Don't ignore your problems

It only leads to misery

I have an extremely bad habit of sometimes ignoring my problems, hoping they’ll go away on their own.

Sure, maybe with minor issues, they can resolve themselves, but ignoring more serious problems can have devastating consequences.

I’m dealing with one of those consequences right now as I’m typing this column.

It all stems from not going to the dentist regularly.

A couple years ago, I had a traumatic root canal experience. The dentist was performing the root canal, which involves drilling deep into your teeth and removing the nerves, filling them up with little rods and then capping the remaining portion of the tooth with a crown.

Given the complexity of the procedure, the patient either is given a significant amount of Novocain to completely numb the area or they’re sedated entirely.

I was conscious while the procedure was going on and I mentioned that I was still experiencing some feeling in my tooth, but the dentist who was getting ready to drill didn’t take my concerns seriously. About halfway through the drilling process, I felt a jolt of pain that was worse than anything I’ve ever experienced in my life. My entire body tensed up, my toes even curled and I did everything I could to not scream.

They made sure to hit the correct spot with the Novocain after that.

Needless to say, I haven’t been excited about going to a dentist ever since.

Over the last couple years, I knew I had developed some cavities because I could literally feel them with my tongue. I’d have to target them with toothpicks after meals to ensure food didn’t get stuck there. Despite knowing this, I still didn’t go back to the dentist.

I figured as long as it didn’t hurt physically, it wasn’t a problem.

I figured wrong.

The chickens came home to roost for me this past weekend when I started experiencing some debilitating tooth pain on Friday after arriving at the newspaper office. It got so bad I literally had to stop working and go home to lay down because I couldn’t read and couldn’t type. I was completely helpless.

After pounding some extra strength Tylenol and using some oral numbing gel, I was able to cover the Mohawk versus Bucyrus high school football game that night and I helped put the newspaper together before going home.

Unfortunately, the pain came roaring back and I was not able to sleep. My Saturday was pure misery, basically sleeping for an hour at a time once the painkillers kicked in, then jolting awake as soon as the throbbing pain came back with a vengeance. I couldn’t eat anything. I just drank some protein shakes and water.

I went to a birthday party at a restaurant with my family on Sunday afternoon, but had to order the soup of the day instead of what I really wanted. Even the soup didn’t go down easy. And instead of playing with my nieces and nephews like I really wanted to, I just tried to sit in the corner of the room on the couch at my mom’s house and melt into the cushions.

All the dentists were closed until Monday, so I couldn’t do anything about my condition over the weekend. I scheduled an emergency dentist appointment for first thing Monday morning and they were able to confirm that I had structural damage to the tooth and it either would need to be pulled out entirely or I would have to get another root canal.

I was getting to the point where I would have happily yanked the tooth out with a pair of pliers if it meant the pain went away, but I understood that a root canal, while much more expensive, is much better for the long-term health of my mouth.

I’ll be back at the dentist’s office getting that root canal taken care of today. It won’t be fun, but it’ll be necessary.

This has been a costly and extremely painful lesson. Ignoring my problems won’t just magically make them disappear. It instead allows them to fester, like a deepening cavity in a tooth, eventually reaching deep enough to strike a nerve.

Perhaps that’s a metaphor for other issues going on in our lives as well.

Regardless, don’t be like me. Visit your dentist every six months for a regular cleaning and check-up. One of the main reasons I’m documenting my pain right now is so I never put myself in this position again. Learn from my mistakes.