I survived!

I did survive and am here to tell you all the gory details. I apologize. You can stop reading if you don't want the blow-by-blow.

The root canal took 2 hours and numerous shots. I honestly lost count. There were many times during the procedure that I had to ask for more shots/numbing agents. I think the roots went deeper than they'd expected.

I had four roots in that tooth. The endodontist said that some people have one root in that tooth, most have two or three, but the people who are the most anxious about dental work tend to have four. That was me! So, it took longer. And my roots were interesting, too. One was spiraled at the end a bit and two were connected way down at the bottom. My jaw hurts just talking about it.

I came home from the appointment around 10 yesterday and we rested (I can't sleep when my face is totally numb--though it wasn't numb enough for the procedure!). I did end up taking a long nap after my face started to regain consciousness and that was great. I feel recovered. Today my only symptoms are a sore tooth (but not too bad, because the nerve is gone now) and a really sore jaw: I can't chew or open my mouth easily, but that's to be expected, after holding my mouth open for two hours and receiving numerous shots right near the jaw. Even with a rubber thingy holding it mostly open, I still had to open my mouth wider to get it as open as they wanted most of the time.

So, I survived! I just need to go to my dentist now and get a crown. $$$$$$. Oh well. At least there's no bacteria entering my body anymore (through my teeth, anyway)!