On the inside of my jaw are a couple of bone spurs (or something like a bone spur). Every time I get an x-ray done, the bottom of the bitewing rubs against it. On Wednesday, the dental hygenist was having trouble getting a good picture of the entire tooth -- the roots are extremely big (and you know what they say about guys with big roots). She took like 4 or 5 pictures before she actually got the full tooth, and kept having to re-position the bitewing. It was a real ordeal, and at the time in kinda hurt despite multiple shots of Novocaine.

So here's what I discovered: in the course of getting those x-rays, she basically scraped away the periodontal tissue over that bone spur. As in, I can actually touch the bone. I am 100% certain of a few things: my gums are healthy, this hole in my gums did not exist when I woke up Wednesday morning, and the exact area that hurts like hades now has no tissue.

So here's my (hopefully) last question: I'm going to assume this is going to require corrective surgery (to graft new tissue over the spur. Is that a periodontist that performs that procedure?

Oh, and the dentist is going to hear about this. I've basically had to stay hopped up on hydrocodone today to control the pain, and even that isn't enough when I have to eat.