I'm Toothless

Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Okay, fine, I confess. I still have all my teeth...except one.

It started back in April. Or May. Whatever. I blame my Parents as Teachers lady.

Our school district offers this program, you see. Where a representative will come into your house about once a month if you have a child under the age of three, and test your toddler, give the parents helpful advice, and provide her with little games to play as a way to make sure she's progressing okay and will be ready to start school when the time comes.

Well, one of the topics our Parents as Teachers lady discussed with us was making sure our children had healthy teeth. If their teeth grow in wrong, then it can affect their speech, which in turn will affect their education, and so forth. She recommended getting our child to a dentist as early as possible.

It had been awhile--okay, years--since I'd actually gone to a dentist myself. When my childhood dentist retired, I just never got around to making an appointment with the new dentist all my records had been sent to. But if I needed to take my kid to get her teeth checked out, then I figured I better get myself established somewhere.

So I made an appointment. Surprisingly enough, I only had four cavities. In fact, I was actually complimented for how well I took care of my teeth and kept them clean (yeah, take that hubby who insists I don't brush long enough).

They set me up with a July date to get fillings put in the four cavity-infected teeth. Except...in early June, one of the loose fillings they planned to get re-filled fell out while I was chewing gum (evil stuff, that gum).

I called the dentist to let them know. So the the next three times they called to get me into an earlier spot, the time was already filled by the time I contacted them back. Therefore, yep, I had to wait over a month with a hole in my tooth, in which time it started to ache and throb and hurt like you wouldn't believe.

By the day my July appointment rolled around, I was soooo ready for my new filling, I almost bawled. But even after I got it filled, that stupid tooth still ached and throbbed and hurt like you wouldn't believe. As one who hates to pester people, I dragged my feet a week before I called the dentist again. They said sometimes they get the fillings too high, or some such dentist jargon I really don't understand, so they got me in that day to take a look. Sure enough, they had to shave the filling down a bit, and told me, "There, that should make you feel lots better."

After a couple days, it actually did begin to feel better, but this little bump had started to bulge out of my gums directly above "that" tooth. Maybe I should mention sometime in here that this is a baby tooth we're talking about. It never fell out and a new tooth never came in. Yes, I'm almost thirty-two years old and still have a couple baby teeth in there.

I waited, dragged my feet some more, and gave the bulge time to deflate. It didn't. In fact, it just grew bigger. At this point, the husband demanded, "CALL THE DENTIST." Ugh. So less than three weeks after my bump appeared, I called the dentist.


They, of course, wanted to look at my bump. That was on this Monday ago. I got a 3pm appointment and took off work early to show it to them. Turns out, my baby tooth "rejected" its new filling, as they termed it, and I got an abscess in my tooth.

I know, eww.

So, the doctor numbed me up, drained the abscess, and "slipped" my tooth out of there. Right then and there...he pulled my beloved baby tooth out.

Oh, the horror.

It's way in the back, so you can't see it. But when I look at in the mirror, it looks as if half my freaking teeth are gone. I'm quite traumatized (well, I am a little). I feel way too young to be toothless.

I guess the next step is to figure out what I want done with that big gaping hole: bridge it, leave it be, or whatever. I know I want something filling the space, but I'm not sure yet what it'll be.

To say the least, I haven't gotten a lot of writing done this week.

Hope everyone is having a good hump day.


13 comments:

  1. I feel for you, sweetie...One of my back teeth has quite a cavity in it, and the dentist couldn't numb me enough to fill it. So it has to come out. BUT, the oral surgeon wants an arm and a leg...I want to be totally knocked out. My thinking is, if they couldn't get me numb enough to FILL it, how do they know they're going to get me numb enough to PULL it? So yeah, I want to be unconscious when they do it. That was July 2010 when this discussion took place. Now, every once in a while as I'm brushing, flossing, or even something too cold/hot hits that tooth, it 'reminds' me (very gently) it is 'sick' and needs attention. And when I visited my dentist 8/22, he was amazed it wasn't giving me more problems, but urged me to get it out as soon as possible. So I'm thinking maybe next tax season the tooth fairy will visit me. Did she at least visit YOU?

    And they told me that after it comes out, its 'mate' will drop down in a year if I don't have an implant put in. Do you have that issue also?

    Hahaha...WV is 'preditr...'

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  2. Oh no! But at least it wasn't the first, right? And you never know, maybe the adult one will pop up.

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  3. I'd want to be knocked out too if I were you, Kenzie. ouch. It was painful enough just to listen to my roots tear as they "slipped" my tooth out.

    Yes, I'm glad it's in the back too, thanks Jessica. That would be totally awesome if the other tooth decided to grow in now. I'd take that over a fake tooth any day.

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  4. Do you have your wisdom teeth yet? If not, one will come in and fill the gap.
    I just ordered your book for my kindle. I'll read and write a comment on Amazon. The cover looks a little "hot" for this old broad. Ha
    Manzanita@Wannabuyaduck

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  5. No wisdom teeth yet; I really hope you're right and and something else comes in to fill the gap. Thanks, Manzanita!! And thanks for buying a book. That's so nice. It depends on which one you got on how hot it is, but it might well be. Hope you enjoy.

    **I should note, I really don't blame my PAT lady for my bad tooth. She's awesome**

    ***I should also note, this is a good time to read Nancy J. Parra's blog (This Writer's Life) this week about why and how every author should take care of themselves, teeth included.

    If you want to get a little x-rated, Miranda Stowe also has a little advice on how every woman can remain healthy in her Monday blog...okay, I'm done promoting now!!***

    Linda Kage

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  6. Another dental trauma...... eeek! I had bad experiences as a youngster. Glad you survived it and can still keep your sense of humor. :O)

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  7. I despise the dentist! At least it was towards the back and maybe something else will grow in. If not, consider a bridge.

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  8. Ouch. Dentists are never fun. But it's good you got the abscess taken care of. You do need to fill the space. Talk to the dentist when you go back. An xray should show if an adult tooth is in place, and if there's room for it, or if you have a wisdom tooth. Otherwise a bridge or implant.

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  9. Hi Linda,
    I had three adult molars that never formed- then when I was 13 they pulled the baby teeth and now I am sporting three bridges~ sigh. It's a congenital birth defect- I was the only one out of the five kids in my family- and guess what? Both my kids had the same defect. The difference is that with modern orthodontics they were able to fill the gaps with the teeth the kids already had and no bridges for them! (((hugs)))

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  10. Having just been to the dentist with part of a broken back tooth, I sympathise! Better getting rid of the infection than keeping your tooth though, Linda. Maybe your adult tooth is lurking there waiting to have room to come through!

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  11. Ugh. I feel for you! Early orthodontic work on my baby teeth has left me with an adulthood of continual work needed. It's like a viscious never-ending cycle and I so sympathize. Hang in there hon!

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  12. It's my first to hear about a 32-year-old woman who still has deciduous teeth (also known as "baby teeth" or "milk teeth"). You must be taking good care of your teeth, Linda. Well, baby teeth are as important as permanent teeth.

    Bianca Jackson

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