Episode 6 - One Bite Went Wrong And Taught Me How I Actually Make Decisions Under Stress

A quiet dinner turned into a four-hour test of pain, patience, and decision-making after a bone fragment lodged between my molars. We trace the chaos from failed fixes at home to an ER extraction and unpack the simple rules that kept choices clear when stress spiked.

• the bite, the crack, and sudden pain
• failed floss and flimsy picks at the sink
• reacting versus solving under stress
• distance and timing in rural care
• after-hours calls and non-answers
• choosing the ER with limited data
• the extraction, instant relief, and proof in hand
• what I’d change next time and why
• a simple decision rule for future emergencies

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Mundo Mondays

Transcript

First Aid Fails At The Sink

Panic Versus Slowing Down

Distance, Options, And Constraints

Reacting Or Solving

Pain Rising And Clarity Falling

Calls, Voicemails, And Dead Ends

Choosing The ER

The Extraction And Instant Relief

Lessons, Next Time, And Support

SPEAKER_01 0:12

Recently, I sat down for what was supposed to be a normal dinner. Nothing special, just my favorite meat and potatoes. And everything was fine until towards the end. And that final bite is always that final bite. I remember biting down and literally hearing something crack. And in that moment I froze because I knew something wasn't right. I checked, tried to fill around with my tongue, and I went to the mirror, and I couldn't see it, but I could feel the fragment of bone, hamburger meat bone, uh lodged between two of my motors, stuck where I couldn't reach it or try to get out. And what started as something small quickly turned into a situation where I had to make decisions fast. Do I try to fix it myself? Do I wait? Do I find help? And as some something simple as it sounds, in that moment of pain, stress, and uncertainty, those decisions aren't always clear. So in this episode, I want to walk you through that experience step by step, not just what happened, but how I was thinking through it in real time. Because moments like this, unexpected, uncomfortable, and like a little chaotic, they say a lot about how we actually make decisions. And maybe as I go through this, you'll start to think about how you will respond when things don't go accordingly to plan. So in this episode, it's gonna be almost time by time, but it's gonna be condensed down to oh within 25 minutes or so, because this is a span of about something that took several hours. So let's start off. So I was eating dinner, me and potatoes, enjoying my meal, sitting down with my my family, my nephew, my mother, and we're eating, and and we get I get close to the end of my food, and then it was like second to last bite. I took a bite, and as I was chewing, I heard something like kind of a crunch, kind of like a crack, and it just I could feel it in my teeth almost immediately, kind of getting lodged in my back motors, my two back motors. And I was like, oh no, what do I do? What do I do? So I tried to feel it, but then I still had food in my mouth, so what do you do in that situation? So I was trying to chew, but every chew felt like I was making the fragment go deeper and deeper. So I chewed the best I could and I swallowed, and I went to the mirror in the bathroom, and I was quickly trying to find this fragment. And you know, sometimes when you feel things in your mouth, you know, you feel like it's a lot larger because your tongue is giving you a sensation of what it what it is and how big it is, and but you know, these small things don't feel like they're that big. And the thing is, the reality they're really quite small. So I'm looking in the mirror and I try to use floss, and it it actually tears it apart. This blew my mind. So I pulled out another length of floss, wrapped it around, and I tried to go down, and as soon as I did, it was snapped. And I said, Wow, this has never happened to me before. So I tried to get the picks that we have, and they are not doing it because they're weak and they're not stiff, they're not sturdy, and I get more frustrated. And then two picks, yeah, that doesn't help. And honestly, that's where probably I start to realize that the more I pick at it, the more it's probably not a good situation. Because I I start even using my fingernails to kind of lot to try to find it and try to knock it out, and it doesn't work. My nails, I just recently cut them, so I don't well, it's not like I have long nails to begin with, but I have I cut my nails and I'm struggling, and I'm thinking to myself, okay, nails are not working, they're too short, and even if they had it long, I probably won't chip it or crack it or whatever nails do. And then I try to figure out, well, you know, floss is obviously breaking when I try to apply it, and you know, the plastic little picks are not working, and then my mother tries to give me some toothpicks, some wooden toothpicks, and that's not working. So I think to myself, okay, what to do? So some of the questions, you know, I want you to walk with walk with me on that. So let's go through this. How do I do what do I do when something unexpected happens? Do I panic? Do I slow down and think? Well okay, so what do I do when something unexpected happens? Do I panic or do I slow down and think? Well, that's the thing. In critical thinking, sometimes we don't use critical thinking in those fast moments. And like I mentioned in the previous episode about you know being comfortable in my surroundings where things are, you know, that's where, you know, like an incident like this, you need to know where things are located at. And for me, you know, that's why I need to know where I'm at, at least to have some idea where things are located, where what type do you have my my brain to start to think about some of these things, you know? Because, you know, I'm pretty sure a lot of you guys are the same way that you know where, you know, certain tools are in your well, I shouldn't say tools, because you're not trying to use a crowbar to get a piece of meat or you know, food out of your mouth, but you're using you know some other type of floss or thing that you know where things