Tooth Problems

Our Grapefruit

How are ya'll today? It has been a good day around here with a few things accomplished but not as much as I intended. I just didn't get 'round to it but will try again tomorrow. I did get some washing done but have ironing piled and some clothes to fold, which I hate to do.

It's interesting that many people I have asked have the same 2 dislikes which I have - unloading the dishwasher and unloading the clothes dryer and folding the clothes. Someone said this week that we have all these time-saving appliances and still don't have any time. What gives? My thoughts on this is that with all the time we save, we spend on all those other things which people pile on us. They know we have these "time saving" appliances which means we have all this extra time to do this, that and the other. Can we win for losing? Not sure but I know my days are full.

Ya'll remember last year when I spent more time in the dentist office than I did at home? Remember I was visiting my two dentists, Dr. Jekyll and Dr. Tooth Mechanic. These two wonderful people pulled, cut, stitched, inserted crushed bones in my gums, screwed in screws, pounded in some crowns and bridged it all together. It was long and painful and most of that time I was waiting for 1 procedure to heal before I could have the next.

They were implanting teeth in my mouth and building a bridge between 2 of them and it was painful. We won't mention how much all this cost but it wasn't cheap. (Remember, my sweet, Southern Mama said never to talk about how much something cost.) Just so you know, I could have bought a whole bunch of new shoes for those few teeth.

The point of the whole procedure was to give me teeth which looked and acted like those I was born with. I also wanted to be able to eat on both sides of my mouth and not yip when it hurt to do so. It had become about impossible to eat fried chicken and corn on the cob which is not a good thing and I was afraid false teeth wouldn't work. This led me to my 2 doctors of torture.

They did their thing and my mouth finally healed and I thought I was set for the rest of my days with good, sound, and well-planted teeth. Take my word they had been screwed, glued, and pounded into place and should have been for eternity. Weeell, it didn't work that way.

About a month ago, I thought one of my crowns was a little rocky - like back to front and side to side. Can't be, I thought for they were IMPLANTED and screwed on. Must be my imagination I thought and forgot about it. A few days later it was evident that it was loosening but I knew it couldn't come out so I just ignored it and thought I would wait until later.

Later came sooner when the 2 on the other side which are the end posts for my bridge began to wiggle back and forth. No pain, just a mouth full of expensive wiggly teeth. Was I upset? What do you think? I was about ticked off, angry, mad, and ready to throw and hissy fit, which you don't want to see.

The first action was to look up teeth implant problems on the Internet. There were many websites about this problem so evidently this is fairly common although Dr. Jekyll and Dr. Mechanic didn't happen to mention this little tidbit. The more I read the more frightened I became and I called Dr. Mechanic's office and told them I needed an appointment soon for I had a PROBLEM.

I was convinced my gums were crumbling, the teeth had become unscrewed, I had cancer of the mouth, they were going to have to pull all my teeth and I would be toothless. It seemed apparent to me I was about to become a toothless, old woman with gums rotting out of her mouth. Not a pretty picture and I was convinced I would have to become a hermit for no one would want to look at me. The Internet had informed me and I had every symptom of every disease I read about.

Finally the day came for me to visit Dr. Mechanic and see if I was going to die or become a hermit. Either way, I just knew it was bad. They put me in that nice, reclining chair and the nice lady asked me my problem and I told her my implants were loose, my gums were rotting out and I was going to be toothless. Of course she gave me that comforting smile and said, let's take an X Ray and see.

She put that 100 pound apron on me so the X ray wouldn't kill me and put that anvil in my mouth and began to take pictures. Of course, she came back in and said, "The doctor will be right with you." Now in nurse's language that means about half an hour if you are lucky before he strolls in with a smile and asks, "How are you?" Now if I was fine I wouldn't be there but you say, "Fine." You are lying through your teeth and I was just hoping to keep mine.

He said he had good news and I thought maybe I didn't have cancer after all just going to loose all my teeth and be a hermit. The good news was they were just loose and could be fixed so come on back to the "garage" so I can get out the wrenches and screw driver and fix those teeth. Thank goodness he could fix them for I really don't want to be a hermit.

Fixing meant taking the crowns off the screws after he ground out the fillings in the crowns. When he popped off those crowns there was a definite stink under my nose. There must have been sewage under those crowns for it was awful. Now I know why they wear those little masks. He squirted soap in my mouth, rinsed it out and I thought if he squirted bleach in there I was out of there.

Finally, he had them all out, screwed in new screws, pounded the crowns back in EXCEPT for one. He didn't have a screw long enough and said he would have to order one. Heck, I thought, just run over to Gary's garage and get one of his. I knew if Gary knew it was for me he would let him have one. No luck for he said those wouldn't do they were "special" screws which had to be ordered so home I came with a great, big hole on the right side. Well, I thought, here we go again, missing teeth, hurting gums and have to go back to the "tooth garage."

