Crown this....

Two dental appointments in the past two weeks.... the dentist is working on two teeth... one was in need of a crown (after the removal of the last of my old silver fillings) and the other was in need of a new crown (the old crown having to be removed because of a spot of decay on the tooth underneath that crown).

I like the dental office we go to.... the dentist is a very nice soft-spoken woman, so unlike the older male dentist with the thick mustache that I saw as a kid. He might have been nice as well, but his huge presence and loud voice was enough to scare you as soon as you walked into the office.

What I hate are the sounds of the dental equipment. I wish they had earplugs or earphones, so at least you couldn't hear the whirring and the screeching and the blasting of whatever tools they're using to infiltrate your teeth. And last week's appointment, when the dentist was removing that old silver filling-- the aroma of that silver was enough to gag you. Why on earth did they ever use silver in the first place? Was there no other substance hard enough to withstand the chewing of Cracker Jack and cashew nuts and Baby Ruths?

So right now, I have two temporary crowns on the bottom right side of my mouth. The two new crowns will be ready in two weeks. The lab can get them both ready in just a week, but they would charge an extra fifty dollars. No thank you. No rush. I'll wait. I don't eat Baby Ruths anymore; I won't put cashews on top of my salad while the temporary crowns are in; and I won't eat Cracker Jack with the temporaries either.

I had tomato soup for lunch, a slice of warm bread-machine bread for dinner. My mouth is still sore now that the novacaine has worn off, and the last thing I want is something cold and/or crunchy. When I looked in the mirror, the first thing I noticed was the absence of that old silver filling. The last hurrah from that old dentist of the 1960s.

Between the stye on my bottom left eye-lid (which is now getting smaller each day), and the dental work on two teeth on the bottom right side of my mouth, it's been a rough week. This too shall pass. It could be worse. It could always be worse.