Finally, I am done with all the crazy dentist appointments I have been going to since the incident. I think the color match is really great and the details (which you cannot see in this photo) are very specific and excellent. So, here are my new teeth. And I’m bummed, but the implant tooth is never permanently cemented in, so there is always a risk of it popping off if I get too rigorous with my flossing. drat.
In the spring the school where my kids attend have a series of pep rallys. A few of my friends decided to get together a little trio for one of these rallys. It was really fun to come together and develop our sound. We had opera, folksie and broadway girl trying to blend as best we could.
I think it turned out pretty good. We hope to do a fundraising concert of our tunes in the near future. The night before our morning gig, I was flossing my teeth and out popped my crown. I freaked out and then tried really hard to gather myself. I called my Dad and he told me to just put it back in. I wore my bite plate around until it was time to sing and I prayed that it would stay in for the 4 minute song.
It did!
Then I ran 5ish miles with my bite plate in and finally made it to the dentist to get it glued back in. Today is supposed to be the day I get it PERMANENTLY cemented in. Let me tell you though, the damage has been done, I don’t know if I will ever feel confident my teeth will stay in my head.
Next up, a little septoplasty. There’s always something.
Enjoy:
There have been so many dramas around teeth the past few weeks! Lolly and Phoebe both have these new white, sharp little teeth growing in in places that look like they will never EVER be straight.
I finally turned in my temporary teeth (picture acrylic nails as teeth for 6 months) for real porcelain beauties. My what a long road since that plum.
When I walked into my appointment, the first thing my dentist said was: You’re not wearing makeup! Apparently he wanted a nice AFTER shot (you’d think he’d take a few grand off the pricetag for the free modeling services!!!????)…I told him NEXT TIME…
He tried the new teeth onto the posts for fit and took lots of photos, and when he sprayed them with the air gun (to get rid of shine from saliva), one of them fell out onto my bib. He said: “Good thing that didn’t fall on the floor. That would have been BAD. REALLY BAD!” and started laughing.
I really like my dentist…he makes it fun to go to the dentist, but if that appointment had been my first appointment, I’m not sure exactly what impression it would have left me with. Thankfully he has taken great care of me and made my teeth look beautiful.
These I will keep in for a week and then get them permanently cemented in next week. I am having a few bite issues right now when I go in for S, T and CH sounds….but I think I’m so messed up, my body has no idea where to put the teeth together anymore to make ANY sound. It’s been a long road…not over yet…but at least I paid the balance of my second mortgage bill today.
BEFORE AFTER
both pix taken with iphone, so really do the teeth no justice. oh well. I look so much like my Mom in that middle one.
On Valentine’s Day, during the flute lesson, Lolly kept complaining about her tooth feeling funny. I immediately expected her to have an abscess, since that was the result of the last time her tooth felt funny.
I was pleasantly surprised to find that her semi-loose tooth was ready to be twisted and pulled. We headed into the bathroom and out it came! She cried more than I expected, but revived quickly when she remembered the Tooth Fairy!
Later that night, after tap class, she insisted that she had pain in her ear and she needed to go to the doctor right away. I have never had a kid tell me they WANTED to go, so I figured I better go.
The doctor was surprised to find that her ear just now started hurting, because her ear infection was days old. Glad I listened. It was a very eventful Valentine’s Day.
I hate this thing. This is not the exact thing at my dentist’s office, but it looks pretty close. It looks harmless right? It looks like it could zap something. You just press a button and it zaps you or something right?
No. No, no no….the dentist takes this thing and presses it against the gums/bones under your lips, and he presses really hard. Then he holds it there and pushes a button and waits to hear the beep and then keeps holding it there. Then he shifts it to the next tooth and repeats that, and then the next, and then the next.
Look, it hurts!
And I hate it.
And every time I go lately, he tortures me by taking pictures of my teeth with this thing.
Look, I know it will be over soon. At this point I am hoping I have new teeth by my 32nd birthday.
What should I bite into first?
My tooth became infected. The assistant to my Docs said 95% of the time patients get an implant and nothing happens. Are we surprised that I fall into the 5% that does have issues?
Ugh.
