Jaws

I think teeth are the best argument there is against creationism. I mean, what sort of creator would come up with a design for a chewing implement that’s got a totally unnecessary nerve running through the middle of it and is so prone to damage. Stumps of hard dead material would do the job just as well, and not hurt so much whenever they got a silly little hole in them. Or maybe it’s just an argument for a particularly sadistic (or just incredibly stupid) creator…

Anyway, my tooth DOESN’T have a hole in it. The dentist (not my usual one, because he wasn’t there, so I had to explain all over again about the whole gagging thing, and that poking too many things near the back of my mouth would have the potential to make me throw up over him) took x-rays and checked my tooth, and said the filling looks fine.

The bad news, though (or possibly good news, depending on how you look at it), is that the filling is raised a bit too high above the surface of my tooth, so I’ve been putting too much pressure on it when I bite down (I’ve always said that it felt a bit “wrong” but couldn’t put my finger on what it was), and as a result of that constant irritation, the nerve has probably died – the extreme pain over the weekend was probably its death throes. If that’s the case (and this is where the good news comes in), then the pain will continue to ease off over the next few days, and the tooth will be fine as it is.

However, if the nerve hasn’t died, and there’s actually some sort of serious infection going on, then he’ll have to do something more about it – and the dreaded words “root canal” (and even more dreaded words “about $1000”) were used about then. Or I can just have it pulled out. Neither of those is a particularly pleasant thought.

Anyway, he’s filed down the tooth a bit, given me antibiotics to take, and I’ve got to go back in a week for him to have another look at it so he can give me his verdict. Lots of dead tooth vibes, please!