Date: 2014-02-27
To: Dental Health Preparation
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

My son had all four wisdom teeth pulled just a week before he left to hike the Pacific Crest Trail in 2013. He even took a cleansing syringe to irrigate the areas! I am not so young, immortal and invincible anymore and have too many squeaks and creaks to leave them all for the last minute.During a routine dental cleaning appointment on 15 July 2013, My dentist Dr. Kern found deep decay in the two bottom back teeth and touched something on the bottom right tooth that sent me through the ceiling, which continued to hurt throughout the day and evening! (Thanks, Dr. Kern!) Dr. Kern put in temporary fillings, and I was sent home with a referral to an endodontist for root canal evaluation. (Michael called that afternoon from Sierra City, CA to tell me that the new camera we sent him took great videos, but didn't take regular photos! See his PCT2013 journal for July14th and 15th. With a numbed mouth, I went to Best Buy to try to explain the situation. Plus, we were leaving on the 16th to head south to eventually meet up with him! A very memorable day!)Having a root canal sounded scary, so I Googled it! The sites I read all commented that it doesn't take much longer than a filling, won't hurt (with sufficient numbing serum), may not be too painful afterwards, and the "pain" of a root canal is often what triggers the need for it, when it abscesses. Given that I had no prior pain, except when Dr. Kern "touched" a spot, I was a little skeptical of the need. On August 5th, I walked into Dr. Goerig's office, the endodontist, and he confirmed with the X-rays that there was deep root decay and that it's best to get it now then wait until they abscess, like sometime on the trail where we can't get cell reception.I was numbed up pretty good, but I watched as Dr. Goerig drilled, probed, suctioned, then put something in my mouth that smoked! "A soldering instrument?" I asked after he was done with the first tooth. Not exactly soldering, but a heating element to heat the stuff that fills the nerve cavity. He did one tooth, then the other, for about an hour in the chair. It wasn't that bad, but I would have liked a commentary of what was being done. I guess that's not the norm, and he prides himself on being fast. (He said it, his assistant said it several times, and even my dentist billed him as being fast.)Back home, the numbness was starting to wear off. I felt no pain on the left side, but the right side was a bit achy. I started sipping cool water and holding it on the right side, but by dinner, the pain was going up into my right temple. That was not fun. I ended up taking one ibuprofen. The pain subsided, I slept well and woke pain-free!Two weeks later, I went back to Dr. Kern (my home-away-from-home) for what's called "final restoration, [to] protect the tooth against fracture and decay." What that means is to have all the previous fillings cleaned out, the temporary filling from the root canal removed, and get prepped for crowns! Three hours and $3000 later (since I used up the dental insurance, and good thing they take payments), I hopefully won't have to worry about those teeth on the trail.Oh, but it didn't end there...I had another routine cleaning on February 19th (2014). Everything looked good but Dr. Kern, knowing that I'd be hiking for 6 months, was concerned about a couple "little spots". On February 26th, he put a couple "patches" on those spots, and "while I'm here and numbed up, I'll take care of that old filling and the small crack in the tooth!"Dentists - you gotta love 'em! And mine is from Maine so we've had conversations, well, he's told me (since my mouth is usually propped open with instruments and hands in it!) about his hiking experiences in Maine and New England, on the AT. Thanks Dr. Kern, Sandy, his assistant, and Linda the hygienist. You've taken great care of my dental health, getting me ready for the AT, but quite frankly, I've seen WAY too much of your offices this last year! I am going to try to take very good care of my teeth while on the trail (I've got my floss and fluoride toothpaste) because when I see you in October, I DON'T want to have to return in a week or two for some procedure!Take care of your teeth!Marilyn, Mother of...