Teeth Saga

E broke a tooth several years ago. Since then, it has caused him a lot of pain. I finally insisted he go to the dentist about two weeks ago. It was his first trip to the dentist, and he was very nervous. The dentist, of course, gave us a huge list of problems with E’s mouth. I wasn’t too surprised, but I also wasn’t about to pay about $6000 at this juncture in our life. Instead, we (or maybe I) decided to remove his one bad tooth.

E had the tooth extracted on Tuesday. He was definitely incredibly nervous the whole time, refused to use the laughing gas, and took two shots to actually numb his mouth. Once the tooth was pulled, E asked to look at it. He’s convinced it wasn’t so bad and could have been saved.

Then he was given the aftercare treatment, which included no smoking for 2-3 days. Of course, as soon as he was told smoking was forbidden, all he wanted to do was smoke. I lived with a super grump for the next 24 hours—grumpy because he was in pain and refused to take any pain medication, grumpy because he’d lost a tooth, and grumpy because he couldn’t smoke. After 24 hours, and despite my protestations, he declared himself healed and ready to smoke.

I’m having huge regrets about insisting he take the tooth because now, five days later, the wound is still bleeding. And, of course, I’m so angry with my husband because I know it’s bleeding because he didn’t take care of it. I wonder if we need to go to the dentist, but then I think there’s no point spending the money because E won’t listen to the dentist’s advice anyway. And, of course, E will no longer tell me that he’s in pain because he knows I’m so angry with him. I will never understand men.