are at basically. So when this happened, I I did panic. I'm not even gonna lie, because I was like, what do I do? What I do, and it's a weekend and it's after hours, and where I'm currently at, there's not that much options for 24-hour dentists, emergency dentists, anyway. And to give you an idea, the closest sort of city is about 45 minutes away. So, and the next one after that is about an hour one hour and 30 minutes away, and the one after that is about almost two and a half hours away. That's my reality, that's what you have to think about. So, we're getting to that point, but let's get to the next question. Am I actually solving the problem or am I reacting to it? Well, in this situation, I'm reacting to it. I'm not even gonna lie, because I'm reacting to it in the moment of like, how do I get this bone out? How do I get this fragment out? How do I get through that situation? And I I am trying to solve it. Trust me, I am trying to solve it. Floss breaks. So I start looking around, I start to think, what can I use to try to pop out this bone fragment? And of course, I can't see it. In the mirror, I cannot see it because my teeth are white and the bones white, and my mother tries to locate it, and she says, So it looks like it's a part of a your your your tooth kind of chipped off, and maybe it's lodged in there. I said, No, it's it's hamburger bone fragment. I know it is, and I can't explain it, but I could feel it, I know it, and it's just a process of elimination. So, anyway, yeah, trying to solve it, reacting to it. They're both situations that my mind is going through in critical thinking. So the last question would be how much does pain and stress affect the way I think about in the moment? Well, you know, they're just the same fight or flight situation. And in critical thinking, a lot of those things kind of go out the door, and you're in that mode of what do I do in that moment? Critical thinking just bypasses us. Even me. I'm not even gonna lie, in this moment I'm thinking to myself, oh my god, what's gonna happen? It's late. I'm looking at the time and it's getting close to wow, it's getting close to eight o'clock, and I'm thinking to myself, there's not that many places. By the time I get to any place, it's gonna be late, and it's an emergency. So, what do I do? How do I act to this? Pain and stress. Well, about maybe 15, 20-ish minutes after this happens, I start to develop a headache, and there is actual psych physical pain that starts to happen, and part of my teeth I can feel where the the bone is lodged, and the lower set of teeth actually start to ache a little, and I can feel part of my teeth kind of shifting slightly. And I I know that sounds weird, but it's it's honestly that's what I felt. So after trying everything I could, I realized I needed help. And like I said, I was eating dinner with my mother and my nephew, and my mother starts actually trying to search for that dentist, and I start searching for a dentist. Google on Yeah, Google and uh maps, uh Google Maps, and I type in all sorts of things that you can think of: 24-hour dentists, emergency dentists, nearby dentists, everything in my mother calls her dentists because she had a situation where she was able to find a 24-hour dentist for a previous situation and for one of my family members, and this was several years ago. So she had the number saved and she called them, left a message, and I did the same thing. The nearby town, city, 45 minutes away, I decided to call all of their office. So, what do you do? What do you do when you're in that situation where there's only let's see, one, two, three, four, five or six dentists, and only three of the five actually have after hours emergency numbers? Well, you call them and you leave your message and you tell them what happened, and you see and you hope for the best. My mother tries to other city and tries to figure out things, and she's leaving messages and phone numbers, and we wait. And my mother tells me, Why don't we just go to that city 45 minutes away and go to the ER? Go to an ER because they would be more equipped. And of course, at this moment I'm in pain and I'm not really focusing. And I said, Well, I am on the phone and I am talking to that same place, and they're trying to put me in the triage nurse, and we're trying to see if they can call me back. So I'm on hole and she tells me that, and of course, my logic is going out the door, and and I said, I'm on the phone with them, and and she said, Let's just go up there. And so I you know, finally get in touch with somebody and say, Yes, just tell them to call me, and they say it'll take anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour. I said, fine, and I said, We're going up there right now. And and yeah, that's that's the way that goes. And deciding to go to the ER after no immediate help. And there there is a few I would uh I hate to say this, but there was a dentist that responded, and uh let's just say that his words weren't really appealing, and I would just say this much. He said, because you're not a client and or you're not a current you're you're not a current patient, I am not accepting new clients at this moment, your best bet is to try your dentist or try another city which is about three to three and a half hours away from my location. And how do you respond to a question like that? And in my best response, I just said, Thank you for your time, thank you for your help, and I just left it. He did respond with some possible remedies, but you know, and we're just like, Really? You would say this to somebody in need in help. Yeah, it was frustrating, it was really frustrating, people. Because it, you know, I have to say that I was scared, I was upset, I was in pain, I didn't know what to do. And you know, thankfully, you know, my mother just says, you know what, I can help drive you because I know you're in pain, and you know, and I said, I can drive myself, and she said, No, let's get ready. And she said, I help drive you up there because you may not be able to come back in a situation of being and they might do something to you of you know giving you some kind of some drugs or something like that where you would be numbed