telling half-tooths

Ouch. Today my boss brought in a bag of Sweet Tarts, my favorite (non-chocolate) candy, to share with us. As I was sitting at my computer eating one, I had a strange sensation and then my tongue felt an odd difference within my mouth: my lower left backmost molar was partially missing, with what felt like a huge hole on its inner side. Back when I was a kid, my first visit to the dentist after I’d lost all my baby teeth uncovered about six cavities, all of which were filled at the time; I hadn’t had a cavity since, but the fillings in those teeth–now at least 30 years old–remained. I’m not sure now if part of the tooth actually broke off, or just a chunk of filling; whichever it was, I swallowed it along with the candy before realizing what had happened.

So tomorrow I’ll need to try to make an appointment with a dentist, hopefully for Friday since we’re supposed to go up to Philadelphia for the weekend. I don’t currently have a dentist, so I’ll have to try to find a new one who both accepts my insurance and is willing to fit me in pretty quickly. It’s somewhat complicated because I also need to take a regiment of antibiotics before any dental work (because of my MVP), but I don’t have any on hand, so I’ll also have to find a dentist who’s willing to write me a prescription for amoxicillin tomorrow, sight unseen, before fixing me up on Friday.

Fortunately, the broken tooth/filling isn’t particularly painful, just uncomfortable and annoying. I’m able to eat on the other side with no real trouble, and the very cold ice tea I had with dinner was the first and only thing so far today that actually caused any twinges of pain; rather, it’s more irritating because the missing piece feels so big to my tongue, which keeps brushing against the unfamiliar and slightly sharp edges, ending up a little sore.

3 thoughts on “telling half-tooths

  1. Exactly the same thing happened to me a few years ago. Because of my pathological inability to put up with the bullshit and nonsense of doctors and dentists, I have never had it looked at. The gum just grew into the broken space, and life went on.
    Hmm. Now that I think about it, it’s been so long since I saw a dentist, I’m surprised that I even HAVE teeth…

Comments are closed.