I have got to the root of a toothy problem that has been giving me jip for the last couple of years. Impacted wisdom tooth, plus cyst.
What this means is that my wisdom tooth, which never did emerge from under the gum, is pointing at a crazy angle and impacting another tooth's roots, and so for the first time in my life I am needing to be touched by the medical profession. Looks like I've lost a bit of jaw bone where the cyst has set up residence too, and will need surgery and a General Anaesthetic to extract the tooth.
I had been secretly blaming my last dentist for creating a problem for which he would no doubt have charged handsomely to resolve, but having seen the X-ray, all my fillings are shallow and it must just have been coincidence that my tooth started hurting subsequent to having a filling. I haven't been able to chew on that side for a couple of years and have been waiting for symptoms to get better or worse and having dentists say they can't see anything. Apart from a Polish chap who said he would charge £150 but wouldn't do any big jobs on the NHS. Luckily I never darkened his surgery again.
Anyway, I eventually found an NHS dentist who also didn't see anything when she first looked, but she did kindly set up an appointment with the dental hospital so that I might be practised on by the students. But, as it takes months to set up an appointment, in the meantime my symptoms worsened (pain even when not chewing and the development of what appeared to be a swollen gland but was the cyst), so I went back, and this time she spotted it. For a tooth x-Ray, followed by another machine that revolves around your head shooting out X-rays all over the place, plus a nice chat, I was charged the princely sum of £17.50. Compared to £zillions with my old dentist for a polish. Still, I suppose he may not be quite the evil money grabbing NHS leaching bastard that I had him out to be. Well not the former adjective anyway, maybe.
Still only at diagnosis stage, but is a major toothy leap forward for me.
