Enough Already

This has been a bad year for my youngest son, as far as his teeth go. He got 3 fillings in January, 3 fillings in February and had 2 wisdom teeth extracted in March. He got a dry socket in one of the extractions which caused a lot of pain and a lot of extra dental visits.
A couple of weeks ago he started complaining that his jaw was hurting. This went on for a couple of days and then the pain started radiating down his neck. I decided to start with the dentist to try to figure out what was causing the pain. Our dentist took x-rays and said that something didn't look right and sent him to a specialist. The oral surgeon took more x-rays and said he definitely needed a root canal. Apparently during the wisdom tooth removal the nerve in the tooth in front of one of the wisdom teeth was damaged and the pulp had died and there was now an infection around this tooth. Now root canals are never fun, but at least when I have to endure a root canal I have felt like I deserved it, due to not taking care of my teeth. It was sad for the son to have to have a root canal through no fault of his own.
He actually didn't mind the root canal at all. His surgeon had a pair of movie glasses that he got to wear during the procedure which apparently made it much more enjoyable. The receptionist said the biggest complaint they get is that the root canals don't take long enough because the patients don't get to see the entire movie. The son was smart and chose "Hitch", a movie he had already seen, so he didn't feel bad when they turned it off and told him he could leave. Having to take antibiotics every six hours for 10 days was much more painful for him than the actual surgery.
Today the son went to our regular dentist for his 6 month check up and to get fitted for his new crown. This appointment was much less enjoyable. He could have watched an entire movie - almost twice. It took FOREVER for them to build up the tooth and make a mold of it. I felt like I had become a permanent fixture in the waiting room. One more visit in 3 weeks to get his actual crown seated and then hopefully he is finished with the dentist for 2009. The various receptionists at all the dental offices keep telling us we have the best dental insurance that they have ever seen, but I'm sure he's probably just about used up his $5000 limit for the year.

Today I am thankful for

great dental insurance.
a good book to read while I waited. I still think more waiting rooms should offer puzzles.
a son, and a girlfriend, who cooked dinner.