I want to tell this in two parts just so the message doesn't
end up being a mile long.  I'll try not to preach or write a book.

     A little over a week ago now, I awakened one morning with a
mild tooth ache.  This isn't all that uncommon for me.  I have
about a dozen gold crowns and I believe I have had 8 root canals
over the years.  It isn't uncommon for some of my teeth to ache
when I have a cold or even when I am overly stressed.

     My very first root canal was performed by a family practice
dentist fresh out of school.  He nearly killed me.  It was an eye
tooth, or canine tooth, on my upper right.  I had no hospital or
dental insurance in those days.  The root canal became infected.
After going back to that dentist a couple of times for help, I
gave up.  The Christian man who was his partner, didn't want to
become involved.  He strongly urged me to go and be admitted to
the hospital to get the infection under control.  I told him I
could not do that since I had no insurance.  I ended up going to a
family doctor and being treated with low level antibiotics which
didn't help at all.  I was living on pain medication.

     The infection in the root of the tooth became so severe, I
got cellulitis and the right side of my face swelled up like a
balloon.  After being on strong narcotics for over two weeks, my
hearing became distorted, and I was finding it impossible to even
function.  Through a friend of Sandy's at work, we found an
Endodontist, dental specialist, and I went to see him.  He said he
would have to get the infection down first.  I was on more
antibiotics, but this time very strong antibiotics, for three more
full weeks.  When the tooth settled down, I had no more pain, and
he, fortunately, finished the root canal with no problems
whatsoever.

     Last week, something very similar occurred but with my other
canine tooth on my upper left.  That tooth already has a crown and
a root canal but it was hurting and getting worse.  When I went to
our family dentist, he did some testing and discovered it was the
tooth behind the canine tooth which was dead.  It was also
becoming infected.  He began the root canal.  He has done most of
my root canals over the years and is great at it.  This time,
however, he just could not find the pulp chamber which contains
the tooth nerve endings.  A root canal is conducted, once the
nerves are removed, so that your tooth can continued to receive
blood flow.  The dentist just could not, as I said, find this pulp
chamber with the nerves and he was afraid if he drilled any deeper
on my tooth, it would fracture the base of the tooth and I would
have to have it extracted.  So, he sent me to a Endodontist.  The
Endodontist was great, very professional, keenly compassionate and
his staff was equally helpful.  He fixed the root canal, put me on
tons of antibiotics, gave me explicit instructions, and the
infection is gone and the swelling is nearly gone.  This all,
however, has nothing to do with what I wanted to tell you but I
wanted you to have the background.  Additionally, I wanted to
show, based upon previous experiences along these lines, I had
cause for worry and concern as well as anxiety as I faced the same
experience again.

Continued in next message.