Thank goodness it didn't take but about 5 days and THE screw was here. Dr. Mechanic took out his trusty screwdriver and tried to screw it into my mouth. Pain hit, I gasped, and about jumped out of that chair. "Did that hurt?" was the stupid question asked and we decided I needed one of those shots which caused just a "little pinch" of pain. I endured the "little pinch" and my mouth was dead.

Whoa Nelly, Christine brought out some really cool, awesome glasses for all of us to put on. I thought we looked like a trio of aliens from outer space and then he said, "I am going to trim some of the gum with a laser." Oh me, a laser cutter in my mouth and I was getting tired of holding my mouth open, my jaws were locking and I knew I was going to close it and my tongue would be cut out of my mouth with a laser. This would mean I couldn't talk and I might as well be dead.

So I just locked my jaw, began to think about the beach, reciting scripture in my mind, singing the words to songs and struggling to not think about that laser beam in my mouth. Finally it was over, I was totally wiped out and he finally screwed that crown back in. It was OVER and he said hopefully they wouldn't come loose again. Hopefully I thought. This is not good but you talk about "hoping", I am not only hoping but praying too.

He gave me a hug and told me what a good patient I was and with my dead mouth, I told him what a good "tooth mechanic" he was. When I got home I thought I had been punched in the jaw with a sledge hammer and the ice pack came out, 3 extra strength Tylenol and the bed. It was over and I was whupped.

Now if this happens again maybe I will be so old it won't make any difference if they do fall out for I'm not sure I can keep on doing this. I'm just not that fond of pain.

Well, that was quite a story and I wish it was fiction but sadly it was all true. Now ya'll come back to see me and I promise I will talk about pleasant things next time.

Ya'll take care now and be careful going home. Come back to see me.

Nuff said,

The Georgia Peach

Thursday's Thoughts

Well, ya'll don't come in today for I had to visit Dr. Frankenstein and LaLa Land again. He said, "See you in about 30 minutes" with a smile and I woke up later with 2 missing teeth, a cut in my gum, and stitches everywhere in my mouth. Now what he did I asked for, but some of ya'll need to take me to the head Doctor and have mine examined. There is something wrong in there for me to keep going back for this torture.

Now my head hurts, my jaw hurts, my mouth hurts, heck, everything from neck up hurts. Thank goodness for pain meds which make me feel like I am moving in sloooow motion but the pain is gone. La, la, la, la and away I go.

All of this torture is a prelude for some permanent implant thingies. they are supposed to last forever and make my smile beautiful. This will be interesting for if they last forever, that may not be too long since I am older than dirt and my smile never was beautiful so only a miracle will work for that. Now Dr. Frankenstein is a lovely man and but I don't think his last name is Miracle. Oh well, at least I will be able to chew food that is not soft, liquid or mashed up again. Chewing steak with a few teeth is not good. The chunks going down can be a little rough on the esophagus.

So when you see me in about 2 weeks, check out my everlasting teeth and the beautiful smile.

I did find 2 great blogs today that I have put in my "Blogs I Follow." If you like to cook, check these out. http://www.imafoodblog.com/index.php is the first one I want to share and http://cravingellieinmybelly.blogspot.com/ is the other one. There are some good recipes in both of these and how these cooks stay so skinny is beyond me. I am officially back on my Weight Watcher diet and writing down everything you eat is certainly a deterrent to eating it.

Well, the med is taking effect and I am feeling slow and groovy so .........

Nuff said,

The Georgia Peach

Wednesday's Musings

Good evening. Ya'll come on in and have a seat on the front porch. I have a nice breeze right now, but I think it is about to rain again. There is a low rumble of thunder off to the north so we may not be able sit out here long.

By the way, does anybody have Noah's address, phone number or email address. We need those plans that God gave him to build an ark. Not sure about getting all those animals aboard, but we are about to float away down here in South Georgia. You know there are no hills down here except the overpass over the interstate and all the drainage ditches are full so we have a lot of standing water. You know how plants turn yellow if too dry, well my poor cucumbers are turning yellow from too much rain, poor dears.

All this rain is not doing the peach crop any good either for they will develop brown rot and have brown spots on them that rot quickly. All this rain makes them less sweet also and my blueberry bushes are going to float right up out of the ground and wave bye as the float down the ditch. Rain, rain go away for a little while, please.

Well I went to the Tooth Mechanic this morning. You remember Dr. Jekyll? He completed implanting those screws in my mouth and now I have to go to Dr. Mechanic for the teeth. I didn't know what to expect and now I am glad I didn't for these screws in my mouth would most likely have stayed empty - no teeth on them.