out. So, yeah. So, questions How do I make decisions when I don't have all the information? Wow, that's a toughie. That's a real toughie. For me, it is hard to make decisions when I don't have the information. As I mentioned in the episode before, I need to have at least some information to make some kind of kind of critical, you know, analysis, some kind of thought. Because for me, it's important, it's part of like understanding things, and you know, that's the way my mind adapts to the situation. And how do I make decisions when I don't have the information? I have to make the best educated guess because in this case, you know, your mind is rushing through, but you're thinking all these different things. One, do I stay here and suffer through the pain as the headache gets worse? Two, do I make the trip up north to the city, or do I go in the opposite direction and try to find something two to three hours, or try another place going in another direction, which is about 90 minutes away. And honestly, I just wanted to get it out, and I said, Well, you know, recently before that, I you know, I had to go up that point in that direction for something else, and I remember that the hospital was there, and it was a it was just a random conversation I had with somebody, and they were telling me that there was some stuff, and I remember that I went there, and and that was the closest place that had that actually had a functional hospital with actual people and doctors actually there on standby, and so my process of elimination went to that point, and I had to agree with my mom. Of course, my mom was a little more not dealing with the pain or my situation, so she had was dealing, she was thinking a little more kind of things overall. But so, next question: Do I wait for the right answer or act in the best option I have? Well, I think I answered that question already. You know, I did the process of elimination and I thought about it being on the weekend and being so late, and of course I wasn't getting any information. The only one that responded was that dentist, which I didn't like his response. And so you do have to make the best option in that sense. You really do, and process of elimination is kind of like the best thing you can do. And my critical thought was you know, I'm already in pain, I can travel one direction or another direction, and I'm still gonna be in pain. At least this one is the least of pain, and they do have some kind of doctor on site that he will be able to help in some way or another or give me some kind of uh treatment. So yeah, that's what I did. So, at what point do I stop trying to fix it myself and trust someone else? Well, in this case, it was my mother listening to her and you know talking to the guy who was trying to put me in the triage uh conversation to talk to the nurse. And you know, he told me, well, they will get back to you within 15 minutes to an hour to give you some kind of advice, medical advice, because he couldn't give me advice. And I understand by policy, some people can't give medical advice just like some people, or actually many people shouldn't give legal advice, but in a sense, I understood where this person was coming from, and you know, it's not really the best thing you want to hear, especially when you're in pain. But you know, I said, well, that's that's what it comes down to, and so I took the decision and I have I d I decided to to go with my mother's idea and to have her help me drive to the ER. So the resolution and meaning, the relief and awareness. So this part, we arrived at the ER about 45-ish minutes. We got a little bit fast, maybe 43, but it's a little bit further than town, on a little bit on the other side of this the town, the city, however you want to describe it. So, but we got there in good time, no traffic, we had to avoid some animals on the road. But besides the point, we got there. I went inside, signed in within a few minutes. The staff let me in the back, and the nurse talked to me. I explained the situation. They were really professional and they were really kind. The nurse was a guy nurse, and I was kind of telling him, and we were joking around, and and he looked it in my mouth, and he said, Wow. I said, Can you see it? He says, Yeah, he goes, It's noticeable. So I said, Okay, okay, I felt a bit better because he sees it, he knows where it's at, and he is saying it's noticeable. So it's not just a small, little, small thing. So that made me feel a little a little more the situation that it was important. And so the doctor came in, looked at it, and he said, Let me go get a tool to help you and to help with the procedure. So he comes back with a little metal tool, and he starts feathering around one side, then feather around the other side, and then he starts readjusting the tool, and then I reach my mouth with my tongue, and I kind of take a small bite, and I feel like it is loose, like he did pull it out a little bit. I said, Wow, I said, you got it, and he goes, So it's the right tooth, and you you really don't want to hear that from a doctor saying that you're you're you're at the right place, and saying, Oh, so it's the right tooth. I know that's something you don't want to hear anyone say, but yes, it was a little funny in the moment, but yeah. So he tried again and it was kind of funny because he moved one way with my with that that device in the next way, and it just it actually shot out of my mouth and it flew up, and I was laying down on my back. So it flew up a little bit and it landed on my shirt. And he picks it up with his hand, he goes, Well, there is there's your hamburger bone fragment, and he puts it in my hand, and I look at it, and it it is actually a good size. I'm not even gonna lie to you, it's a good size. I took a picture of it, so I do have a um an Instagram, so I'll let people know that so you guys can actually see how big it is compared to my the hat that I was wearing and compared to the size of my fingers. And no, I don't have small fingers, just to let you know. But besides the point, uh there's it's a good size, it is a good size, and it was immediate relief. My headache was gone, my teeth felt at ease, it felt like I had a new pair of teeth, and you