Mommy's Getting A Makeover!

4/24/19

Mommy's Getting A Makeover

Never underestimate the power of a great oral surgeon and dentist. Next to bariatric surgeons, they rank pretty high in The Quilter Cook list of docs. Both can change your life. 

So, today's tale begins with a tooth that felt loose on that polar vortex trip we took to Dallas in January. I bit into something...hmm...maybe a crouton...and oops...loose tooth. Super. I was determined not to have a dental crisis while on vacation so I took very good care of it and didn't have any more problems. Until about two weeks later I chomped down on an olive and it came out while I was eating supper. 

Then the inevitable happened. I had to call the dreaded dentist. 

Let me digress a moment and fill you in on some of my dental history. I'm not going into much detail, but I grew up in a small town in Iowa and we had ONE dentist in that small town. That didn't give us a real opportunity to shop around. Plus, back in the day you pretty much went for three things. Your check-ups, fillings and extractions. Braces and dentures were luxuries in those days and you had to go to specialists. 

My parents were not helicopter types so it was easy to allow my oral health to deteriorate over my formative years. This resulted in learning at just about every check up that a filling or two was to follow. 

My dental phobia-Dentophobia-I believe came from this small town dentist drilling...and drilling...and drilling...with a big heavy drill until he hit the nerve...way...way...way... down in my tooth. Now, interesting enough it wasn't just me who had this experience at this very same dentist, just saying. I'm not giving out the name of the dentist or other dental victims, but you know who you are. 

When you go to a dentist and this happens over and over again...something in your brain says "Let's avoid this torture AT ALL COSTS." Made sense to me. 

So, as I grew older I had ongoing countless fillings and a few teeth all pulled by the same guy. Let the record show that he thought four days before I headed off to college was a great time to pull all four of my wisdom teeth at once.

It was that experience that made me decide that dentists were not my friends. One bad case of dry socket can do that to a girl. 

Naturally, I married a man who is a member of the Brushy Brushy Club and has perfect teeth. 

So, for many years he went to his appointments...and I refused...out of fear. Fear can be very powerful.

Teeth don't really go for that kind of action...or non-action I guess you could say. 

A few years ago, while eating oatmeal one morning...CRACK! An eyetooth that had a big cavity in the back where nobody could see busted in half. I ran to the bathroom mirror to find to my horror a dagger and a half tooth sticking out right in the front of my mouth!! AUGH!! 

Enter, THE DREADED DENTIST and then...wait for it...THE ORAL SURGEON!

I had no choice but to DO SOMETHING. The dagger had to come out and the hole had to be filled. I had no idea then, but over the next few months I would undergo an extraction and an implant. Now, these are not cheap. The pulling of a tooth is one thing. An implant....well...$$$$$$$$$$$.

Before I go on, let me state that we have ALWAYS had the BEST dental insurance. Even with that, the above mentioned procedures still carry a VERY HIGH price tag into the thousands for ONE. And no, I refuse to go to some fly by night place and have them torture me. Been there, done that in Indy once. NOPE. Lesson learned.

The prep for an implant is no fun. The oral surgeon first pulls the tooth. Then they let that heal, then you go back and they split the gum open and pack it with this calcium stuff for your bone to get strong. Then, That has to heal. Meanwhile, you go to your dentist and he makes a "flipper" tooth you wear for looks to cover the hideous cavern in your smile. Once the bone stuff soaks in and hardens up and heals, you go back to the oral surgeon where opens the area up again and drills way down into the bone and sets the stump that will hold the implant. And then that has to heal up. 

Finally, you get your implant. They glue it in and off you go. I may have some of this incorrect, but I was in a daze throughout this whole deal so you need to focus on the big picture.  It's not a great journey, but in the end it's great!  I keep forgetting I have an implant!

Ok, so here I am three years later with a new situation. Once I consulted my dentist back home here when this new tooth fell out, he had a heart to heart with me and explained I needed to make some choices to hopefully avoid dentures later in life. I needed to get with the dental program. And fast. 

Over the last two months, I have undergone a good cleaning,  five crowns, three fillings, an extraction, one complete bridge with another bridge prep scheduled for next Tuesday morning. The worst part has been dealing with the temp bridge that kept coming off- which I had to wear for an extra week because the lab made a mistake.But bless his heart, my dentist gave me a discount for having to wait. So, that happened.

 But now the permanent bridge is in I love it. When I was handed a mirror to see it for the first time  I started to cry. I couldn't believe how great it looked. So, I guess I can endure all that comes with this makeover  just one more time on the other side of my lower mouth knowing how wonderful I will feel when it's all over--which it will be on MAY 15th!!

I'd love to take  a picture of my beautiful mouth but I'm a little too fresh from the extraction. When BOTH bridges are in and the dental work is complete, you'll see it. I know, something to look forward to huh? 

Well, for me it's a HUGE deal for two reasons. One, I finally have teeth where I have had holes for years and years. Two, I am no longer afraid of THE DENTIST! 

Ok, you can still keep that big drill AWAY FROM ME  the rest of my life and that would be great!  

Have a super day! I'm going to read, watch some movies and work on the blog! 

Rhonda