Just got back from my first root canal, and I have to say it wasn’t that bad. (During a short break, I used my cell phone to capture this lovely image–apparently dental dams ARE still used in dentistry.) With all the drugs they injected into my mouth, I didn’t feel a thing. But it seems I’m some sort of freak–the tooth has three canals (which is normal), plus an extra little one (which occurs sometimes), but the extra one was in an unusual spot. All of which means I need to go back in a few days to have more stuff done.

It was hard to tell exactly what he was doing, but it seemed to involve drilling several small holes through my tooth, sticking some mini pipe cleaners in the canals to scrub then out, sticking some more things in there and drilling some more, and filling them up with some sort of goo. Did I mention he filled the canals using what looked like a soldering iron, complete with strange, sweet-smelling smoke? And then out of the corner of my eye, I could see a Bunsen burner, which he used to heat up (or possibly sterilize–but I hope modern science has come up with a better way than using fire to accomplish that) some instrument that he poked in the holes after filling them.

He asked if I thought I’d need something for the pain (which I hoped meant Vicodin), and then handed me some 400mg ibuprofen (Advil). That’s the same as taking two of the regular size ones you’d buy in the market–I guess he figured one fewer pill to swallow at a time could be considered a minor victory.