know, it was it was real resolved in that moment. I mean I look down and I see this little this piece of hamburger meat, I mean hamburger meat fragment of bone, or let's try it again, bone fragment from hamburger meat in my palm of my hand, and it's it's a good size. Like like I said, it's a good size. But in that moment I thought to myself, wow, almost four hours of this ordeal, and it's finally over. And so yeah, so questions How did I handle this did I handle the situation? Did I handle this situation well or or just get through it I wanna say I did it I actually handled it well but that's just my own thinking you know sometimes when you're dealing with pain you make rash decisions that you know affect the people around you and yeah I was in pain I was frustrated and you know I was a little terr terror temperamental a little bit but it's you know it was it was painful it was noticeable and you know when you saw the one fragment it's just like yeah you can see that there was some relief after it came out so yeah I think I handled it well and yeah anyway next question what what would I do differently if this happened again wow you know it's a chance you know this type of situation can happen again because it's hamburger meat and it is my favorite meal meat and potatoes and just before you guys say oh meat potatoes no there's a certain way meat and potatoes are prepared and yeah so I like it in a certain way so for you people that are kind of like trying to figure out how to make me potatoes for me and say hey come over for me no there's a certain way meat and potatoes are made and a certain way I like it so yeah but it it is something that can happen it is something that definitely can happen again and how would I handle it differently I think one thing I would try to do is probably purchase like a tool on Amazon you know they have like you know some dental dented tool dental let's try it again some dental tools that you can get from Amazon and I will find like one of those hooks or one of those things that you can do it. And even though the doctor didn't use the same exact tools at least this will help me to find it and you know seeing those little mirrors in your you know that dental tools have I think it would be kind of better so you know you won't just rely on seeing it for your yourself because sometimes having that mirror you know dentist stuff you know and you having somebody look at it to help you identify it I think having tools on the site will probably make it a little bit better but I'm still thinking about that oh having butter dental clientele not clientele dentist that you know I have in the area because I don't come to this area too often I think I would have a more established place what would see me that I would be in their system so if I needed you know to see another you know urgent situation at least I'm in their phone book I think that's pretty much it so last question was this really was this really about the situation or about how he responded to the problem in generals or how or how about I respond to problems in general well I'm gonna tell you right now this episode was about the tooth and the situation and a little bit of how I respond to the problem. For me it was definitely about the bone fragment I mean there's no way that I can explain it and you know going through that type of thing yeah anyway so we're gonna close out this part and let me leave just a few things um there are some housekeeping things I would like to talk about so but before let me close this section out what started out something small turned into a chain of decisions and it made me realize critical thinking isn't just for big situations it shows up in moments like this when things don't go as planned it's not about having the perfect answer it's about how you respond when you don't so questions for you guys audience when something unexpected happens in your life do you react or do you actually think through it I think that kind of goes back to one of the things I was thinking about earlier in the week I had a conversation with somebody and I said in in a society are we people that react to a situation or are we proactive and this person kind of looked at me and and said I think we're reactive and I said I think you're right I said more or less all the times that when we think about things we react in the moment of something bad happens and we we're never proactive but anyway in this situation I think a lot of times we re we're reactive because we're not prepared for it. So anyway so basically we do have some sponsors or not sponsors but support recently and I'm happy that these people are showing their support. So if so how do I put this I I know I'm gonna sound so cheesy when I say this but if you're enjoying the show and want to make if you want to support it there's a link below in the monthly s for monthly support completely optional but always appreciate it. And to the people that did support recently I want to say thank you to you guys. One of the comments you guys said is that well I said do you want do you would you like to hear commercials because on but Buzz Sprouts there is a way that you generate some income by showing or having little kind of small mini advertisement spots that are actually gets in introduced into different episodes by Buzz Sprouts and they do it automatically but the supporters said no we do not want to hear advertisements we want to hear the episodes so because you guys are helping with that I am gonna say for this entire uh month that there are no for the current month of March there will be no advertisements and that's based on that conversation for at least for this month March 2026 so with that being said you know I hope you enjoyed this conversation and I hope you got something out of it some critical thinking some laughs some tears whatever the case may be but I do appreciate you guys stopping by listening to the episode the people that support it thank you so much I am still learning how to do this podcast situation and I'm doing my best a lot of times you hear some errors and this is a learning process and I will get better. So with that being said take care of yourself and thank you for stopping by peace