Prelude to a Root Canal

Getting a root canal is right up there on the list of the things I hate most. But today was the day for my third, suggested by my wonderful dentist Larry Bowers as an effort to save a dying tooth.

My previous root canals were done by Dr. Zweibel, a little man with contacts that made his eyes an unreal shade of bright blue. I always thought he looked rather like an exotic bug. He was good at what he did, but every part about it was sheer torture from the painful shots of Novocain to the roto-rooting of my canals to the dead feeling in my mouth for at least 12 hours.

My morning had a rather odd stacking of appointments prior to the root canal. It started off with two half-hour silent sits with a walking meditation in between. I commented somewhat jokingly to Gordon on the way out that maybe my root canal would just seem like a third sit.

Then I had an appointment with my osteopath Dr. Craddock to address the problems I’ve been having for a while now with my neck and shoulders. His work always seems like some sort of magic to me as he slowly lets his fingers explore the troubled area, putting a little pressure here and there. His exam seemed somewhat meditative to me, especially as the constricted area started to release. He determined that my right ribs and my collarbone were the source of the problem. I sort of floated out of his office and headed downtown.

My tooth problem was caused by a fall I took in Norway 4 years ago. The Norwegian dentist I saw (exam + X-ray for the equivalent of $50) had pronounced the broken tooth no longer vee-tal (meaning alive). I came home, had gum surgery, had the tooth bonded, and waited for it to turn black.

It never really took on that dead look, but Dr. Bowers saw a change on my latest X-ray that would indicate that the tooth is being absorbed by my body. Not a good thing, because that means it will eventually just crack off completely. The solution? A root canal for $1225.

He recommended endodontist Kim Menhinick, a 30-something woman with a blond pony tail and very natural eyes. I liked her immediately. I especially liked the fact that I never felt the shots of Novocain at all. She said she had learned a trick from an oral surgeon about how to give them painlessly. Instead of gripping the chair with white knuckles and practically hyperventilating, I found myself quite calm today as I sat through part one of the root canal process.

Could it have been all those other morning activities that made this root canal bearable? I would still not opt for such a procedure if given a choice, but I do believe getting my body prepared for this assault made a difference.