h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

A few weeks ago I bit down a little carelessly on a mouthful of Guru Lucky Punjabi Mix http://www.gurulucky.com/ (under construction, not unlike my mouth) and split the lingual half of my right mandibular second molar (backmost tooth on the bottom right) into nice crunchy detached fragments.

I called my dentist's office.

I went in for emergency work because sometimes I like to strike when the iron is hot. I was given the services of a dentist I've not had before and a dental assistant who seemed to have never worked with this dentist before. I was flipped up on my back with my feet far above my head, my nose was a little congested so I was forced to try to breathe through my mouth, which was filled with hands, dental tools, saliva, tooth fragments, water and and ill-handled suction tube.

I've never been waterboarded and I now have a memory which makes me very much want to avoid that experience.

In the weeks since this routine procedure -- a white composite filling -- I've had discomfort and at times pain in my lower right jaw.

This morning, below the filling and a little farther back in my mouth, on the gum, I felt a bit of an edge. At first I thought it was the edge of a burst blister where I had suspected that the suction tube had caused some damage. I reached in with my fingers (while driving, if you can imagine) and pulled out what immediately seemed to me to be a piece of white composite filling, which seemed to have bonded to my gum.

Those dastards! I thought, They dropped a piece of the filling material down between my tongue and my gum and it bonded there, irritating me for weeks!

Why didn't I go back earlier? you ask.

Because I'm a dope.


So, I go back today and am ushered in surprisingly quickly. The first assistant takes a quick look and says, 'it looks like a canker sore.' The second assistant comes in and takes a quick look and says 'Oh! The dentist will be in soon.'

The dentist comes back with the second assistant and takes a look and then 'this is interesting!' and starts poking and tugging. After ripping out a few pieces she says 'I think I'll put in some freezing'

Upshot: much tugging with forceps which shouldn't have fit into my mouth, many bloody fragments passing before my out-of-focus eyes, and x-ray, some more tugging, a consultation with another dentist and the decision . . .

bone fragments.

bone fragments working their way out of my jaw, probably from . . .


my wisdom tooth extraction . . .

thirty years ago!!!

I saved a piece to give to my friend the pathologist.

If it turns out to be white composite filling material . . .

I don't know what I'll do.


It did seem to be pretty deeply embedded in my gum rather than just bonded to the surface.



now my mouth feels

Yep I had something similar. Suddenly this incredibly painful hard little lump slightly under the skin at the back of my mouth right near where the wisdom tooth had one long ago resided. I immediately asumed 'tumour'.

The dentist said it was a tiny bone fragent. Phew. He said 'oh it'll probably just calm down naturally and move back' It did.

But let us know your results. It sounds like a pretty unpleasant experience.