Living with the unknown

Stage one of the root  canal went pretty smoothly. The actual procedure was more lengthy and complicated than expected, but the only pain I experienced afterwards involved the Eftpos terminal. The recurring toothache of the past few weeks has gone.

- RUSSELL BROWN

Dental abscesses like the one the procedure remedies can be present for years, the dentist had said, held in check until something upsets the immune system. Often, that something will be a viral infection.

"I did feel sorry for people who got Covid and had abscesses flare up during lockdown when they couldn't get treatment," he said.

Attentive readers may recall my description in a column earlier this year of the brief, very dramatic symptoms that presented shortly before I tested positive for Covid-19.

An earache suddenly became severe, then one side of my face rapidly swelled to the point where my ear was completely closed and I was having trouble aligning my jaw. That, then, could have been the virus playing havoc with my immune system?

"Quite probably," said the dentist.