Not my tooth.

[feuervogel]

Dr. Bishop pére took x-rays of my upper gums and didn't see anything. He poked around my tooth and had me bite down, and it didn't hurt. He did notice that the metal filling isn't in the best shape in the world, so if Tuesday's CT doesn't show anything wrong with my sinuses, I should call them back and they'll take the old filling out and look around to see if there are any cracks or the root is damaged, and if not, they'll put a resin filling in. He'd rather avoid doing a root canal if it isn't necessary, and he thinks sinuses is more likely.

The red, painful spot on my gum is a torus, or a bone spur on the gums. I have them on the lower jaw, so it makes sense. Apparently they're related to grinding your teeth, according to one dentistry website that turned up on the internets.

(Oh, yeah, this morning I got a call from the ENT's office with my CT appointment, Tuesday morning. I guess they showed enough evidence to BCBS to get them to authorize it.)

Comments

[leora.livejournal.com]

A bit unrelated, but when I read the subject of this post, my brain automatically said, "Not my gumdrop buttons!"

[amakarie.livejournal.com]

Sorry to hear you're still in the dark about what's going on. Do you wear a tooth-guard, or whatever they are callled? Basically, they go over your teeth to protect them when you grind at night. My sister and mom had that problem, and the tooth-guard helped.

Not sure if I said this, but I have heard about a procedure to cauterize the sinus cavities if they're chronically infected. As your doctor said they looked better, this probaby isn't applicable, but I thought I'd mention just in case.

[feuervogel]

I don't have a bite guard, because they cost $600 and insurance won't cover them, despite the fact that $600 is a lot less than the 4 or 5 $1200 crowns I already have, for which they pay close to half.

My retainer from Invisalign serves a similar function, as it sits on my teeth.