who gives a tooth! just me…that’s who!

 

 

A few weeks ago I read a blog entry on I believe kristyk.org about the dentist. It may have been MONTHS….probably was.  It may have been soemone else’s blog..might have been.  Either way, iIt made me cringe because I have had so so many dental nightmares during my childhood.  My mother used to berrate me for each and any dental issue that was descovered at the dentist.  Going became punishment no matter what.  Even if I had no cavaties, I was admonished for the cost of being seen.  It was as if my mother was always inconvenienced by my mere existance and reliance upon her for anything monetary or emotional.  Why’d she ever have me? 

 

So back to my original thought, upon reading that blog entry I realized I haven’t gone..in so long that I could not recall when I went last.  And for the past 5 years I have been paying for dental coverage at my job. The last time I went they yanked a tooth because ex-husband had no dental coverage because…well I can’t recall but it was probably because he had no job or had a crap one or lost one or got fired or …yah….that old life stuff…*sigh*  It was pre-meeting Rick for sure.  And Rick and I have been together since Jan of ’03.  It’s now October of ’09. 

BLANK STARE INSERTED HERE 

I finally went.   Yesterday.  $66 later I have clean teeth and the realization that I’ll probably end up spending a ton of money on dental bills for the next few months and then again in about 5 to 7 years when I have to crown up every tooth I have. 

Why?  Because I have tons of old school metal fillings and they cause teeth to “buckle” or rather “BREAK” due to heat/cold differences in the mouth, etc. 

I was momentarily alarmed as I watched each and every one of my own teeth be paraded across a tv monitor located above my head.  I reminded myself that I’m no longer a child and there’s no longer a big fat meanie bitch in the room who will berate me on the drive home.  I berated myself momentarily for not going 5 years ago. Let me reitterate I gave up $1500 worth of dental procedures for each year I’ve worked at my job.  Can you say $6k worth of work…..pissed away due to childhood trama? 

Crazy eh? 

So..now my teeth are clean..they’ve been scraped on two quadrants and the other two are scheduled for next Friday.  Yes this is how I spend my day’s off now…sitting in a dental chair watching tooth parades and country music while some lady trys not to frown whilst looking into the cavern that is my mouth. 

After leaving the dentists office with some pretty damn expensive flouride rinse and two appointment cards for dates in October….my teeth feel raw and my gums are mortified that I had the nerve to allow someone to scrape them.  But…I conquered yet another long held fear and for that…I treated myself to coffee and a new book.  (not that I ever need an excuse!)  Today I got a TEXT MESSAGE from the dentist asking me if I’d like a text msg appointment reminder.  That dentists office is fantastic!  They have the latest technologies and everything in there is high tech.  And then when I leave…I get a text msg from my dentist.  (who was a girl by the way!)  If you reside in St Pete and need a good dentist…drop me an email at poeticalgirlAThotmail.com and I’ll tell you where to go to get a queen’s treatment. 

I’m proud of myself for finally facing it and going there and sitting through it and …and well all of it.  This month I might be blogging dentistry a lot due the costs I will incur….so if you haven’t gone to the dentist in forever….I might guilt you into it, encourage you into it or just make you sit with a BLANK STARE yourself.  I’m sharing because while it’s daunting what I’ve not done to assist my dental health…it feels good to be DOING SOMETHING now.  However, I may have to obtain a part time job if I want to really smile about all of this properly.