The Dynamic Duo

Okay, boys and girls, its time for another grown up lesson. How many of you like to go to the dentist? Come on now, don’t all shout at once. Actually, when I was a kid, before I started down my long, rocky road of orthodontia, visiting the dentist wasn’t all that bad. All 5 of us kids had pretty good teeth, and I was in my 20’s before I had my first cavity.
“Look, Ma, no cavities,” as the old ad goes, but there was still plenty going on in this mouth of mine. I think my first visit to the ortho was about age 7. I had too many crookedly growing teeth for too small a mouth. I remember hearing “crossbite” and I remember wearing: headgear; braces with crisscrossing small rubber bands looped over small hooks, which would sometimes pop in my mouth; big black positioner, and finally retainers. Its the age old story of the orthodontia patient on maintenance who doesn’t wear their retainer at night, as instructed, and whose bite, therefore, goes bad. It’s also my story.
Lately dental visits have become more stressful for me. A couple of times, the dentist tried to drill before my mouth was altogether numb. More anesthesia was administered, and my tongue stayed numb for almost a month. My eyeball only stayed numb for several hours, but during that time, I had to manually (with my hand) close my eyelid if I wished to blink. You want to hear more? Okay, I have trouble breathing through my nose, so feel slightly panicked when my breathing organ of choice (mouth) is filled up with dental tools and dentist hands. The laughing gas makes me feel weird and jumpy, not relaxed and calm. I have TMJ (popping jaw) and if my mouth is forced to stay open wide for any length of time, my jaw aches for weeks.
About a month ago, I visited the dentist because I had a bad toothache. My old, large filling had gone bad. I needed a crown, and if the pain persisted, a root canal. A temporary crown was placed on this top front molar. I was told I should be able to chew on it; I couldn’t. I was told I should be able to floss around it; I flossed and it came out. The pain persisted, and the dentist, tired I think of my whining and persistence in not ‘opening wide’, referred me to a specialist in Twin Falls.
My friend, Debbie A. went to Twin Falls with me. It’s a 3 hour drive, and she was concerned I wouldn’t feel like driving home after my root canal. UltraDad had planned to take me, but he was still in Idaho having some good bonding time with his youngest sons. The endodontist was great. I had very little pain, and easily managed it with a couple of ibuprofen. In fact, we were able to shop at the mall for several hours, which made me feel even better.
Now I just had to wear this darn temporary crown for another week or two, and I could then schedule with my regular dentist to get the permanent one and this whole shebang would be over.
Today was the day. But as the dentist fitted, probed and scraped, he decided this new crown was not fitting properly. He needed to send it back to the lab for a little work. Darn it. But it would be ready by tomorrow, so I scheduled another appointment. The temporary crown went back on, but a funny thing happened tonight as I ate dinner. Suddenly my tongue felt a gap in my teeth, and I realized the temporary crown was gone. Really gone. I think I must have swallowed it.
So, learn this lesson, kids and learn it well. Take care of your teeth; always brush, floss and wear your retainer. Believe me, you don’t want to end up as a whiny, dentaphobic like UltraMom.