I'm royalty.

Ok, that might be stretching it. But I am the owner of a shiny new crown, dental crown that is. Happy to have wrapped up my 5 trip tour de dentists this month. Not so happy that in order to complete the work today, the dentist had to burn away part of my gums. Burn, that's right BURN away my gums to put on the crown. The bright red tip of that scorching tool meant business. Holy moly, my mouth hurts!!! Please, please let the pain subside soon. I've got important things to do, important people to see. I am royal afterall.

Another day, another dentist.

Couple months ago it was just a cleaning, few weeks after that some fillings and yesterday a root canal!! A root canal! WTF! Cue anxiety.

Everyone told me it won't be as bad as I think and for the most part they were right. The procedure itself was painless. The worst part was holding my mouth open for an hour an 15 minutes. After I left, I was invincible...pain-free! That lasted for all of 30 minutes and then the pain kicked into high gear! Mostly, just uber-sensitive and sore from all the poking and proding of my poor little upper molar. Today, things are looking up! I think I'll make it.

That said, here are just a few tips for surviving the next one or your first one (but, let's hope I won't need to refer to this post ever again).

1) iPod. Music is my savior. Thank you Adele for your healing words. And, thank you Sennheiser for earbud volume control and being able to crack it up at seconds notice when the dental tools got a little too loud.

2) Painkillers. In my case, Ibuprofen. 3 an hour before appointment. And, 3 there after.

3) PTO. Take the day off. Nobody, except my husband and animals needs to see me the day of a root canal. Plus, the three hour nap after I got home was the ticket to masking the post-canal soreness.

Let's hope that the final dental visits in the next couple weeks for the crown are the last for a loooong time. Or, the next time I need a crown it isn't because of a trip to the dentist. :)