunts me from dark places, some so dark they must be like psychosis. (a whole nother story) but, now i have dental insurance, and get into hassles over paying on time. this whole part time worker, benefits negotiation. i guess today it’s all paid up, no headache, the teeth don’t hurt. a good day. getting to share the history is helpful to me. i think i’ve done fairly well with this thing. this head of teeth. you know, every living mammal has teeth. it’s got to be something we all really work with. the homeless, and poor, beggars, those on subsidy have the real struggle. i’ve talked to some of them about it. yeah. pain is suffering, comparing pain, another form of suffering.
i’ve gone on way to long on such a blog. yeah. keeping it real. sharing pain can often help it dissapate. not self-pity. i thank you for the courage to open this door.
I have the old wisdom teeth too. They seem okay in there. I mean, there must be some reason they’re in there. That’s what I was thinking. But what do I know. I’ve had other things in my old body that didn’t need to be there, but that’s a whole nother story, like Lansky said.
My wisdom teeth absolutely had to come out (or I wouldn’t have done it). As a matter of fact, the trouble I’m having with my tooth right now is because I waited too long to have them pulled.
I am going to try a mouthpiece. I’d do anything to get rid of these headaches, and a mouthpiece seems too simple to be true. I also don’t want to be taking all these drugs all the time. That can’t be good.
By the way, did you know that migraine sufferers are at a 40% higher risk for stroke and anyurism? How scary is that?
heather is a “teeth” pain all to her self. sorry, don’t care for her, finally had to say it.
a “teeth” pain all to my self? What does that even mean? Why bother saying anything when you clearly have nothing to say?
I really couldn’t care less who likes me and who doesn’t, but I think “You-Know-Who” has issues with his/her self which have nothing at all to do with me.
Maybe you should find a professional with whom you can talk out your issues. You’re really starting to creep me out.