Beware of falling teeth!

Hey Gang! I owe you an update, but right now I have an interesting little story to share.

My poor little girl has really been fighting the sickness going around. She recently recovered from bronchitis, and just a few days later ended up going right back to the doctor for something similar. We now have her on antibiotics, steroids, an inhaler and breathing treatments 4 times a day. She is due for a recheck today to see if her lungs are clearing up. So please keep my baby in your prayers. The Dr. thinks it could be allergy related issues, but we just don't know yet.

But my story today isn't about my daughter, although you needed to know that tidbit to set up the scene. It's about my teeth. Yes, I said my teeth. So here's the scenario...

I'm in the doctors office on Wednesday afternoon. My daughter is getting a breathing treatment while I sit beside her and read. I have a small piece of sugar-free gum in my mouth. Suddenly, instantly and without warning, my front tooth falls out. BAM! And there it is, lying in my hand in all it's fake enameled glory (it's a crown). At this point I have no idea how to even react. I think I was in a type of shock. Seriously, at 35 years of age who wakes up and says "I wonder if my tooth will fall out today?" It just doesn't happen. Yeah, I could have stuck it under my pillow, but the tooth fairy can't give me near enough to replace what I paid for that crown, so I'll keep it, thank you very much.

My daughter's eyes grow huge as she realizes what just happened. Just seconds later the doctor walks in and starts listening to Rachel's lungs again. I sit quietly, my tooth clutched in my hand. And while I'm trying really hard to focus on what the doctor is saying to Rachel, it's difficult because I'm having flashbacks from my dentist visit a couple of years ago. If you don't remember that horrendous story, feel free to go check it out. It was a nightmare.

Now the doctor is talking to me, and again I'm trying to listen. I carefully ask her to repeat her instructions once again to be sure I have understood them, then I grab a kleenex and wrap my tooth up. The Dr. looks at me kinda funny and I explain what happened. She expresses shock as well, but then tells me of a substance I can use to temporarily glue it back until I can get to the dentist.

We make it home and my husband is waiting there. Obviously his first question isn't "Hey, did your tooth fall out at the doctors office by any chance?". He was concerned about our daughter and asks what the doctor said. I just start to tell him when Rachel blurts out, "Mom's tooth fell out while we were there!" I confirm the fact, then show him and in his state of I-cannot-believe-that-happened he recommends I call the dentist immediately. Sadly for me the dentist office just closed so I have to leave a message.

Anyone remember what it was like as a kid trying to talk without one, or both, of your front teeth? It's a little spitty. And a little slthurrish. And I ended up sounding like Slyvester from Looney Toons. Here's the message I left the dentist.

"Hi, thish isth Amy Dungan. I need to sthee the doctor asth sthoon asth possthible. My front crown fell out justh a few mintuths ago. Pleasth call me back at..." then left my phone number, which contains several "sthevens and sthixes".

I hang up the phone and my husband is doing his dead-level best not to bust out laughing. I give him the this-is-so-not-funny-and-if-you-dare-laugh-you-will-sleep-on-the-couch-for-a-month look. He laughed anyway. Since I generally have a pretty good sense of humor I tried to laugh too, but just couldn't make it happen. I think it's because smiling showed the missing tooth... wow did that look bad. I looked like one of those characters from some hillbilly show.

I won't bore you with the rest of the details of the evening - like trying to eat, brushing my teeth, sleeping, etc. But I will say it has a happy ending. Yesterday morning the Dentist got me right in and for $30 glued the crown back in place. I can eat, smile, talk... even chew gum without fear now. But I did learn a valuable lesson in all this. Next time I need dental work I will not be going with the cheapest dentist I can find, as I did two years ago. No, next time I'll just bite my tongue and deal with the bill.

I severely dislike my dentist

I'm using severely dislike because I've always said you should never hate anyone. I still believe it, but I'm coming awfully close right now. Actually, I starting to believe I have a rather incompetent dentist. Which is sad seeing as how the whole reason I'm seeing this dentist is due to shoddy dental work from my past.

I went in today for the last crown I needed. After they put in the permanent one, I doubt I'll ever be back.

It started with the top front tooth that needed a crown. They did all the work, which wasn't too bad once I got the Novocaine (or what ever they use now), put in the temp and I went home numb. I realized later in the day, after the numbness wore off, that I couldn't eat because my bottom teeth were hitting the back of the temp tooth, effectively keeping my jaw teeth away from each other. Chewing was no longer an option. You'd think they would have checked that before they sent me home, wouldn't you? So I call the next morning and tell them what the problem is. They tell me to come in and they will fix it. They do and all is OK. I go back two weeks later and they put in my permanent, which thankfully didn't have the same problem.

