well. the tooth couldn’t wait and today found me at the dentist. as usual, things were not only not as they seemed, but far more progressed than i’d like.
before i delve into this, allow me to share with you that, of all the genetic blessings i may or may not have received from my mother and father, good teeth were simply not on the list.
they are weak. always have been. they chip easily. they crack easily. all the things the dentist always tells you will keep them healthy simply do not work for me. by the time i was eight, six of my molars were filled. the middles simply cracked and the only way to keep them from further damage was to drill them out and fill them.
the wisdom teeth were bone impacted. two of them had to be broken into as many as fourteen slivers to get them out. then, on top of it all, i wound up with dry socket. gum infections are a fair constant, and this despite daily rinses, weekly preventative rinses, constant flossing, brushing, and manual picking (yes, friends, the metal pick!) to try to keep these ultra sensitive, abnormally fragile damn things from becoming offended or infected.
nothing has ever really helped. my last orthodentist told me it was obviously genetic, but that he’d never seen anything quite like it.
hurray. i’ve impressed the dentist with my horrible genetics.
so. anyway. history established, we fast-forward to today. i finally break down and make an appointment. my roomie takes me over. i tell him that’s likely not required, since i know i’ve got another infection to deal with and they won’t do anything until it’s been pushed back a bit.
they take the full series of x-rays. i meet with the dentist for exam and probing. before she gets started, i fill her in on ‘the history’. she takes one look into my mouth and says, ‘you know, i have a lot of people who just don’t take care of their teeth and say what you’ve said and i can tell when i look in their mouths what’s what…’ she sits back and shakes her head, ‘you got a bad genetic hand, i’m afraid.’
a brief digression — about ten years ago, i finally had enough and told the orthodentist that i wanted them to pull the fuckers out. he swore up and down they could be saved and suggested a perioscaling. i relented and thus, underwent one of the most horrific experiences in my life.
a perioscale is when they pull your gums complete away from your teeth and use a frakking metal scraper to ‘plane’ the root and tooth from end to end.
it is supposed to remove any lingering debris trapped in the gums, and it is supposed to eliminate any cause of dental infection. i was told this was the ‘silver bullet’ to cure my recurrent tooth and gum issues and i should prefer this to the denture route.
i will never forget that. 24 shots. 6 around the upper outside, 6 around the upper inside, 6 around the bottom outside, and 6 around the bottom inside.
i suppose i should also tell you at the point that i am phobic of dentists. i won’t go into too much detail. suffice to say the dentist at the children’s home worked for free, didn’t like kids, and did our woth without anesthetic because, after all, he was working for free.
to this day, and yes, even today, i was shuddering and crying as soon as i sat in the chair…. so you can imagine what the perioscale was like for me. the woman who did the scaling was very understanding, even after i accidently bit her fingers twice. (wry grin)
anyway… the scaling complete. i went on a rinse and wash and antibiotic schedule that was supposed to insure all my dental woes were done.
within two weeks, i had another infection. this time the ortho said ‘gee, you’ve got so much bone loss, i reckon we’re going to need to reset yous gums to try and stop it.’
mind you, this meant he was wanting to cut my gums away from my teeth and then, ‘reset’ them where the line of bone loss was in an attempt to stop its erosion.
he couldn’t guarantee it would work. so i told him to bite me. and that was that.
fast forward now, back to today… the doctor sets my xrays up on the display and looks at me (after i’ve told her the whole story, including things i won’t bother boring you with here) and says, ‘well, we could try to save these, but frankly there’s so much bone loss and the infection is so pervasive that it would take thousands and thousands of dollars and months and months of effort and there’s no guarantee it would at all work.’
i looked at her and said, ‘well holy fucking hell, someone who is finally willing to tell me the truth.’ i started to tell her that was all well and good because i didn’t want to keep going through this. i’m done. time to pull them out and BE done. she didn’t understand me, she thought i was arguing against extraction. so she tries to over-ride me in conversation.
heh.
i stopped her with, ‘hey! hold up a moment, i’m trying to tell you something.’ and then i say it again, ‘i tried to tell my last otho that i was tired of every thing failing and ready to yank these fuckers out and all he wanted to do was try the next thing, try the next thing. i want them gone. forty years of failure is enough to convince me.’
the problem i have is that a combination of weak teeth, poor tooth placement, and genetics have insured that gum infections and various other dental maladies are a constant in life. the culmination is outright gum disease thanks to being unable to reach the places where the problems are (without regular dental intercession) and the enamel and dentin of my teeth being very prone to about every fucking thing in the world.
so. gone they will soon be. i’m on a massive dose of antibiotics (again) to push back the infection long enough for them to put me out and yank them out. full denture upper and partial lower and honest to the stars, i can’t fucking wait. my mouth and teeth have been a horror story since i was a kid and to not have that daily pain, the recurrent infections and teeth that crack or chip or break on regular fucking food will be a glorious thing.
not to mention that, for the first time in my life, i will actually have a straight and even smile.
the only problem now is timing. they were able to confirm for me that this is not a traveling infection (thank goodness. i’ve had one of those before and it is not fun), so i don’t have to worry about it going up the brain stem and killing me. the antibiotics will take about 24 – 72 hours to kick in and they were also able to verify that (surprisingly) the pain i’m experiencing is inflammatory and not tooth or root system related.
which means i will be able to hold off on things until my insurance kicks in. which means the majority of the cost will be defrayed.
so, while ‘something is wrong with my tooth’ turned out to be a massive understatement, the upshot is that something i knew needed to be done ten years ago is finally going to be done. not only this, they can do it in a single day, possibly even a saturday, and my time off from work will be minimal.
now all i need to do is coordinate with the recruiting office on insurance and present the situation now, before i start work, so everyone knows it’s coming and it doesn’t become a ‘performance issue’.
walking the tightrope. i guess you could call it a specialty. not that i ever wanted to be especially good at it. (wry grin)
p.s.: i start work on monday. hurray!