ahhh...HA!

Last night we went out for National Ravioli Day (yes, I do live in the best country ever) to a new little Italian joint up the road.  The food was amazing, save the t-ravs (ironic, yes?).  They were a bit tough and chewy.  But the hand-rolled meatballs, and the aroncinis and the salads were top notch and definitely worthy of returning.

The chewy ravs re-aggravated my jaw.  Or so I thought.  We went to Red Mango for froyo afterwards and while it was its normal yummy awesomeness, it was a bit hard to eat.  Damn.  I had really thought the pain was gone.

Got home, supervised Zoe's shower, and got her tucked into bed (with a goodnight call to M, as he's in RI this week).  I went to brush my teeth and about doubled over in pain.  Holy mother of God.  The canker sore that's been hanging out back there was really, really acting up.  I've had that thing for about as long as the jaw pain, but it wasn't hurting until last night.  And it felt weird.

I peered into my mouth, as much as one can peer into one's own mouth.  Which isn't much, as I'm sure you already know.  I could see a bit of the canker but not much.  I searched the house for a small mirror, cursing the fact that we don't own one of those little round mirror thingies the dentists have.  Because, you know, when you need one you really really need one and nothing else will do.  I tried cramming little cosmetic mirrors in there, but contrary to popular belief my mouth isn't that big.

Since I couldn't see anything, I started poking around with my fingers.  That only brought more pain, and then some blood, but I started to figure out that there was something in there.  I could feel a hard edge.

Ewwwww. 

This is where the internal dialogue starts up, rising with panic.  "OMG OMG OMG.  What is that thing?  I don't know, and I don't know that I want to know.  Holy crap, that's disgusting.  Maybe it's a popcorn kernal that got stuck in there.  When's the last time you ate popcorn?  I don't know...a month ago?  Surely it's not from a month ago.  That's it, I'm never eating popcorn again.  What the hell do I do now?  Well, you can't just leave it in there.  Why not?  Because you know it's there now.  You gotta go in there and get it out.  Fine.  Fine."

I got the tweezers, and the huge bottle of rubbing alcohol.  After disinfecting the tweezers, I took a deep breath, and went in.

And removed what I believe is a tooth fragment from the wisdom pulled about a decade ago.

WTF.

After extraction, the pressure and pain in my jaw just shut off.  It was like flipping a switch.  Done.  Whoosh.  Free.

I just did what a dentist, hygienist, oral surgeon, ENT, internist and neurologist couldn't.  I fixed myself.  I'm billing my insurance company.