Alex Quinn's Japan Journal

3/2/2006, Toothache (Warning: a little disgusting)

Last Saturday, one of my front teeth started hurting.  My regular dentist couldn't see me for over a week, so I was trying to wait it out, but every day it got worse.  Today, it got unbearable.  After running for the bus, it flared up to the point where I started sweating and tears were coming out.  At lunch, I could just bearly eat, and only with a significant amount of pain and resting time in between bites.  Finally, I talked to one of my co-workers at 3:00 PM.  He was an angel.  Mr. Hayashi dropped what he was doing, found a dentist nearby, called and explained the situation and took me there immediately, on the spot.  By about 3:15 PM we were at the dentist and at 3:20 PM, I was in the dentist's chair getting a shot of anesthetic which was oh so soothing.  It turns out it was abscessed, with pressure inside.  He opened it up to let it drain.  It was a little gross, but it felt so much better.

I wanted to see it myself, so I took this picture at home.  Sorry if you find this a little disgusting, but it was the best illustration I could think of for this page.  The troublemaker is 5th from the bottom.

Incidentally, the dentist was a little interesting.  We started out speaking Japanese.  I had studied dental terminology before, so it wasn't a problem.  Turns out he speaks decent English.  Not perfect, but totally understandable.  His wife works with him in his office.  His father is a dentist in his own separate office in Aioi.

Anyway, enough of this boring and somewhat disgusting story.

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