My teeth are crap. Always have been, always will be. 

It’s led to continued issues as an adult, despite twice a day brushing, flossing, mouthwash, the works. I’ve had crowns, root canals, extractions and for a long time my dentist, who I actually quite like, and who would probably have preferred to replace all my silver fillings at once, made a deal with me that we’d take it one tooth at a time as the amalgam needed replacing. This helped me spread out the expense and probably prevented a me from having a permanently sore jaw.

I never understood, as a child, how I could have so many cavities, and my brother, who often only pretended to brush his teeth, could get off scot-free. I blamed it on my mother, who had had false teeth since I could remember. She told stories of her bad teeth too.

Last year about this time, I saw his associate. She told me I had a tooth that needed a root canal. Given my teeth, I sighed, started figuring out where the money would come from and told her to go ahead. So she started. Unfortunately, she’d bit off more than she could chew. So she sent me off to a specialist. He promptly told me this was not a root canal situation, but an extraction was needed. Which of course he couldn’t do! So off to another specialist. All this as I was leaving employment, and the end of dental benefits. Let’s just say the pain wasn’t just in my pocketbook.

Extraction complete, we then had to wait six months to see if the bone would be enough for an implant. A few expensive xrays later led to an appointment with yet another specialist to put in the implant. 

Well let me tell you, I seriously underestimated the pain that I’d experience after this procedure. I mistakenly thought it would be like a root canal. Turns out, when you drill a hole into the bone in your jaw and then jam in the equivalent of a wallboard anchor, it hurts like $(@%&) and the swelling lasts a long time.

I’m about a month away now, from the penultimate appointment, where we make sure the post is properly seated and then finally set up for the crown to be put in. By that time, I’ll have been more than a year without a tooth there. And I’m exhausted.

I cannot begin explain how excited I am for Adventures in Dentistry to conclude!