I recently went to the dentist to have a crown put on one of my molars. They had placed a temporary crown in my mouth while the permanent one was being created, which was going to take 2 weeks. However, that was a week before I was leaving for Portland for the holidays. I was going to be gone for over 2 weeks and I really didn't want to go through Christmas and New Years with a temporary crown in my mouth. So, they put a rush job on the permanent crown to get it in time before I left.
I was leaving on Friday and I got a call on Thursday that the crown was in and I could come in Friday afternoon to have it put in. That was perfect! Just in time! Lucky...or so I thought.
The dentist was not gentle in the least yanking the temporary crown off and then, even though I told him the tooth was still VERY sensitive, he kept spraying cold water directly on it and then blowing air on it to dry the area. I was in some serious pain! I just kept thinking "it's almost over and then I'll be going home!" When he was finished the tooth felt very strange to me, definitely didn't feel natural like other crowns I got and I was throbbing in pain...but I had more important things to do, like pack and catch my flight!
I went home and headed for the airport where I was catching my flight to SFO and then connecting on to PDX...yay! Well, not so yay, because there was fog that day. Damn you fog! Due to this fact, our plane was forced to circle and circle and circle before landing in SFO. By the time we landed, I missed my connecting flight and then all flights after that shut down going to Portland. Boo! I was stuck in SFO for the night. The point of me sharing this?? The tooth was killing me the whole time! I had nothing to ease the pain, until finally a very kind lady that overheard me sobbing on the phone to my mom, gave me an excedrin. Relief!
So, I managed through my two plus weeks at home with this so-called permanent crown. Everything I ate hurt, flossing hurt, brushing hurt. It was awful. When I got back to San Diego, I had planned to call the dentist to get an appointment and have him look at why it was bothering me so much. However, I came back sick as a dog and I was down and out for over a week. During that time, the tooth seemed to calm down, so I thought I was in the clear and my dental trauma was behind me. I was wrong....
I decided since the tooth was feeling better, I would go ahead and enjoy a piece of gum. I hadn't had gum in nearly a month because of my tooth misery. I was chewing happily for all of a minute and then I was like "what the heck?!" and I realized quickly that my PERMANENT crown had just popped off with my gum. That's not supposed to happen! I have 3 permanent crowns in my mouth and NONE of them ever popped off in the last decade with gum, taffy, are anything else.
I managed to pop the tooth back into place and it seemed to stay in there pretty secure. I called the dentist the next day to inform them it had popped off and that I needed to come in and have it re-cemented. They made an appointment for me two days later to come in. Seemed like the end was near for this saga...but again...no.
The next night I made a potato dish with veggies and spices and as I was eating it, the crown popped off and then I managed to choke and down it went! Yup, that's right, I swallowed my tooth! What was I going to do now?!
I went to my scheduled dental appointment the next day, I did not call ahead to tell them I swallowed the tooth. When I got there, the receptionist greeted me kindly and said "this should be quick, Debra!" Then, I said "maybe not....I..ugh...swallowed the crown". I thought she would find this shocking, but she seemed to think it was quite normal. I'm beginning to doubt this dentist's ability to secure crowns in people's mouth. Anyway, prior to the dentist coming out to talk to me, I asked the receptionist what the cost impact would be and if I was financially responsible for a new crown, since it fell out. She then explained to me that I could "recover" the crown I swallowed and bring it in and they would "clean" it for me and place it back in my mouth. Um, hello?! You want me to "extract" the tooth that I have now digested...which in itself is a disgusting thought...but then you want to put the poop tooth back in my mouth?? EW!! No way I would ever go for that. Luckily, as I was gagging at the thought of what she was describing and my face showed utter disgust, the dentist came out and was briefed on "the swallowing incident" and said they still had my temporary and would order a NEW crown. Thank goodness! He then confessed they only used temporary cement and it was their fault. Good grief!
So, here it is a week and a half later and my temporary is still holding strong, but no news on the permanent. I'm hoping this happened for a reason and the dentist has a chance to redeem himself and do this crown right! I'm just thankful I didn't have to "recover" the crown.
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