I went in and got antibiotics and then a few days later the doc cleaned out the infected tissue from the inside of my implant. Ew. It hurt.
After I left, my temporary teeth which were one piece, were put back into place as two separate pieces. Yeah! I can now floss between my two front teeth again.
But. My good tooth feels a little wonky, like a little loose. I called Dr. Dad and he said it might be loose and it might settle and to go in in a few days to have it looked at. My good tooth? loose? A new test of patience and calming these teeth are.
But here is the most annoying part. The bad tooth has a cover tooth on it and the back of the tooth has a little hole that is filled in with cement to protect the implant. And there is cotton stuck to the silver cement, so it feels like I have little bits of cotton on my tongue all the time.
Like a hair you can’t remove.
And I have tried to figure out how to get the cottony hair off but I can’t, and so I have to wait until tomorrow.
And it’s like so annoying.
So.
The good news is that a Visine residual paid for the first installment of my very large dental bill….and the bad news is that I would have rather bought a new pair of a shoes and saved the rest.
I’m grateful that I have the means to pay for these good for nothing teeth.
But that was a lot of money.
Life is so bittersweet all the time.
My insurance company covered $12.00 of my first bill which was $220.00. That’s 5% of the bill.
5%.
That won’t even buy a meal for my family.
So, if they only cover 5% of the bill from Monday, you will be hearing maniacal laughter spewing out of NYC for days and days. 5%! 5%! I’m going crazy…MWAh- ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!
In other news, my Halloween costume is coming together at an awesome factor that might just defy Mrs. Incredible.
This is one of those posts that will begin here and I have little idea where it will end.
Hey! Maybe I’ll tell the next chapter of my tooth saga. That’s a good one.
So I have been doing a lot of research, online, mostly talking to dentists, and after consulting with 4 dentists and an oral surgeon, I talked to a 5th dentist who finally got me going on the path I need to be on. I know it’s the right path because when I phoned my Jason to tell him about it, I started crying, and that was a few days ago BEFORE PMS started.
I was in the gym, and my neighbor came in and I’m all: You’re a DENTIST right? And so we had this conversation about my bum tooth and for some reason, the words that came out of his mouth in that moment went through my ears into my brain and made a whole lot of sense. He mapped out what could possibly be going on in there, and even though I am pretty sure a few of the previous opinion-givers had said perhaps the exact same things, for some reason on this morning, it made sense.
I got a recommendation for a prosthodontist (new word for you too?) as well. Dr. Tarnow is apparently, the man when it comes to bum teeth like mine. I made the appointment and his office smelled like a spa and it was on the 32nd floor and had an airy, sunny view of my city. The kids were plugged into their pods and I went into my appoint. Dr. T, 2 interns, an assistant and a professor came in and examined me, then a second dentist, Dr. Chu….so I had a whole team staring at me and my xray and me and 10 minutes and $220 later I had a plan in place.
I know the plan is clear and straightforward, but I will muddle it here:
Steps:
1. See Dr. Chu. He examines if my broken root, incomplete root canal and infected tissue can be saved. If it can…
2. I see an endodontic specialist who will surgically fix my root and drain the infection and try to save the tooth.
Dr. Tarnow does not think the probability of this happening is very high, so then a new step
2. Dr. Chu removes my tooth and creates a fake that is connected to the good crown…so that I have no appliance or flipper, and so I can, as Tim Gunn quips: “carry on” with speaking, working….well, the biting will still be a problem.
3. Frankenstein Surgery: Dr. Tarnow rips my bones out and replaces them with metal.
4. Metal bonds to my live tissue for a really long time…
5. New crowns for new Frankenstein tooth and good tooth and fix up the bottom row so that everybody matches.
6. Take out a second mortgage on my condo.
The good news is that though a bit loose and scary, my tooth is STILL IN for tomorrow’s and possibly Friday’s (strong hold for real simple, if I get it you are going to DIE because the shots are hysterically appropriate for the past 2 years of my life) photoshoots.
The End.
Dear Front Tooth,
I have a booking in exactly 11 days.
Please stay put.
Thanks.
Your friend,
Kage
Urban Mom, Kristy Glass trying to juggle family, work and the city.
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