You’ll rejoice with me in knowing that the heartbeat in my gums has now been reduced from a whale-size beat to that of a small rodent.  And it only hurts in the evenings.  The pain is subsiding each day and today I got the lovely flesh (black) stitches taken out.  So I don’t look like I have a spider fighting me for the front and center position in my mouth. 

I don’t like spiders.

So back to this miracle worker guy.
We all know no one takes the place of the real miracle worker but my dentists, they try!  Way to go guys (and girls)!

After having my stitches taken out today the good doctor set about resurfacing my dull, temporary plastic foreign object in my mouth that was supposed to be a tooth and which was also fighting with the spider for the coveted front and center position in my once beatiful mouth.

What’s so great about the best seat anyway?

So back to the resurfacing…..
This "way cool" CAD machine went to work redesigning my tooth surface with a little help from sweet as a button Alicia and the good doctor himself.  Quite the team, they are!

Ok now I have Yoda from Starwars running through my mind.  "The force is strong with this young one it be!  MMMmmm."
You remember how he says everything backwards?

Ok, the tooth, the tooth. 
I’m not going to tell any of you what CAD means because if you are technogeeky like me you’ll already know and if you’re one of those relationship people you won’t ever care. 
Any guesses though?

So about 10 minutes of this cool machine doing it’s thing and we have something that is beginning to look like tooth forming in the bowels of the dental office.  Out it comes….all 1/4 inch of the thing.  How do they keep up with such small things?  A dentist office definiely would not survive at my house.

The good doc grinds (with diamonds ….oooo….ahhhh), pops that puppy in my mouth, grinds some more, pops it out, grinds again.  Back in, back out, back in, back out,  then on to polishing……

"Make it really shiny"

Some cement to stick that bugger onto the totally inadequate plastic first tooth and voila!

I have gone from this

To this!

Okay, you decide…
Miracle worker  OR  not???

Love ya Drs. Steve, Paul and Melissa….
I shall proclaim your reconstructive abilities from the highest buidlings in Liberty!  Or at least from our tree house in the back yard, 

And thanks to Joan and Bridgett for offering hours of entertainment while the good doctors are working their magic.  And to Chrissa for our in depth discussion about toothbrushes.  I’m sure we changed someone’s universe.  And to sweet Kelli for encouraging me through the stages of grief when almost losing a very important fight to a spider and a plastic impostor!!!  You’re the heat Kelli. 

I’ve had lots of trouble with one of my front teeth since breaking it in about the 12th grade.  It’s been through everything a tooth can go through.  Braces, getting broken, root canal, apicoectomy.  It’s troubled me for years so I finally gave into the idea that I HAD to have a dental implant and we pulled the tooth last week.  I don’t think it really registered that I was yanking roots out of bone until the dentist actually had my prized tooth between pliers and was yanking the thing from my mouth.  It was about that time that I realized, "Oh crap, I’m going to have a big ole hole there!" 

Call me dense.  Maybe it was denial but it worked.  At least until the dentist had a death grip on my tooth.
So now I have this wonderful device called a partial.  Can you say 90 year old grandma? 
It’s horrible.  Oh, did I mention the spider-like stitches (in the flesh colored shade of BLACK) protruding from my flesh-colored PINK gums?
I’m pretty, let me tell ya. 
All in time for Christmas.
Yippee!

The bone must heal before the implant can be placed.  That’s about 4 months.  Then the bone has to heal around the implant before the crown can be placed.  Another 4 months. 
Let’s do the math.
4 + 4 = 8
8 MONTHS I have to wear this thing.  It’s like a retainer with a tooth glued on it. 

It’s horrible.
Eating is worse.
Smiling is worse than eating.
How do you not smile for 8 months?

I think I’m going to find a hole to stick my head in.
Oh, I can’t do that because it makes my stitches throb.
Throb, yea, you know, like a heartbeat.  You know…boom, boom, boom.
Yep, that kind of throbbing!

If I wasn’t so vain I’d take a picture of the thing but even I can’t do that. 
Did I mention I now have denture adhesive on my person?
UGH!!!
I think I’m gonna die!

Since I’m too vain to take a photo of my own mug, this one will have to do!  Just so you get the idea!

Sigh….