*Warning – contains graphic descriptions*
Sunday started out like any other Sunday, or rather, like every Sunday has been for the last 5 months since moving here. It was calm, quiet, peaceful, just pottering about…….Until I brushed my teeth after my tea at 6.30pm. The second the bristles hit the left side of my mouth, what I can only describe as being the mount Vesuvius of blood erupted from my mouth. I have had a few broken teeth for months now, after an altercation with my husband just before I left, and because for our entire relationship, he refused to let me go to get regular dental treatment, because it would have involved spending money that could otherwise have been spent on alcohol. This last Sunday evening, despite me talking to them regularly and telling them that I’d get them sorted as soon as the lockdown restrictions are lifted for regular dental treatment, this one tooth decided that it didn’t want to wait. The immediate pain that came alongside the gushing blood made me make the snap decision to sacrifice a towel, and use that to be able to make a mad dash to the freezer for an ice pack, without trailing blood all through the flat. once safely back in the bathroom and leaning over the sink, i gingerly removed the towel, tossed that safely into the bath to deal with later, and held the ice pack to my cheek. All I could do for the next 10 minutes was stand over the sink with my mouth open, allowing the blood to safely exit and be washed away. Whilst being from a different source, I figured I would be best of treating it as though it were a nosebleed. Thankfully I’ve only had a few in my lifetime, but as a child, my brother had them regularly so I at least knew what to do. After I could safely leave the sink, I made my way to the sofa, collapsed in a heap and called NHS24. As we went into lockdown just days after arriving, I’ve not been able to get registered with a dentist yet, so knew I would have to see the emergency dentist. I cannot fault NHS24. After being on hold for just a few minutes, someone answered, I explained the problem and my situation. The were very understanding when I said I wasn’t allowed to give them my address, with it being refuge property. The lady that I spoke to said she would mark it as priority, and a dental specialist would call me back within an hour.
It was just 20 minutes or so after that, that a dental nurse called me back. Again I went over my current situation, and explained why I’d not been able to see a dentist for the last 6 years, and why I hadn’t already had the tooth removed, as well as explaining what had happened to cause mouthmageddon. I was told that because of Covid-19 there isn’t an out of hours dental clinic anymore, but she gave me the phone number for the dental hospital and told me to call them at 8.30am Monday morning, and that they’d be expecting me call. That night was a very long, very painful night. I spent the night on the sofa watching tv, whilst rotating through all my ice packs just to try and numb the pain a little. I think Sunday night lasted more like 327 hours than just a regular night. By 8.20am I was clutching my phone and ready to call as soon as the clock ticked over to 8.30am. Sadly I had to wait until 8.47am to be able to speak to the receptionist, but they told me that the dentist would call me back shortly to arrange an appointment to go in. Once again it was only 15-20 minutes before the dentist called back. When he did, I again went through what had happened, my dental history and my current living circumstances…..and when I got to the hospital to be seen, I was blown away by how they handled the situation. They specifically allocated me the female dentist, despite the fact it was the male dentist who was doing the emergencies that day. They didn’t want me feeling uncomfortable with having a man standing at my side leaning right over me. A fact that I was very thankful that they understood and took steps to prevent. The female dentist was also incredibly understanding of the fact that I’d been unable to see a dentist for 6 years, and instead of berating me for it as I’d expected, other than having the broken teeth courtesy of my husband, the rest of my teeth are overall in fairly good good condition. She was amazed at the fact there wasn’t any plaque buildup at all. After either 3 or 4 full syringes of anesthetic, I was paying too much attention to how amazed she was over the fact it took so much to numb me, and the fact that I didn’t feel the needle at all, to keep track. Over all it only took a couple of minutes for that tooth to be removed, but it took longer for the bleeding to stop. It decided to erupt like Mount Vesuvius again, and give her a first hand demonstration of what it had done the night before. She was impressed with how large a pocket of infection had built up in less than 24 hours. Once it stopped bleeding, it was only a quick taxi ride home, and then my friends were treated to what they describe as “a day of epicness”. The amount of anesthetic I had mixed with my regular meds, including morphine, meant that I was absolutely high as a kite for the rest of the day! I particularly remember one part of the conversation that ended up involving dragons being in front of the fridge as an effective way of losing weight.
“Unfortunately”, the medicated loosening of my tongue had me blurting out things to certain people that I wasn’t particularly ready to announce yet. Including telling the person spoken about in my last post the words I don’t like saying. Thankfully whilst He did laugh, it was in an amused way at just how off my head I was.
Here’s hoping that next weekend isn’t as dramatic!!
The Broken Butterfly 