Often I
receive complements on my beautiful smile. -- Well it should be nothing less
than gorgeous for what it cost! I have 3 bridges, 2 implants, 7 crowns and
counting.
At age 47 my
teeth were straightened the old Hollywood way with crowns. All of them cracked
within 5 years and needed to be replaced. The dentist who first placed them
assured me they would last for 20 years and now he was gone! All were crazy expensive, not to mention an ordeal to replace.
My last
birthday fell on a Monday. Friday morning I kicked off my birthday weekend declaring
my healthy diet be damned. I began with walnut pancakes with lots of syrup. However
one of those walnuts turned out to be a frontal crown. It's a miracle I didn't
swallow it!
The open space
in my teeth stuck out like a firecracker. I looked like Granny Yokum from
Dogpatch! I called my dentist only to learn the office remained closed for the
holidays and wouldn't be open until Tuesday. I phoned the emergency number and
was informed this was not considered an emergency. I was told to buy Fixodent.
OK I thought
I'll just make a quick trip to Walgreens and back keeping my mouth closed. But horror
of horrors my car battery expired there stranding me! I don't own a cellphone.
The store
manager assured me everything was going to be OK and to stop crying. A young
clerk gave my car a jump. I drove directly to Eagle Automotive looking as I did.
I was embarrassed as hell!
The owner
there is wonderful. He not only replaced my battery but found a leak in my coolant
and repaired it.
As to the
Fixodent, now that I had it I was reluctant to use it. This was only a
temporary fix and I couldn't risk swallowing that crown or having it go down
the sink while brushing my teeth, or falling on the floor and get stepped on.
I already
had another tooth; a back lower molar missing awaiting my bone graft to heal for
another implant.
And this tiny
piece of porcelain not even half the size of a carpenter ant's butt would cost
me thousands to replace! I could buy an entire set of dishes for way less. And
if it would save me money I'd rip out my porcelain bathroom sink and give it to
the dentist! That would cost me much less to replace!
Fast forward
to Tuesday, as I'm sitting in the dentist chair he drops my crown on the floor!
Both he and the dental assistant scramble to locate it. I'm hollering
"Don't step on it!" -- Had it fallen on my floor at home I'd never
have found it due to posterior vitreous detachment in both my eyes.
Thankfully
they found it. I left my dentist office only $200 poorer.
That was the
suckiest birthday ever in my life!
Now I'm in the process of getting an implant for that lower back molar. So it's a
return to long months of eating soft food and chewing on one side. The screw
placed under the gum must heal before the process can be completed even though
my bone graft was successful.
Afterward when I picked up my prescriptions at the pharmacy they asked to see my driver's
license which they never did before. I inquired as to what they were giving me! One
was a powerful narcotic which I refused. On other occasions I refused the
super-duper strength Tylenol.
I don't do
narcotics legal or other. If I was on my death bed in dire pain it would be
different but I wasn't going there over brief mild discomfort.
I've had my
lips tattooed 4 different times with only a topical which wore off half way
thru so I really think I can handle pain!
No comments:
Post a Comment