02.11.10 - 10:55 am

i just returned from getting a tooth removed. more specifically, a molar that had been squatting on an infection for quite some time.

that molar had a good run though. for 18 years it did a great job helping me chew pizza, pasta and plenty of steak.

and then my sister jillian used her knee to shatter it in a pool at the fort lauderdale marriott, only hours after our plane landed for the start of spring break.

it was an abusive relationship from there on out that never recovered. its will broken, the molar would let bacteria hide out within its cracks. like a colony of drug addicts, the bacteria let the space within the cracks go to shit. lining the walls with corrosive chemicals. when they were finally discovered by a dentist some months later, he was quick to evict them with drills and other metallic instruments. the cracks were filled in with material, forever keeping out bacteria and decay.

only some lingered. whether they lingered under the fillings, under the tooth, i dont recall. but they found the root, the heart of the tooth and slowly went to work. consuming. wasting. infecting. a rollercoaster ride of discomfort would plague me for the next ten years as i experienced waves of infection and swelling. my molar would grow uncomfortable, sore and then painful. for days this would persist and then my body would conquer the armies of bacteria and i could chew on that side of my mouth again.

without insurance for the last four years, i felt i was doomed to use more clandestine methods to remove the continuous source of discomfort. i imagined moments when the pain was enough to stir thoughts of using a screwdriver to get the job done. fortunately, with the assistance of a domestic partnership insurance plan, i was able to secure a dentist and thus the momentum to solve the problem.

the x ray showed a massive black pit under the root of the tooth. a festering infection. an abscess that could only be cured with some penicillin and extraction.

the needle was huge. when it was inserted into my gums, my tongue burned along with it. the discomfort was painful and unpleasant, but brief. the tooth removal was a visual blur of large blunt metal objects going into my mouth. some popping noises from inside my gums. and then suddenly a bloody white mass being pulled from the rear of my mouth. when she told me a part of the root was still in there, i rolled my eyes and sank with disappointment. goddamnit.

now im sitting with a blood soaked gauze pad in the rear of my mouth. i worry that the stitches will get caught on the fabric when i change it out. i dont like how it feels when my lips are numb. im supposed to eat soft foods and immediately grew excited about the thought of consuming copious amounts of dreyers chocolate icecream today.

but after a tooth extraction and a toe nail hole punch the last thing i want is excessive diarrhea.