Well what a week I've had!
Last Sunday, John and I took our son and his "stepson" (long story!) out for brunch.
I had a meal that included bacon. As I bit the bacon, a piece of it went up between two of my top teeth. The next bite pushed it further into my gum.
When I got home, I tried (with toothbrush, dental floss and toothpicks) to remove that bit of stuck bacon. I got most of it, but one piece stayed stubbornly stuck and my gum was starting to swell.
Usually, the gum swelling goes down overnight and I can retrieve the stuck food the next day. Not so this time!
By Monday evening, all my gums were red and swollen and I had swollen glands in my neck. I tried all the usual home treatments for infected gums - a special toothpaste, mouthwash, etc. but nothing seemed to work.
I couldn't get an appointment with my dentist until Friday, so I spent most of the week feeling miserable, taking Panadol (Tylenol) and feeling miserable - all the while wondering if this was going to make me have to defer my knee surgery.
Yesterday, I finally saw my dentist. He was sympathetic, declared I had a generalised gum infection (really?) and went probing with his torture instruments. To my shock and embarrassment, he fished out a rotting piece of bacon - Ouch! Yuk!
Now I'm on antibiotics and I have an appointment for next Friday, to get the gap between those two troublesome teeth made smaller - so I never have a repeat of the problem. I suspect that will involve work on both teeth - and I still have to have another filling replaced.
Today, I'm feeling a lot better. My gums are not swollen now, but my mouth still aches. I hope another 24 hours will see the discomfort go away.
My knee has got sore and stiff, too, so I really want to get this surgery over and done with.