The Ordeal Continues

Just a brief personal update, which may also be a newsflash for those not listening to the latest couple podcasts. Due to urgent family matters I neglected a toothache for a couple weeks until last Wednesday, when the pain became so intense I had to seek emergency dental help. Naturally, my dentist was on vacation. His substitute kindly let me come in, but sent me promptly to an endodontist who did an emergency root canal on a tooth which already had a crown. And, fortunately, the crown came off with a couple taps from a metal hammer. So far, so good. Everything seemed fine until the local anesthetic wore off and the pain exploded again. By Friday evening I was running a fever of 101-plus, but when I called the endodontist (not a cheap one, either) I discovered he had no emergency number. Presumably after he gets my message he'll call back Monday morning. The substitute was hard to reach but finally I did get him by cell somewhere out on the Chesapeake Bay. (Do all dentists go on vacation at once?) He upped my dosage of ibuprofen to 800 mg. every six hours, which barely suppressed the pain, but did seem to knock out the fever. By Sunday afternoon the pain has decreased to nearly tolerable levels and I'm reducing the ibuprofen—I hope to resume normal activity soon, but basically most of my thought processes have, since Wednesday afternoon, been focused exclusively on my tooth.