I go in for tooth #2 a couple of weeks ago. I have a filling that was loose, and because of that, had decay around and under neath it. This tooth is on the upper left jaw. The expensive dentist said I'd need a root canal and a crown there. This dentist said he could probably just fill it, but if not he'd crown it. No talk of a root canal - and I didn't complain. I have had a couple root canals before and they are awful. So I go in and they numb me up again. But something doesn't feel quite right. I don't feel numb enough, if that makes any sense. I sit in the chair concerned about feeling pain during the filling. In case I haven't mentioned this before, I'm allergic to pain - it makes me hurt. :0) So now he starts all the drilling, etc. and I'm starting to feel things I shouldn't feel. Suddenly I experience a sharp stab of pain and I almost leap out of the chair. He backs off a second and then keeps going. No "Are you OK?" "Did that hurt?" "I'm sorry." Nothing. He then finishes up and they send me home. I expect to be a bit sore and maybe sensitive for a couple of days. It has now been over two weeks and it still hurts to bite down very hard on anything or drink anything very cold on that side. My wonderful hubby wanted to know why I didn't say anything to him about feeling the pain from the drill. When? While the drill was going? Then he would have ground off my lips!

Today: I go in for my scheduled crown prep on my lower right jaw, which is an older crown that fell apart. I ask about my filling and they tell me it's normal, but if it still bothers me when I come back to put in my permanent crown, he'll need to take a look at it.

So I sit down and the dentist takes one of those swab things that is supposed to help pre-numb you. He just stabs it between my gums and cheek and lets it sit there. I think it numbed my cheek much more than it numbed my gums. So then he gets out the needle and starts stabbing away. It hurt like the dickens and he had to do it in several places. Be careful what you wish for. I was praying he'd at least get me numb this time. Oh did he! I only felt the first 3 shots. But I know I got more than that. And I have no idea what he was doing towards the end, but it was shooting the drug on my bottom lip in spurts and it stung when it hit my lips! I was doing my best to sit still, but it made me jerk every time it hit. That happened 3 or 4 times. I'm not exaggerating at all. It felt like sparks burning my bottom lip.

Finally he quits and leaves the room. I sit up and start to panic because I can't feel my tongue and I'm having a hard time swallowing. I calm myself down and wipe the tears from my eyes, which were caused by the shots AND the worry over my difficulty breathing. I practice breathing and swallowing very slowly to see if it's an illusion due to the tongue being numb, or if I seriously have a problem they need to know about. They way he was shooting that stuff around I figured he'd shot it down the back of my throat and it was swelling up or something. Anyhow, I realize I can still breathe and swallow, but it's gonna be a bit of effort while he's got his hands in my mouth.

While waiting for him to come back in, I realize that I'm numb on the right side all the way up to my ear. I'm telling ya, he could've jabbed a sharp instrument into my ear and I'd never have felt it.

So then he comes in and gets to work. I concentrate on breathing and trying to keep my tongue out of the way AND keep it from choking me at the same time. There were a couple of times when it felt like we were dangerously close to cutting off my air way.

They make the mold, which I swear smells like tub caulking, and then let me sit up. The assistant comes back in to start fitting my temp crown in. She puts it in and then takes it out, puts it in, takes it out. I now know how a wall socket feels. This goes on for a while and she grinds the fake one down a bit each time. Then I have one of those "Oh Crud!" moments. (Lying in a Dentist chair, in the middle of a procedure is not the time to have one of these moments, by the way.) I realize that I'll have to eat very carefully on my right side until my permanent crown is in, which will be for about 3 weeks since I'll be in Vegas when the dentist gets it back. The problem here is I have the filling on the left side that still hurts so I can't chew very well on that side either. I envisioned being on a strictly liquid diet for the next 3 weeks. That'd be fun! I can imagine sitting in one of the great restauraunts in Las Vegas, sending my food back asking if the chef can puree it for me.

She keeps fitting the temp. After several times I tell her that the current size of the temp will prevent the other side of my jaw from being used. She said she saw that and that's why she's still working on it. Good! At least I won't have a repeat of the issues with the first crown temp.

Now I'm home. I've taken Advil hoping it will help as the numbness wears off. So far I've gotten the feeling back in my ear and part of my jaw. The part I can feel, feels like someone hit me in the face with a brick. I still can't feel my chin. I was starving on the way home but can't really eat since I can't feel my right cheek. Which I've lightly bitten a couple of times just talking. I ran to the store to pick some things up and grab one of the new Atkins bars. It took me almost 20 minutes to eat it. But at least my stomach isn't growling at me.

Like I said. I'll get the crown I paid for, but I don't plan on going back. I guess you get what you pay for. I should have sold my organs on the black market so I could afford the other dentist.

So.. that was my day. How was yours?