This tooth mechanic has a lovely office and sweet staff and you are just lulled into peace and joy as you are escorted to the pretty room. Now you begin to get an inkling of what is about to happen when the nice assistant begins to place the wrenches, the screwdrivers and pliers on the nice, little sterile tray. Of course they are small, shiny and not greasy, but still are tools used by car mechanics.

Then comes the little screws and wires assembled on the little tray. Now he did a real nice job arranging them all nice and neatly and side-by-side like little soldiers, but still looked a little like they were going to work on metal, not my mouth. Of course they had a TV set at the foot of this nice, soft recliner I was reclining in to take my mind off what could possibly happen, but it didn't work. I began to grow a little uneasy as the moments ticked by.

As I began to wonder if I really wanted these teeth, the nice Dr. Mechanic came in and with a soft voice asked how I was doing. Now what in the heck am I supposed to say? Of course you answer, "I'm fine and how are you and your family, your mama, your daddy, and all the rest." Remember, in the south you must always answer politely even if you are about to have a dreadful procedure done on your mouth. After all if you sass the nice doctor, Mama will look down and frown from heaven and I don't think I want her to tell the good Lord how I sassed the doctor. He is in charge of the lightning and those bolts could hurt a tad if He decided to throw one. Mama can be very persuasive.

The assistant began to lower the nice lounge chair and lean my head down so the nice man could sit on his little stool and destroy my mouth. This head down position is torture for those of us who suffer from sinus drainage so through all this I am about to choke to death. Wonder why he can't stand up and do his torture?

Now the fun begins. He first explains he usually does this procedure without any pain relief but if it begins to hurt raise my hand. Raise my hand? They are clinching the arms of that lounge chair so tightly you couldn't pry them loose with a crowbar. I bet he has one of those too since he has all those other tools.

"Open wide please," he says as he is poised to mangle my mouth and like a little bird, I opened my mouth and about got lock-jaw before they let me close it. The sinus drainage was just a running, the jaw was locked and he was using a torque wrench and cutting pliers all in my mouth. Talk about fun, it was just about more than I could stand. The only problem was, he was having the fun and I was having the drowning, lock-jaw experience.

I thought he was finished when he stood up but no, no, no. He asked his assistant to mix up some plastic, rubbery goop and make impressions. They took a grease gun and squirted this gooey goop in my mouth, put in a metal tray and told me to not swallow or bite down for 3 minutes. 3 minutes seemed like 3 hours later they took this hardened goop out of my mouth and did 2 more. By that time I felt like a rubber mold.

After all this, do you think they gave me my new teeth? Not on your life, I have to wait a month to get these suckers. They just told me what a good patient I was, charged me a whole bunch of money and told me to come back in a month. If fact when she told me the amount of money I couldn't even write the check for I didn't know how to write one for that much.

Oh well, I guess I asked for it. I did begin this experience so I could chew on both sides not just one. Trying to eat steak with 4 missing teeth is kinda tough, even if the steak is not.

Nuff said,

The Georgia Peach

Wednesday's Follow-up

Good morning to ya'll or at least I think it's morning. I think I took 1 too many "horse pills" or drank 1 or 2 too many cups of coffee but I can't sleep so just got on up and am making some more coffee to jump start my day.

You see, after having my session in the Chamber of Horrors with Drs. Jekkyll and Hyde and Nurse Assist the Dr., I feel as though I have been beaten, cut, drilled and injected. And you know what gets my panties in a wad? I am paying them to torture me like this. And to top that, I asked for it. Now I know old age brings senility, dementia and "all-timers" but this is ridiculous. Maybe I need see the other doctor, "Dr. Fix the Brain." Maybe he can help me realize what the heck is going on in my brain for I could have just kept those hurting teeth and gotten used to the toothache but maybe not. That was rather painful and this will get well, eventually, some day, next year....... This is a do something, wait awhile, and do something else procedure.

The next problem is how do I eat? Yesterday it was a milk shake, chicken noodle soup, bread soaked in coffee and yogurt. What's wrong with this picture? No steak, french fries, or anything which had to be chewed. I suppose this means I either eat a soft diet, ugh, or baby food. The alternative is to learn how to gum it like some of my kin folks I hated to watch eat. I'll try not to eat in public or if so eat grits, scrambled eggs and soak my bread in the coffee. You see, this if about a 6 months ordeal - do something, wait, do something, and wait. Going to be a long 6 months I think.

Well, my coffee is ready so I can dip my bagel in it so that I can eat something solid and that is--

Nuff said,

The Georgia Peach

Monday's Complaints

Well, I thought I would go ahead and put Tuesday's posting in tonight for tomorrow I go to the Chamber of Horrors - the dentist. I will arrive early without having a cup of coffee and the torture begins.

