Famous last words: just while I was waiting.

Now I rarely frequent vending machines, and I don’t eat protein bars.

But it was extremely late, I was starving, and there was this vending machine in the hallway of the hotel where I was staying.

In this vending machine was a healthy-looking protein bar with nuts in it.

I bought one and bit into it.

“Snip” went something in my mouth and broke.

It turned out there was now a chip on a tooth.

And, possibly, a crack.

Bacteria sneaked in.

The gum got a bit tender.

Then just the littlest, smallest bit sore.

I made an appointment to see the dentist.

And, just while I was waiting, I thought I might as well have a crack at treating the infection myself.

I googled. The first thing I learned is that there are different kinds of gum infection.

In consultation, Dr Google and I diagnosed an infection in the form of an abscess.

Dr Google and I also discovered – and please take note of this - that if I was correct and had an abscess, the strong likelihood was that the infection wouldn’t go away on its own.

Only a dentist can deal with an abscess, I read, because the kind of bacteria that cause these infections are extremely nasty and highly resilient ladies who don’t run for the hills at the first........

© Evening Echo