Smile though your teeth are aching

I am currently trying so hard to ignore a nerve-cracking pain. So severe! So painful! So agonizing! (Do I sound exaggerated?!?).  Because it is a TOOTHACHE!!! What do you expect? 

Today is a very stressful day...very frustrating...very bad.

My teeth has already caused me a lot of trouble. Apart from those simple recurrent pain due to dental cavities.

Just recently I underwent minor surgery—wisdom tooth extraction because of severe pain brought about by mesial impaction and tooth decay as well. Even my teeth are such a failure having been failed to erupt in its expected place. There goes my inadequate jaw bone, tooth crowding and impaction—my anatomy sucks.  I had survived that pain any way.

I was also diagnosed with temporomandibular joint disorder (TMJD) in 2006. My jaws tend to locked-in. I barely open my mouth to an extent that I can’t fit more than two fingers in my mouth. Can you imagine the risk of having it?.  It affected my ability to speak, eat, chew, swallow, and make facial expressions. I suffered severe pain in the neck and shoulders, chronic headache, jaw muscle stiffness, painful clicking, popping or grating in the jaw joint when opening or closing the mouth. Name it, I experienced them most likely. I wore splint (for more than a year) to correct bite and to prevent farther complications. *sigh* I don't want that to happen anymore...I am now feeling lucky I can open my mouth normally. 

My teeth became so big deal to me then. I decided to wear braces more than a year ago to improve my dental health and of course to look trendy also (*grin*). I know it looks weird too. Shame on us for considering braces as a fashion statement but that’s a reality... It is partly for a “good look” and partly to correct malocclusion.

The day I had my braces on

There are times I curse myself for wearing braces especially when I feel the pressure as my teeth moves. I became one of the non-compliant patients, instead of having the adjustment done every month I had it once in three or six months! I know it will lengthen the time of me wearing braces but I really hate monthly pains. 

What should I say…Smile! Just smile…it’s the simplest strategy on how to survive difficult times. Mind over matter, right? argh! I hope it will work with toothaches. I hope "sleeping/ignoring/pretending to be OK" can take the pain away from me since I refused medication.