Happy birthday, Epic!!

And yeah, Steph, DTMFDentist.

There's a feral cat situation next to my boss' house, and I'm going to have to step up and deal with it. There were three very sick kittens and now there are two, because one was dead this morning. They may need to be put down, and in any case I cannot foster or adopt them. There are 4-6 other cats that need TNR. The neighbor was feeding a couple and then more showed up, and she slowly stopped feeding them. Uh, clearly they're not going away.

My sister has offered to help me pay for the neutering, which will be $25/cat. I think I'm going to try and catch the kittens tomorrow if I don't have to work, and borrow some traps for the others. I really didn't want to get into this business, but I don't like watching kittens die and knowing that more will be born to die if I don't do something.

Steph, I had a complication with a root canal with infection continuing after the root canal, and I got an apictoectomy, so there are definitely options other than pulling the tooth.

(entire saga follows)

I had the root canal, but still had soreness above the gum (between my nose and cheekbone) and my dentist sent me to an endodontist, who said that in a small percentage of cases, removing the main nerve from the tooth doesn't get rid of the infection. The apicoectomy removes the end of the root, where the infected little nervelets are hanging out.

I had a several month wait for the apicoectomy, and wasn't given antibiotics until just before the procedure because my face started swelling up. I didn't respond to the first antibiotic so after a couple of days the endodontist put me on another antibiotic.

I have to say that even though I was a bit grossed out by the idea of it, I felt better the day after the apicoectomy than I had since my tooth started hurting before the root canal.

Happy Birthday, Epic! Woohoo for self-celebration and ALL the Crowns! And chocolate!

Tep, I've just recently muddled through my own tooth-pulling mire. I have to admit I shared David's suspicion, that my own dentist was anticipating an expensive implant and needlessly destroying, instead of reconstructing, a painless and functioning tooth. I've had those feelings of being a self-neglecting yokel who's going to wind up with three teeth in my head.

But if you're willing to go out of network and pay out of pocket, I'd be in the chair at Tim's dentist in a heartbeat. If the only thing your present guy has going for her is being in network? Move on. It's your tooth in your head, and you're the one who has to live with those consequences.

Second opinion is only prudent, at any point in the procedure.

smonster, that's really admirable of you. Good luck with it. Thanks for being a good human who cares about the suffering of other creatures.

And in the interest of equal time - though I haven't seen a great deal of her lately, I do believe that today is also tiggy's birthday. So, tiggy, Happy Birthday to You! I hope you get to be exactly as much of a Birthday Princess as you want to be!

Good news - one of my co-workers remembered my birthday and gave me an enormous bar of dark chocolate. Which is funny because I'm usually not that big of a fan of dark, but she is, and I sent her a link to that article last week about the health benefits of dark chocolate. So I got to say that she wished me a happy birthday, plus wants the best for my health. Also also, I recently figured out I'm lactose intolerant - Dark Chocolate FTW!

Whatever, Steph. I can see your diabetes from here. Why are you arguing? You don't have a dentical degree.

Happy Birthday, Epic!

Put me in the "Steph needs a new dentist" camp. Getting a second opinion is only a reasonable reaction . But the diabetes crack would be my dealbreaker. (But if there are non-diabetes conditions that may cause slow healing, it might become appropriate to rule them out. Depending on how the second opinion goes.)

Have an Epic birthday, Epic!

"dentical degree" makes me laugh. Definitely get a second opinion but switch dentists no matter what, Tep.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, EPIC!!!!

Smonster, I'll happily pay for the fixin' of any of this kittens. Just let me know. And thanks for helping them.

I am, however, wearing a spangly "Princess" shirt, and crown hairclips from Disney, and every piece of jewelry with a crown I could find this morning (which is kind of a lot).

Happy birthday, princess Epic!

Totally ditch the dentist, Tep. That shit is just not on.

I'm sorry for the whole situation, smonster.

I had the root canal, but still had soreness above the gum (between my nose and cheekbone)

That's kind of mine -- the soreness is at the way top of my gum. And it's only tender to the touch, like a bruise, and the tooth doesn't hurt. I'm baffled by the extremeness of the pull-it-now suggestion. Like having a bruised arm and getting it amputated.

I didn't respond to the first antibiotic so after a couple of days the endodontist put me on another antibiotic.

Dang, what is WITH all these dentists who are reasonable and actually realize that sometimes an antibiotic isn't going to work against every known pathogen?

Whatever, Steph. I can see your diabetes from here.

Naw, man; that's my asstastic ass.

Why are you arguing? You don't have a dentical degree.

I am TOTALLY a denticalologist!

(But if there are non-diabetes conditions that may cause slow healing, it might become appropriate to rule them out. Depending on how the second opinion goes.)

Well, I'm a slow healer in general. And yet not diabetic. It would be more worrisome if the slow healing was new, but I've been like this for at least 20 years that I can remember.