Crown Of Gold

Well, I'm sitting here contemplating the Gold Crown on the table in front of me.  Unfortunately, its not the kingly type of crown.  Its the kind that comes loose from a tooth!

It hardly seems fair.  I don't eat hard candies.  I don't crunch on ice cubes.  I don't eat really sticky stuff like taffy.  I was simply eating a bit of marinated boneless skinless chicken breast.  But it seems there was a tiny flake of bone in there.  It jammed in between 2 teeth like an ax into a log.

I was careful, I really was!  I used a wooden toothpick, I tried to remove the bone flake with downward pressure front and back for several cautious minutes.  When it finally seemed to loosen slightly, I OH SO CAREFULLY tried to lift it back out the way it entered. 

The length of time between feeling a slight movement and the realization that it was a crown coming loose was infinitesimal.  Seriously, I didn't even know that tooth HAD a crown.  I have a half dozen scattered around and after a month I can't tell where they are.  That's kind of the whole point of having them...

If dental stuff is icky to you, you might want to just skim ahead...

The last thing I was expecting earlier today was having to call a dentist tomorrow for an appointment.  But life is what happens when you aren't expecting it.  I suppose I should have though.  I may have gotten good cold and flu resistance genes from my parents, but the tooth genes were not so good.  Dad had only half his teeth by my age and a mouthful of partial dentures that seemed to come loose every 3 or 4 years.  He complained about it a lot.

In fact, my wisdom teeth never emerged.   X-Rays show them, but apparently they are blocked or something.  Side note:  Wisdom teeth are slowly vanishing from humans.  Some people don't have them, in others, they don't emerge.  Someday we won't have them at all.

I don't hate dentists!  What they do is valuable for relieving pain and making it easy to eat, etc.  But I DO hate dental work.  I was cursed with a small jaw and therefore crowded teeth.  When I was in my 20s one dentist wanted to pull a couple of teeth "to give me a better smile".  That sounded miserable and I wasn't concerned with what I perceived to be cosmetic dentistry.  I wish he had been more straightforward!  I only learned many years later that there had still been time for the remaining teeth to slowly spread to normal positions (or so another dentist told me in my 50s).

And some dental work is seemingly worse for most but easier for me.  I'll just say that layin on my back while someone is messing around in my mouth is physically horrible (2 words - "nasal drip"), but sitting upright is OK. 

So when a tooth utterly broke 2 years ago and the dentist had to pull it out, I was worried at the time, the the pulling was mostly just boring.  And when he told my the tooth root was interlocked with the one next to it and had to come out too, I just said "sure"... 

I haven't had any problems with the 2 removed teeth.  Can't even tell they are missing when I chew.

But last year, suddenly 2 small fillings came out in upper back molars.  I had been planning to (and delaying) making an appointment.  Now it's forced, so I will have something done to those.  I hope they are refillable, but if they have to be removed I might find that easier.

And since I'm going on a dentist journey, I may see about implants for the 2 previously pulled teeth.  If (and only if)  they will be essentially permanent. 

Some day, we humans will learn how to grow new teeth as adults.  And there IS research toward that end.  Until then - AARRGGGHHH!