Is that mild, medium or severe?

These are the words I heard this week at the dentist office. I have a very sensitive tooth and visited my regular dentist to have it checked out. He sent me to an endodontist for a better look, but suspected a root canal. I've had issues with this tooth over the last few years, so I wasn't surprised.

I went to the office for my appointment with the endodontist. It was a cute little waiting room, lovely wall paper that was hung straight. There was a pattern with a horizontal and vertical lines and it was straight. That made me feel good. Nice music was playing and the paperwork wasn't overwhelming. I am a dental phobic. I have gone to the same dentist for 30 years and it has taken each visit to keep me calm. I have overcome great fears with him. To go into another doctor's office was a great big step for me.

As I waited to be called, a very nice lady came in the door, marched up to the reception window and announced that she had a root canal procedure done in December and it was still hurting. Oh boy! Phobia went from 4 to 10 in a blink of an eye. Shut up, I am not going to have a root canal if it doesn't stop the pain! I can do mental math rather quickly when I have a personal investment involved. That was 5 months of pain following the procedure, not to mention the pain prior to the procedure. Umm, no. This wasn't what I imagined. A sweat broke out on my forehead. Don't know for certain it wasn't a hot flash, but I began to panic.

So the common test to use to see which tooth is the problem is the temperature test. That means you get the ice test on your tooth. I knew it was going to hurt, you can't help but know that, so I prepared myself for the pain.  I squinted my eyes, tried to steel myself for the pain, kept pushing the panic down, but it was all for naught. I couldn't stand the icy pain, panic and just general thoughts. I had to leave and told them I'd call them later.

I had to call my dentist and talk to the tech there. She's a nice gal, and I told her my concerns. Did they really know this practice? did they trust this doctor? I'm scared to death and what do I do? Calisha understood my problem. She assured me that this was a good practice, the doctor was good and that my regular dentist would prescribe me an anti-anxiety drug. I prayed about it, and called the endodontist back and made the appointment for Monday. I did tell her that I was dental phobic and what had happened with the patient that came in after me. She told me that the patient had a crown issue, not a root canal problem. I really don't know if I feel any better, but I'll go. And I'll take the ativan and try to feel good about the world. I sure wish they would use laughing gas, I really got though some rough dental appointments with that.

Now, when doing the ice test, I was asked for the level of pain, mild..tolerable...severe. That is so hard to judge. I have a high pain tolerance so what would be tolerable to me may be severe for someone else. That irritates me. So my suggestion for determining pain level is watch my facial expression.