I have had issues with my teeth and jaws ever since I can remember. I hate going to the dentist because I’ve never had a good experience in visiting them, so I will put off a visit until something happens and I have to go. Which is what happened today.
I knocked out the halves of two of my front teeth in third grade in a horrible bicycle accident, the day before my family went on vacation. Of course, I had to wait until we got back to have them fixed. I remember my mama packing all the bandages and ointments that I had to use everyday on my face, knees, and elbows. It was horrible! Once back home, I was referred to a special dentist to have my teeth bonded. It wasn’t too bad of an experience!
I had braces from 6th grade until 10th grade and wore a retainer for a year after. Before getting those metal beauties I had six teeth pulled, had to be put to sleep because they had to cut some out from under the gum. After wearing those lovely metal pains in the butt for years and a reatainer for a year you’d think things would have been solved. Well, you’d be wrong. After six months of not wearing the retainer my teeth began to shift. Needless to say my parents were less than impressed after they spent thousands of dollars only to find all that metal did not do what they were meant to.
I had seen an oral surgeon after graduating for jaw surgery, which he postponed hoping that things would improve on their own. At that visit I was told I’d never have to worry about wisdom teeth because I didn’t have roots for them. Two years later, my jaws were swollen and any activity that involved opening my mouth was out. After a visit to a dentist I was referred to the same oral surgeon for the removal of, yep, wisdom teeth! Did they come in straight and nice to make it easy on everyone? Nope, they were crooked and one came in sideways. I remember all this so well, because my hubby, then my boyfriend, took me for the surgery, the week of our first anniversary! We went to Olive Garden for dinner, because, well, pasta doesn’t take that much effort to eat. I was swollen and miserable and I’m sure so pretty! The next day they cut those suckers out.
When we lived in El Paso the bonding on one of my teeth broke and I had to go have it repaired. The dentist was very nice and told me I needed to make an appointment for x-rays, a cleaning, and possibly a referral to an oral surgeon. What is up with my need to be seen by a surgeon every time I see a dentist??? Anyway, I made the appointment and then chickened out two days before and cancelled. In my defense, my husband was deployed and I didn’t have a babysitter for Monkey. Looking back, I probably should have kept that appointment.
So, you see, every time I go to the dentist, it turns into a big, painful, and frightening ordeal and I’d rather just avoid it thank you very much.
So, Sunday I was eating a sandwich and something broke. I was afraid to swallow my sandwich because I didn’t want to swallow whatever broke off. So, gross as it sounds, I dug out what ever broke off and then swallowed my bread. I got on line and looked up dentists in this area that took the military dental insurance. I was thrilled to find that the dentist that does everything, surgery, general dentistry, braces… I mean everything is a tricare dentist! I called Monday, but they were closed. I called Tuesday and they got me in today! They emailed me a welcome packet, I filled it out, and faxed it back. So, when I got there today I was met with smiles and handshakes and offers for juice and water. They took the time to go over the papers I faxed over yesterday. I told the nurse my mouth was bad and she laughed, but soon realized I was not kidding! So, they took some digital photos of my mouth from all different angles and put them up on a screen. We went through each picture and discussed it. Then, the dentist came in. All three of us discussed the state of my mouth and the best way to proceed with treatment. Being pregnant is going to cause a few complications in this quest for a beautiful healthy new mouth, but that’s ok, we’ll just take it a step at a time!
The bad news is that there is so much that needs to be done. X-rays to look for joint problems in my jaws, debreeding (which sounds so bad) to remove built up calcium and plaque all in hopes of improving the health of the gum tissue, more cleanings, a couple of fillings, and then braces to stop the wear of my teeth on one side and correct the bite on the other side. 30 years old and going the route of braces again! Maybe this time they’ll work! Oh, and did I mention the bone loss in my upper teeth? Yep, so that has to be stopped and repaired. He didn’t tell me how they repair that and I’d rather not know, just put me to sleep and do what ya have to do! A lot of the cosmetic stuff will have to wait until Baby #3 is here. At least we have a plan of action and I’m excited to start on this long road to a new smile!
