Brush and Floss

The other night as I was diligently brushing and flossing my teeth, I felt a good sized chunk of something swishing around in my mouth. I spit (Is there a nicer word for spit? Maybe spewed? Or expectorated?) into the sink and was dismayed to see a piece of tooth in the basin. A quick look in the mirror confirmed my dread. One of my teeth had broken almost completely in half. Vertically. Ick. I knew that the tooth had been developing some tiny chips in it, but assumed that nothing drastic would happen to it before I went in for a cleaning & check up. Wrong!

Jacob accompanied me to the dentist's office this morning. The verdict is that the tooth can be saved with a post, core build-up, and crown. And, a root canal. (It will be my 9th!) All to the tune of $1,865. Fortunately, our dental insurance will cover 80% of the root canal and 50% of everything else. While I was there, the dentist checked one of my other teeth that had lost an old crown recently. That crumbling molar will eventually need either a bridge or implant, which will set me back 50% of $2,500. So two innocent teeth will take around $2,000 out of my pocket. I am trying not to imagine what I might have otherwise been able to buy with that money.

I hope that Jacob is paying attention and learning what even a little neglect can do to your teeth. As I sat in the dentist's chair today, and Jacob relaxed in a seat nearby, I scoffed to him, "Do you know what the dentist sees when he looks into my mouth?" Jacob shrugged and asked, "What?" I answered, "$$ Dollar signs $$." Ugh.