Late in 2005, I had to have a tooth pulled after the filling fell out. It was a molar in my right lower jaw. The events that led up to the pulling are what I want to talk about.

I was at work. My job required that I wear a headset because I was operating a specialized AS400 session while talking to the person on the other end. While listening to the other party I would sometimes twirl my tongue around in my mouth, brushing my teeth with my tongue, so to speak. Whatever I had eaten (as a snack between calls) would leave remnants on my teeth, especially around the fillings. On this particular night (I worked the 5pm to 5am shift), I felt something larger than normal floating around my teeth and spit it out into my empty coffee cup. It was a filling! I didn't have to get up and head to the restroom and look to know where it came from. The pain was excruciating.

I had to clock out for my "lunch" a little early and head to a drugstore. It was after hours and I knew my dentist would only be available on her emergency phone. I had to act quickly because the pain was so intense that I felt like ripping my own head off to get rid of it. I drove to the nearest drugstore and bought some dental cement and I don't remember the brand name. I had to do my own temporary dental repair before I could even think of heading back to work. Luckily, my house was only six miles away. When I got there, I headed to my bathroom and starting mixing the compound. It took me a few minutes to get the consistency right and it seemed like hours. Once I put the cement in the gaping hole at the top of the tooth, the pain started to subside. A quick shot of whiskey (gargled, not drank) from the downstairs liquor cabinet numbed that area of the gums and I was able to go back to work.

I called my dentist when I got back to work and set it up to have the tooth looked at as soon as I could get to her office after my shift, which turned out to be about an hour after I left work. She brought a male assistant with her to the office. After she shot my gums up with the pain killer, he held my head in place while she wrenched what was left of the tooth out. It was hollow! The military dentists (while I was still on active duty) had hollowed out and filled the tooth. The pain was caused by the exposed nerve.

Some people are embarrassed by toothaches and dental pain. I was in too much pain to worry about embarrassment. My only desire during the entire incident was of "escaping my dental pain".