Tag: teeth

Dental Saga: Don’t Make Me Laugh

~ JodiLea

Why?

Because my dentures will pop out of my mouth, and believe me, you do not want to see that. This everlasting cold is keeping me wheezing and coughing. These are also hazardous to my new choppers.

Most of the swelling in my face has dissipated. Now I am having trouble keeping them in at all. I promised my dentist that I would at least wear the upper one a few hours a day. I must get my jaw used to them, he said. Yesterday I sucked it up and glued it with extra Polygrip. Gravity was not my friend. I added some more glue and held it in place for 3 minutes. When they finally stayed in, I realized they had slipped off-center and hung crooked. Of course, they were now going to stay adhered to my jaw, so I left them as they were. At least the presence of teeth kept my lip from caving in, so I could lose the mask for a while.

Well, it took 10 minutes today to get my teeth to stick. I hate looking at them – probably because they don’t even resemble the teeth I once had. But these are only the 1st draft teeth – just for cosmetic reasons. So I keep forcing them in every day. And keeping myself busy with small projects to take my mind off my aching gums and jaw. Tomorrow I have an appointment with my primary doctor. It is a routine appointment that I would cancel if I didn’t suspect I have walking pneumonia. I should have gotten over this cold a month ago.

No new noteworthy developments going on here. Just the same ol’ test blood sugars, have Glucerna for a meal, then take a nap. Yawn.

TTFN 😉

Teeth Keep Falling From My Head

~ JodiLea

Sung to the tune of “Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head”

I can’t get that tune out of my head now. Warning – this post is a RANT. You can decide to read or not, but there will be ranting going on today with or without you.  I hope it is with you because it is WAY more satisfying to RANT to someone or two.  It’s that “Misery Loves Company” deal.

If you have been coming to my Place for any length of time, you know about my defective teeth, so I apologize for another tale of woe. I only have like 5 natural teeth left in my head. The rest are crowns, implants and some are just plain gone.

Last week I had a consult with the doc who does implants. At the beginning of this year I had the last molar on my upper right jaw break – sheared off at the gumline to be exact. There was not enough to save, so I had pre-implant surgery to remove the tooth and get a bone graft done so I could get an implant there. Here we go again…

Well, after a full 3D image of my head, doc’s suspicions were correct. There is not enough bone to support an implant there. And I really needed a molar there to keep my chewing and teeth in alignment.

Now I need two surgeries – one to lift the sinus membrane out-of-the-way, and do a second bone graft. Then, 4 months after that heals, another surgery to implant the hardware for the replacement molar.

NOT happy news. This made me grumpy. I was sad about needing one surgery, now double the painful process as well as the cost. I was being betrayed by my own jaw.

Then today’s event happened. The event my nightmares are made of. My teeth break, need root-canals, crowns pop off  – this is normal life for me, so I deal.  Get grumpy, feel sorry for myself. Pout.

Today, however, I realized that my rotten teeth being replaced with implants and the crowns that pop off, are molars. No one notices a missing tooth back there, so even though you are miserable with pain and rapidly going broke, I at least had my dignity.

Not anymore. During lunch I suddenly felt a rolling tooth in my mouth, not a strange occurrence for me – indicating a popped off crown. Sure enough, the same one that popped off last week and got re-cemented back in.  I must talk with my dentist about the quality of glue he’s using…

Except this time, the crown kept the tooth inside of it. Another break off at the gumline – but NOT a molar. Oh no!, I screamed. It took me seven minutes before I had the guts enough to look in the mirror. I did not smile. I opened my mouth slightly.

It was not as bad as I feared.  It was worse.  A large hole, large gaping hole, where my left incisor used to be surrounded by swollen gums that were receding away from bone.  I closed my mouth and just stared at my face. Bad idea. That is when I discovered that the left side of my upper lip looked bruised and sucked in. Like a person without upper teeth. You know, hillbillies, hockey players, and seven-year olds.

Seven-year olds really don’t count – they look cute with missing front teeth.

Thank You for listening…

 

 

 

 

Oh Hell, To The Queen

~ JodiLea

Royal blood does not run in my family’s veins. (Type I Diabetes does.) Being The Queen is not in my destiny.
And yet – I am constantly being crowned.  Tiaras

It would be a different story if these crowns were diamond encrusted tiaras. Alas, they are but porcelain tooth coverings, that involve pain and a lot of money.  I suspect I am the reason my dentist is such a happy guy.

You may remember I had two root-canals last summer.  (Probably not, but I sure do.) My dentist and I agreed to “recycle” the crowns that popped off when the teeth went bad. These ‘re-treads’ did not last very long. In December the left one popped off, exposing the tiny stub of a tooth. I already had an appointment to prepare for a crown for the tooth that broke in half in November, but my exposed nub took priority and stubby was prepped for a new crown.  The new crown was put in two days ago. My appointment to prep for the broken one’s crown is next week.

This very morning… the 2nd recycled crown came off. Because this stubby tooth is directly aligned with the upper broken one, I must now chew on the other side. You know, the side that still is sore from the Novocaine and crown fitting (i.e., cramming it in place with cement).

Perhaps you are lucky enough to have strong healthy bones and teeth, and have been spared learning dentistry the hard way. If that is true, I hate you, but I will still tell you about the side effects. Your bite changes. Every procedure, filling and (temporary + permanent) crown you get will change how your jaw moves. This means you are in for a lot of cheek and tongue biting until your jaw adjusts. Until the next repair work, that is.

In my case – next week.

♥  TTFN  ♥

 

photo credit: Tiaras via photopin (license)