I Love My Dentist

My normal routine: wake up in the morning. Snap my fingers to get Djuna off my hips. Roll over and snuggle with Thing for a few moments. Get up and make the bed. Stumble down the stairs dodging my girls the whole way. In the bathroom: fill the water bowl for the girls. Brush my hair. Brush my teeth. Floss. Wash my face. Then head back up to my room to get dressed. Face the world one more time.

But Sunday, my normal routine was interrupted. As I flossed my teeth, one of them broke in half and popped out! I stood there for a while with the piece in my hand, wondering what to do now. It was just so unexpected.

And unwelcomed, to say the least. I have no insurance. I have no job. I have no money. What am I supposed to do with half a tooth in my head?

My plan = ignore it.

That worked, believe it or not. It wasn’t hurting me as long as I chewed on the other side and kept my tongue away from it the rest of the time.

During the hike that day, Mother convinced me to call my dentist anyway. I couldn’t just leave it like that: a huge hole in the back of my mouth. Who knows what kind of damage I could do to it, making it even worse in the long run.

So, Monday morning I called Dr. Welch – he’s been my dentist for about 20 years now. Celeste, his assistant, answered the phone and got the whole sob story from me. She told me to come on in anyway and they’d see what they could do.

They had to take an x-ray, of course – to see just how extensive the damage was. Then they packed the hole with some temporary goop, saying that it might pop out again tomorrow or it could last 6 months – they had no way of knowing. Dr. Welsh told me to be careful with it, and showed me how to floss around it. Then they sent me home.

And all of that was FREE!

The very moment I get a job (oh, please let it be soon) I’m to have it taken care of, of course. This really is just a temporary fix.

But still – I can’t believe they did all of that and didn’t charge me a dime!