Last month, I had a check-up at the dentist. I mentioned that I'd had a bit of toothache a few weeks ago, so she took an x-ray. The news was not good - I had an infected root canal. I could either have it filled or have the tooth removed. I chose to have the filling, and went back today to have it done.

The procedure was fairly painless. After a couple of injections to numb my mouth, my old filling was drilled out, the infected mush inside was removed and washed out a couple of times, and the tooth refilled. The only problem was afterwards. Because the left side of my mouth was completely numb, I'm sure I bit my cheek a couple of times before I got home. If I pressed my lips together, the right side of my mouth was ok, but the left side was a funny shape. I couldn't press my lips together firmly enough to inflate my cheeks - I make a funny 'raspberry' sound and looked like I had suffered a small stroke. I was a little worried that if I had had a stroke, it would be hours before I realised.