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…