Lost Tooth

On Wednesday, my friend from work offered me a piece of chocolate toffee, which of course, I was unable to refuse. As we were walking home, the toffee got stuck to my teeth and so I wrenched it out and threw away the candy, only to discover as I continued walking, that I'd also pulled out my entire crown. It's a weird feeling to run your tongue along your teeth and suddenly discover a pocket of space and the jagged edges of your remaining tooth. It didn't hurt though; that's the saving grace.
Now, I'm scheduled to go in today to have the tooth completely extracted, since the dentist explained to me yesterday that it's beyond saving. Luckily, this is a back molar, and not like, my front tooth. Still--it reminds me of those stress dreams I have on occassion where all of my teeth are crumbling from my mouth--my biggest fear coming true.

Had a cleaning yesterday and got through my discomfort with it by imagining that maybe I could write a poem about it somehow; something about the way that your mouth is stretched 19 different directions for the X-rays and your throat jammed up and your cheek pinched. And then the other assistant comes in to clean your teeth and that's not much fun either b/c she comments breezily about how discolored your teeth are from drinking coffee and then she'll take out a tiny instrument with a hook on the end and dig at your gums to remove the plaque. I had to keep telling myself, This isn't hurting you. Feeling something is not the same as feeling pain. But I didn't want to feel anything. And so today, I will be getting shots in the side of my mouth and having a tooth dug out. Next, we will be discussing a dental implant, wherein they drill a hole in your gums and screw in a fake tooth.

Here are some cute pictures to make you feel better about the whole situation.
My stepada and Luke in the sunshine.


Mom and me. Here, I have nearly all of my teeth.


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Short story by Lauren Groff, "At the Round Earth's Imagined Corners"

Candyman: Race, Class, Sexuality, Gender, and Disability

Consumed