OMG
First, I figured the tooth would have to be pulled when I went into the dentist's office.  Never had one pulled before, wasn't looking forward to it, but I guessed that's what the dentist would tell me.

The tooth was in such pain I didn't care what they had to do, I needed it dealt with.  So, they took an X-Ray and said they couldn't see anything bad.  I replied that I saw a line going down the tooth last night that appeared to be a crack. 

The dentist did more looking and said, yup, we're going to have to pull it.  Well, at first he was like, trying to talk me into it.  But I needed no persuasion, lets get this over with, I'll have to deal with replacing it at a later date.  So, he injected a half vial of Novocaine into the gums. Came back in a while and I said - still in pain.  He dumped the rest of it in. Pain. Another vial - pain started to subside. But by the time he got back - he left for 45 minutes - the pain was there again.  So even more of this stuff.

He finally got it all numbed up and then went about the business of pulling the tooth. The tooth broke coming out and he had to use a grinder to make ledges to be able to pull the remaining root out.  He got that out, wrote me a prescription for Tramadol and probably 10 minutes later, the novocaine wore off and I was in excruciating pain. Like nothing I had ever experienced before excepting possibly when I burned the fingerprints off of my fingers or the episode with kidney stones.  It was in the top 3 pain level I've ever experienced.  My insurance covered 2/3rds of the bill, so I didn't end up having to pay that much. 

I rushed over to CVS to get that prescription filled.  I told them I had just had a tooth pulled and my mouth was in severe, nauseating pain.  They said 15 minutes, but the pharmacist saw me walking around wincing in pain and got it done in 5.  I blew off the diet - hadn't eaten all day, got a large chocolate shake at whataburger and downed one of those pain pills right there. Drove home - that stuff didn't really start working for over 2 hours.  I just couldn't believe how much pain this thing was causing. 

I put ice in my mouth to help with the pain, it helped a little.  My manager sent me a run to Brownsville tomorrow, I immediately got into a conversation with her about what I had just had done.  She gave me all kinds of advice, said hold tight I'm trying to get someone to take your load tomorrow. Yes, please and thank you! I wanted the run, but I had no idea how I would feel in the morning and it was the first load.  I decided better safe than sorry.  So, she got that covered thankfully.

Oh, the tooth? was split from top to bottom. I have a faint recollection of chewing on something many months ago and hitting a bone in some food that shouldn't have any bones in it.  I remember the pain, but it didn't last long.  I guess that's when I did it. 

So what's next? They told me $4,500 for one single implant. The heck?  I'll be shopping around, see if I can find somewhere to do it cheaper. I know there is a process to it and that it includes surgery, but for that much money?  But looking at dental bridges, they're in the 2k range.  I was thinking something temporary until I get a couple of loans paid off, but not at 2k.  That's not temporary pricing.  Implants are best, that's my opinion after having had read about them in numerous different articles. 

Well whatever. It's done and over with. I'm feeling mighty high right now with this Tramadol stuff.  Actually a bit nauseated. But it finally cut the pain down to a level that I can deal with.