This is what PROCRASTINATION gets me....

Okay, anyone who knows me in real life, KNOWS that though I have at least a FEW good qualities(!), I am a HORRIBLE, INCURABLE PROCRASTINATOR.

The molars on my left side started bothering me before we moved to Bolivar (ie before August of 2007)...but, I kept putting off going to the dentist. Then things got pretty hectic when we were MOVING. Then, I was busy trying to keep my head above water in a new job that often wound up being 10-12 hour shifts five days a week instead of 8 hours. Then, frustrated with the never ending mandatory overtime, I quit my full-time position and went to just 3 days a week instead. Oops. I HAD dental insurance through MY job, so I had told Grant NOT to list me on HIS family plan through his work (afterall, for some weird reason, just carrying himself and our kids was cheaper than covering me along with them). Well, in retrospect, that wasn't such a smooth move on my part, because that meant that once I stepped back from full time hours at my work, I was out in the cold without any dental insurance. Well, I'm a little stubborn, too...so, now, even though I finally had the TIME to go to the dentist, I didn't go because I didn't have dental insurance. I figured, I would just wait it out until open enrollment would come around a year later. Besides, by then I was used to compensating by only chewing on the right side of my mouth.

That worked for me, until a couple of months ago when it started to hurt on BOTH sides. The answer, of course, would have been GO TO THE DENTIST IDIOT...YOU HAVE INSURANCE NOW, GO!!!! But, it was easier to go to WalMart and buy Sensodyne toothpaste! Switching to Sensodyne didn't really help any...I was quite disappointed with their false advertising! But, MAKING a dental appointment was such a hassle. I couldn't remember the name of the new dentist we had been recommended here in Bolivar, and I hated to ask my co-worker AGAIN. Besides, making a dental appointment involves picking up the phone and calling...and then REMEMBERING to be there on the day that your appointment finally rolls around...it is all such a nuisance! Instead, I learned to chew GINGERLY. The softest of foods dealt me discomfort with chewing...but, if I chewed gently enough (kind of just mushed things a bit) it wasn't really too miserable! I was doing just fine with this tactic, until Sunday evening. I was gingerly mushing very soft pan pizza on the right side of my mouth when searing pain shot through my upper jaw and I felt one of my molars SPLIT. I could not chew at all on the right side, without the pressure separating the two halves of my molar and sending a shock wave up through the nerve. I had not been able to chew at all on my LEFT side, for eons...just way too painful there! Sooo...I resorted to using my incisors. My ever sympathetic husband informed me I looked like a rat chewing my food!

Really, if you have ever tried to consume an entire meal only chewing with your incisors, you will know that it is really frustrating! And, it was driving me crazy feeling half my tooth wobbling in my mouth. Monday morning, I tracked down the name of my new dentist-to-be and gave his office a call. Really, I was expecting it to be like it would have been in Kansas City...have to wait two or three weeks to be seen. I was already dreading Thanksgiving dinner. Amazingly, they were able to fit me in this morning (Tuesday)!

I sure hope my dear dentist friend, Dave Rich, is not reading this post. I know that he would be appalled with me. I felt so guilty the entire week I spent with him in El Salvador...he kept happily passing out toothbrushes to all of us and he was so enthusiastic about teeth...and there I was, guiltily hiding my secret...I had not been to a dentist in years. Yes, I brush my teeth regularly...but, I don't floss and I don't hang out in dental chairs unless conditions force me.

This morning, conditions forced me. By this morning, I was so stinkin' HUNGRY that I had turned into a major grouch. Did I mention that I have become a Chai Tea Latte addict? Well, this morning, my stomach was grumbling because I hadn't put anything in it today (and not much since Sunday evening's supper was so abruptly ended way before I had eaten my fill), but, I soothed myself with the thought of a nice cup of hot Chai Tea Latte. I reached for the box of Chai Tea Latte and to my horror (and panic) found the box was EMPTY!!! It was almost too much to take!!! So, off I went to see the dentist without even so much as a swallow of food or liquid in my poor stomach!

I am pleased to report that my new dentist has small hands and skillful fingers...but, I don't think he likes me much. I sensed disapproval as he learned how long it had been since my last dental visit and then peeked in my mouth before informing that I needed a crown on the right (after expressing amazement at what a BIG chunk of my tooth had split off) and that on the right side I need a root canal, a filling, and a crown. Yup...I've got dental insurance now...pays 25%....I was DOING THE MATH, though, and it would have been so much CHEAPER to have gone to the dentist a year ago and paid out of pocket for simple filling before it had a chance to spread to the adjoining tooth and spread down into the nerve root.

So...I got a temporary crown on the right today and I have FOUR more dental appointments looming in front of me over the next few months. Good thing I like this dentist, because I'm going to be seeing way more of him than I would like to be seeing of him....