Happy Mardi Gras, y’all.

For Lent, I am giving up the blinding toothache that has completely wrecked the last four days. I wonder if I can sue my old dentist for (a) giving me a “incomplete” root canal five years ago that apparently requires a second, shock-and-awe root canal ASAP, and (b) apparently doing such a bad job on a crown that my new dentist says “I understand why you’re in excruciating pain — I just don’t understand why you haven’t been in excruciating pain for the past five years.”

Also, Vicodin is not nearly powerful enough, in this reporter’s opinion.

Comments

20 February | 23:09 | Leah

Poor you! Toothaches are the pits! I really hope you feel better soon.

Maybe you need a different pain reliever. People's bodies metabolize them differently. Vicodin knock my pain (and ass) out, but hydrocodon does not work at all.

21 February | 8:03 | kevin lawver

Vicodin works a lot better if you take it with some Excedrin during the day, and tylenol at night. Good luck!

21 February | 17:14 | kitty

As a newly-minted expert in pain killers, I highly recommend Percocet. Dilaudid did nothing for me except when administered via IV (although just about anything works for me when given in an IV).

27 February | 22:44 | rebecca

is it just me, or is it revealing that after a spate of no comments on your blog, the one topic that generates a fair amount of feedback is perscription pain killers?

27 February | 23:32 | Josh

I'd like to think that the comments are because people care about my pain. But they may just be angling for my remaining 17 Vicodin.

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Joshua Benton

Joshua Benton is the director of the Nieman Digital Journalism Project at Harvard University, among other things. Before that, he was a staff writer and columnist for The Dallas Morning News. (More.)