Document Decay by Burn Unit
April 3rd, 2007 8:22 PMEdit:
1/1/08 ...New decay
I had an abscess on the other side of my mouth and that rotted decayed tooth also had to be removed. Photos uploaded for your pleasure at my pain. Or your disgust, anyway.
4/11/07...I don't think I did as well as I could have with documentation
So I've uploaded a new image, one that I think speaks for itself.
What you are about to see is embarrassing to me and, by most standards, really really gross. I've had a hard time with my teeth over the years, and the absence of dental insurance for a while has been pretty bad.
Since this is the documentation of an instance of decay, I will refrain from documenting the process of decay--indeed I cannot.
I am in constant pain. Food continually gets caught in there. Sometimes when I bite down, even on the softer foods, it feels like an electromagnetic pulse explosion crossed with the death of God.
Molars 30 and 31 have to be removed now, and the dentist is worried about the salvageability of some of my other teeth. Attached is a drawing of what the decay looks like from the inside (haven't been given the x-rays yet). Also I've tried to Aesthematically document via gif animation the sensation I receive when I bite down absently on a fingernail, soft cooked red pepper, raw lettuce, or plain white bread.
I remain exposed, a little vulnerable, appalled and dismayed by my own internal decay, but hopeful, as release approaches (April 11).
Follow up note, May 16: a tooth on the Other side of my mouth is breaking up. Decay in progress!
number three
removed. **CRUNCH** is the sound it makes when they pull them out. a **CRUNCH** you hear in your bones.
Side view rendering.
The red is the gumline, the pink is the interior of the mouth, the teeth and decay should be pretty obvious.
The source
The furthest two teeth on the bottom. The dark mass is not decay, but an old old filling. See next picture...
How bad it is
As a demonstration of scale, that is a standard size round toothpick inserted into the space between the back teeth. A degree in dentistry is not required to realize that is too much space.
Another angle
Close up on the decay. Notice the pitting, wearing of the teeth, and breakages. Note the front edge of the farthest tooth is decayed away, exposing the filling. The side surfaces of the teeth also show pitting. Discoloration is visible near the point of insertion (other photos without the pick didn't turn out so well).
How it feels
Click to view animation effect in a new window. Here's what happens sometimes when I eat. Which I do, you know, to get through the day.
note gaping hole
also note on the left side, that spot where the two were removed has healed over nicely. that disgusting gray stuff on the remaining molar is dental amalgam from a root canal 8 years ago.
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I'm there with you. I have no dental insurance and have to get surgery on my gums above a tooth that I already had root canalled and capped. About six weeks ago it just started busting out searing pain when I bit down on it, or just whenever it felt like it. They have to snip off the tops of the tooth where I guess the decay wasn't quite fully cleaned out in the root canal.
I got some amoxicillin for it and that basically took care of the pain - it temporarily killed the infection.
it feels like an electromagnetic pulse explosion crossed with the death of God.
Before I had my first root canal, a filling had fallen out and the hole just got deeper. If I bit down on a chunk of food on that tooth, white-hot pain would explode, as if someone had set off a magnesium flare inside my cerebellum. You don't forget that. When I got the root canal, I smiled through the whole procedure, thinking about how much better it was than the vulnerability of an exposed root.
Question: Did you ever get your wisdom teeth out?
...suddenly I don't feel so bad that all but 6 of my teeth have fillings of some size or another.
I recognize **CRUNCH** from a wisdom tooth extraction. I much preferred Extraction Take One, when they couldn't be removed whole, and little chips of tooth passed in front of my face, snugly held in delicate clamps...I highly recommend nitrous for such experiences.
That is a hardcore completion. Woah.
I feel ya.