July 08, 2003

My day, or the good, the bad and the ugly

OK, so why did I go to the dentist? Well, Sunday, while eating a piece of pizza, I found a goodly portion of the tooth had just fallen off. It was the one just to the left of my upper two front teeth. I was left with a very unsightly Billy Bob smile that perturbed me greatly. Now, truthfully, if I was to answer one of the 25 questions posed by Acidman:

17. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
I would have attempted to take much better care of my teeth.

It bothers me that I did such a poor job of it. I actually had very good teeth only a decade ago. My late wife's father is a dentist, and he took very good care of my teeth, and they were not all that bad anyway. Regrettably, a couple of factors can be attributed to why my teeth have deteriorated into the mess they are today. First of all, my wife died, and I really just allowed myself to go to pot over that incident for a number of years. Secondly, I have made several attempts to quit smoking over the past few years, and the placebo that works best for me, as I do not chew gum, is to suck on candies. I actually found lemon drops eased my urge to smoke the best, until I also found they were quickly eroding the enamel on my teeth.

A couple of years ago, I lost a chunk of one at the back of my mouth. I became very self conscious about my breath, because I had previously smelt the breath of someone with a decaying tooth and it was horrendous. I then began sucking Altoids almost all the time. Being almost 100% sugar, they assisted the rest to begin to decay.

I knew what was in my mouth and I knew I should be getting to the dentist, but I was also literally ashamed to allow anyone to have that good of a look into my mouth. It took having one ruin my smile to force me into action.

OK, the good news is that there is some portion of all of my teeth in there. The bad news is that almost all have some decay. The dentist had thought I went in today because I was experiencing pain with the one that broke off. I actually have no pain, except for one or two points I hit while chewing or when brushing. Of course, those painful points had also made me less inclined to brush as often as I should.

My hope is that all can be capped. I have to go back next week for a more thorough exam. After such exam, the dentist, a real cutie, will have some idea what options we have. Until then, I have been given a fluoride paste to apply every night, to slow the rate of decay. It seems to have escalated alarmingly after I lost that piece of tooth on Sunday.

The dentist said I was a very good looking man . . . until I opened my mouth. I knew that. It has been awhile since I was really comfortable with my smile. Thankfully, it seems I might become comfortable with it again in the very near future.

Take care of your teeth, ya'll. It is really hard to chew a good T-Bone without 'em.

Oh, after I got out of the dentist, I figured by the time I drove back to my hometown it would be after office hours anyway, so I went across the street to the movie theatre and caught a matinee showing of T3. Sorry, Arnie, but I did not see much difference between the story line in this one and the one in T2, and the effects were essentially the same. Of course, I thought Rocky lost it's appeal after the first sequel also. Robocop should not have had a sequel.

Posted by Tiger at July 8, 2003 08:54 PM | TrackBack
Comments

Shouldn't that be:

MY DAY : The good, the bad, and the drop-dead gorgeous dentist?

Posted by: Cherry at July 8, 2003 11:46 PM

This is part of a review I saw on Robocop 2.
And no, I don't plan on watching it!

...Most sequels to great movies aren't very good, but "Robocop 2" is an exception...
...I don't see how anybody could give "Robocop 2" a bad rating because it's a great sequel...
...If you like great action movies or if you liked the first "Robocop," I recommend getting "Robocop 2" without thinking twice...

Posted by: Cherry at July 8, 2003 11:52 PM

I used to have nightmares when I was younger that all my teeth would fall out. It would be like 1 tooth every 5 seconds. Then my gums would fall out, my mouth would start to fall out...it was horrible! I would wake and race to the bathroom to brush my teeth. (I think these dreams/nightmares began after I was 7 and I saw my grandma's dentures in a tray for the very first time. I didn't know of dentures before then!)

I ended up ruining my gums and teeth because I would brush too much and too hard! I had sealents put in and a filling to cover one area where the gum actually started to recede due to my incessent and vigorous brushing. I also was informed by my dentist, (who had a sheet to fill out and one question was, "What does tooth loss mean to you?" and I answered, "Terror!" to which he laughed uproarisly), advised me to get an electric tooth brush. So far, that seems to work and for those who are the lazier teeth brushers, it's actually quite nice to just guide the brush and let it do all the work.

With that and my nightguard, (yep, I grind my teeth too--that nightmare really wants to become a reality), I am hoping that I'll have my teeth forever.

Having said all that, (and taken up so much room), I hope that you will share your experience with teeth capping. I'm very curious about it.

Posted by: serenity at July 9, 2003 12:03 AM