Teeth! Who needs 'em?

Well, it was back to work for me today, and I got the unquestionable pleasure of spending the day at my desk, dredging through emails from the past two weeks with some kind of extremely painful tooth (gum?) ache.

My gums have been a bit sore/tender for a few days, but I had assumed that with brushing, flossing and mouth wash they would be fine. So wrong! Today, they flared up something chronic, and now I can hardly think for the pain. Needless to say, painkillers do absolutely nothing to help.

The only way I have found to manage the pain is to drink water. I don't know why exactly, but having a mouthful of water is like some kind of miracle cure, which wears off extremely quickly and leaves me in agony again. So I have drunk like 10 litres of water today, and been to the bathroom a million times. And now it is one in the morning, and I can't sleep because of the pain (sleeping with a mouthful of water seems unlikely to work without a) drowning and b) drooling uncontrollably).

I have a dentist appointment tomorrow afternoon, the best they could do. My plan is to basically be so tired that I pass out despite the pain, since the other option is to be awake all night going to the toilet every few minutes.

God knows what is going on with my teeth. I have always tried to take care of them, but never really liked the idea of going to the dentist. So for 25 years or so I have absolutely zero trouble, then suddenly WHAM I am in and out of the dentists office almost non-stop. It is bizarre that all these unrelated dental issues are hitting me at once, but I suppose I shall have to just grit my teeth and think of England, so to speak.