I really do try to look after my teeth, but sometimes life and all that comes along with it beats the best of habits. Hence, I’m in the process of having a root canal done, and relinquishing $1,828.00 for the privilege. It’s possible you may have detected a tiny touch of sarcasm at my use of the word ‘privilege’, and you’d be right, but I also use it seriously, because it is a privilege to live somewhere I can get my teeth fixed, and afford it.

I’ve still got most of my teeth, even though there’s not many which haven’t had work done on them. I grew up in the days of ‘murder house’ dentistry, where we kids would visit the school dental nurse and have our teeth drilled and filled with no anaesthetic. The stuff of lifelong trauma, which I still carry with me today when I visit the dentist. There has been progress, though, as I’ve gone from gripping the arms of the dentist chair, primarily because there aren’t any arms on the chairs anymore, to clutching my hands in a vice-like grip on each other. I don’t leave the fear entirely up to my hands to deal with, though – if there’s an iron bar anywhere that is more rigid than my whole body in the dentist’s chair, I’d like to meet it.

In the past, I have opted for a couple of tooth extractions at different times, when abscesses formed on the tips of the roots, rather than fork over what I considered an eye-watering amount of money for root canals. Nowadays, I’m prepared to fork over as much as it takes not to lose any more teeth.

The latest toothy trouble began in the usual way, when a touch of tooth tenderness was felt. I then immediately did the next usual thing, which was ignore it for a wee while in the hope it was just a false alarm and go away. Of course it wasn’t, and didn’t. So, a while later, after caving in to the inevitable, I put myself in the dentist’s chair. It was decided that a crown would be necessary on the troublesome tooth, and that I’d better consider one on another dodgy-looking tooth sometime in the not-too-distant future, as well. Sigh.

Came the day for the crown work to begin, and lo and behold, in between times the tooth had developed an infection in the pulp, so a crown was out. It was either another extraction, or a root canal. It took me about 0.1 seconds to decide not to get another tooth extracted. Two anaesthetic injections in my gob quickly followed – I’m greedy, one is not enough for me – and work on the root canal began.

It will take two more visits to complete the process, as the infection has to be cleared before the bulk of the work can be done. Luckily, my gums and jawbones are apparently in good order, otherwise a root canal wouldn’t be feasible. I guess that is one of the reasons when a person has to finally cede to getting dentures.

My brother-in-law recently got a nasty staphylococcal infection in his spine, which, it was deduced, originated from his teeth. It seems that this is not uncommon. He takes care of his teeth, but they’re past their best just like many of ours get as we age, to a greater or lesser degree. Even though he didn’t have cavities, somehow the teeth transmitted an infection to his spine. Don’t ask me how that works, but luckily it was the kind of staphylococcal infection which responded to antibiotics, so he recovered from it. I’ve yet to ask him what this medical adventure means for his teeth going forward.

For me, the rest of this year will contain an appointment with a dental hygienist, and a crown on the afore-mentioned dodgy tooth. Fingers crossed, that will be my lot my for the next wee while in the world of tooths.