They will politely ask me to come on back, put Roy in a nice room with sofas, deep chairs, coffee and snacks and even a TV to watch and then escort me to THE ROOM!!! So sweetly they will ask me to lie back in this chair, place my arm very carefully on the chair's arm and then...... the DENTIST comes in with this cherubic look on his face, smile and gently ask me if I am ready.

READY!!! Oh no! Dr. Jekyll and Dr. Hyde has entered the chamber. I can't let that sweet smile and soft voice fool me for they are going to do all sorts of horrible things to my mouth and least of these are 3 screws in my gums. Horrors!!!! Pull a tooth, inject crushed bone, sew it up and pack it with gauze and who knows what else.

You see when he gently places that foot-long needle in my arm and injects the "joy juice", off I go to Lala land where only sweet dreams are allowed and you float not walk and the colors are bright and you don't care what the heck they are doing to you back in the Chamber of Horrors. They told me they were going to apply the screws and do all sorts of bloody things to my mouth, but at this point I will not care for that shot sure is a strong cocktail.

BUT the time of awakening will arrive all too soon and I will hear a sweet voice out of the fog saying, "Mrs. Robson, wake up. Are you OK? Wake up, your husband is here." Who cares, he has been in that nice room eating, drinking, watching TV and doing who knows what with the pretty nurses. I try to open my eyes but I really will not want to leave that lovely land of Lala. It hurts over here but I know I have to moan and groan and nod my head to say I'm OK so that they can pour me in the car to come home.

So, I meekly nod, mumble and try not to throw up with that pound of gauze in my mouth so I can get the heck out that Chamber of Horrors. To home I want to come so Roy can give me another one of those "horse pills" and I can return to Lala land where people are nice and Dr. Jekyll and Dr. Hyde are banned.

Tomorrow will be a little cloudy so I will see you Wednesday. By the way, a 24 hour prayer vigil is wanted, so get on the knees!!!!

Nuff said

The Georgia Peach

Monday's Memories

Good Monday morning to ya'll. Just about to drink my first cup of coffee and get ready for the day which includes a visit to the dentist, ugh. I will be scheduling to begin the process of several tooth implants and that doesn't sound like too much fun. It's either that or a bridge, whatever that is, and I'm going for the permanent things or as permanent as you can be if it is called an "implant." You see when they say the word "bridge" I go into shock, for I have a phobia about bridges and to think of having one of those things in my mouth sends me into major, heart palpitations and I have get out the smelling salts and the lace-edged handkerchief to prepare for a fainting spell.

You see I have a problem stemming from when I was about 7 years old and had to make my 1st visit to THE dentist in my home town. As you can tell, there was only one and to my young eyes he looked about 100 years old. Now I am sure he wasn't that old, but he was up in years and I had the toothache so most anybody would do at that moment.

His office was upstairs over a store, I think. I do know it was upstairs over something and we had to climb the stairs, which were outside the building to get to his office. I don't remember a lot about it, but I do remember pulling this tooth was the only procedure he would do and because it was a baby tooth and would be coming out anyway, not much "deadening" stuff was used and it hurt like the devil. Mama always said the devil would hurt you real bad.

Also during the "olden days" in small town Alabama, there was not much known about spacers to hold the space for the new tooth or pulling the one next to it, heaven forbid, so it would come in straight. So the end results was a permanent tooth coming in slightly behind the others and that is one of the major reasons I am having to have these implant things or "fox" teeth as we used to call them.

I don't remember much about Dr. Duke's office and I'm sure it was nice but to me it seemed like a chamber of horrors and I never went back for another "horrible tooth pulling". Now the dentist I see now for filling up that hole and several others due to cavities caused by that tooth, is a very nice young man with a lovely office, sweet, kind and gentle office staff, and loving tender care for the old lady, but it is still a dentist office and the torture is still being done each and every day to those of us who think we are going to a "tea party."

However, there she goes with the however, he is cute and smiles sweetly while he gets me ready for the nurse to gently put a foot long needle in my arm, injects this drug of who knows what and then, oh my, I begin to grow sleepy and off I go into lala land to awaken later with a mouth that hurts like the dickens. They gently place ice packs on my face, wheel me out to the car and away I go to hurt, moan and cry at least until my sweet husband hands me one of those "horse pills" and away I float back to lala land.

I just know they take me into a horror chamber while I am away visiting lala land and gleefully laugh as they do all sorts of horrible, bloody, painful things to my mouth. Now they have told me these new teeth implanted things will look just like real teeth and I will be like a beautiful princess with lovely new teeth and will look 20 years younger. RIGHT!

Oh well, I can dream can't I, so let the torture begin.

Nuff said,

The Georgia Peach