I finally got my bottom molar pulled after I had rescheduled the appointment three or four times. Everything just seemed wrong about the other dates, and this one seemed right. It was probably just me, but what can I say? I believe in those kinds of things. I didn’t want to do it on those days so I didn’t.

There was lots of stuff going on with me, but the tooth is out now, Dr. V was great and the whole mess didn’t cost me as much as I thought it would. So I’m very pleased.

Here’s the story: I first set up an appointment with another dentist but I think he was scared of me or something. He said it was the worst tooth he’d ever seen — and that just added to my anxiety. He made it seem like this was all going to be a big mess. I expected the worst and decided to forget it. But it had to be done, so I called Dr. V on the recommendation of a friend. That turns out to have been a very good decision.

At Dr. V’s office, he made me feel welcome and at home, and told me that the extraction wouldn’t be a problem. I came back when he asked me to and it took like 10 minutes. No swelling or pain or anything. I didn’t need much of the pain meds either. The injection was easy. There was no digging like the other guy said there would be and it couldn’t have been easier. I don’t know how the first dentist could have been so wrong.

The tooth was all eaten away under an old silver filling and that’s why it had to go. Otherwise I would have considered something like a root canal or an implant or something, but I just wanted this all out of there and the hole closed up, which Dr. V did. The tooth was actually solid and in one piece, but under there was rotten stuff on all four sides. Dr. V showed it to me, and that made me very glad it was out.

I’ve had some other medical problems lately that I won’t go into and I didn’t want to have a tooth messing up my life. I’m not in a place where I can afford to have an infection.

I took my crystals with me for courage and anxiety and they seemed to help me, but Dr. V’s attitude helped more than anything else. He’s a friendly and really outgoing guy who seems to really like what he’s doing. And he’s been doing it 20 or 30 years or something, so knows his job.

I know I’ll have to do something about replacing that tooth if I want to be able to eat correctly, but Dr. V said I can deal with that whenever I’m ready. I’m just so glad to get rid of all the rotting stuff so I can get on with my life. I have a compromised immune system and need to be really careful.