Back to the tooth
This week I had an infected tooth. It's not the first time. In fact, this tooth has been bothering me on and off for quite some time now. It pretty much started just before Steemfest2 in 2017, when the tooth just started hurting after half of the filling broke off. I went to a new dentist, who is amazing I have to say, but because of it, I just followed along with what she suggested instead of following my own gut feeling. She told me she could fill the tooth again, but that I should think about getting a root canal treatment in the near future or get it extracted. There's no way in hell anyone is going to give me a root canal treatment, so extraction was my only option here. I should have gone for that right away, instead of the filling, because sure enough, no longer than 3 weeks after the filling, it already gave me problems.
I think that since that time, I must have had 4-5 serious cases of a toothache. There was no way around it: it was an abscess.
But every time I had this problem, it was the weekend. There are no weekend dentists here, and the only option is to go to a weekend doctor for antibiotics, which is something I'm not very keen on.
Three times I solved the issue and the pain with natural remedies, and by the time Monday came around, I would be back to perfectly normal and in my opinion no reason to make an appointment. (I know, I know)
The last time was just before last Steemfest, last November. The week before we were supposed to leave for Krakow, I started the day with throbbing pain and a badly swollen gum. My face was swollen too and I remember cursing about it and my daughter saying: "Isn't this the tooth that has been bothering you since before the last Steemfest?" Yup...Exactly. Since I wasn't planning on having my week in Poland ruined, I called the dentist. They couldn't get me in until the following week, on the day we were supposed to leave. That was not an option. I refuse to go to any other dentist since I found her because so far she's the only one who manages to do any treatment completely painless. Yes, even anesthesia. Instead of ramming two or three painful needles into my mouth, she gives a few smaller injections and really, you don't even feel the needle! Every dentist should be like her!
Anyway, I managed to keep things under control but immediately made an appointment for after we got back to Ireland. I 'home' treated the infection and by the time we were on the plane, my face had gone back to a size 'normal'.
When we came back from Poland, I had some car trouble so, unfortunately, I had to cancel the appointment I had with the dentist. I didn't know when the car would be fixed, so it had to wait. Of course, I never called her to reschedule...(I know!!!)
This time
OK, now this was something else. The pains and issues I had before with my tooth were rated from 'ok' to 'pretty damn painful' (one night, it kept me up all night and we had a snow storm, so no way I could have gotten anywhere that day). This time was different. Thursday things started to get 'uncomfortable'. I am not a pain med taker, but in the case of a toothache I don't usually keep myself to this, so I took one and the uncomfortable feeling went away.
Then Friday and Saturday nothing, so I didn't feel the need to panic. Sunday was St. Patrick's day, which always has a bit of a sour taste for me, but I 'do it for the kids'. So we did the usual (due to the lack of Steemians from the US coming for a visit this year @jeffjagoe 😉), local parade, walk a bit and then home. As soon as we got home, that uncomfortable feeling came back, paired with a little shot of pain here and there. Nothing unbearable. But enough for a little panic, since it was Sunday and the next day would be a bank holiday, meaning that nothing would be open, let alone the dentist...
I woke up in the middle of the night with the left side of my face swollen. I wasn't in pain, it wasn't too bad (HAH!) and I went back to sleep. In the morning of Monday, I woke up to a surprise. The left side of my face had swollen up even more and it looked as if I had tried to swallow some tennis balls, but they somehow got lodged down my cheek. My eye was almost closed shut...
OK, time to panic. However, I still wasn't in pain, but I did feel a bit warm, so I had a fever. To top it all off, I didn't have enough diesel in the car to get to the weekend doctor and the closest gas station that was open was too far to get to.
Eventually, I got rid of the abscess and a lot of the swelling by Tuesday morning. By evening, my face looked like nothing had ever happened. How I did that? I'll tell you in another post...
My daughter calls it magic. 😂 🤣 No worries, a dental appointment is on its way.
To the point
I was trying to explain why we can learn from a toothache. According to this alternative medicine, a toothache is very clearly 'not being able to bite back'. Of course, this is not in the literal sense. We don't actually want to be bitten or bite someone.
What is meant here, is that there was a conflict, maybe an argument, or not, in which one party had their say, and the other (the one with the toothache) didn't. This could be a boss who criticized someone's work and then walks away, and the other party either never has the chance to speak their mind or they are afraid to. Or it could be an argument with someone who will speak their mind, and then doesn't want to hear. Either way, it is always a case of someone (the one with the toothache) being in the weaker position, for whatever reason that is. I think that most people recognize that having to 'shut up' or not being able to speak their mind, and keeping everything inside can have negative consequences on a person's health.
If you really think about it, it makes total sense. At least, to me. Sugar causing dental plaque, and this in its turn is the culprits when it comes to cavities according to traditional dental medicine. However, this doesn't explain why children from the same family, with the same eating habits, can have one child with tooth issues, while others never have any problems. Or why only one side of the mouth is affected by this, and not the other side. Would dental plaque discriminate you think?
Now resolving these issues is very important because if the conflict is not resolved, even a tooth extraction is not going to solve things. The issue will just resurface in another place.
My case
In my case, I know exactly what the conflicts are. There are two to be exact, one is a bit older, which explains why I've been dealing with this for some time now. The other is more recent, which would explain this last 'episode' of more intense symptoms, and also the symptom of the swelling of the face, which is a whole different (but connected) conflict to work on.
Since I know the conflicts, I can try to solve these issues now. I have a pretty clear picture, so we'll go from there.
In many cases, if it's 'just a cavity', the tooth will regenerate and heal itself. However, in my case, the tooth has been damaged by drilling and filling, I don't see any other option than to take it out. Which is fine. It won't be missed. Not too much anyway. I need a few more days for the infection to completely disappear, but I'd say that Friday will be D-day for tooth removal.
Good riddance... just like the conflict(s).
Thank you for reading!