Guess Who's Teething?

And it's not my little boy!

I went to the dentist this morning--when I was on vacation, my perfect mug of clam chowder contained a bit of sand and I chomped it. Chomped it good. I was afraid I might have cracked a back molar, but I didn't feel any pain, so I filed it away as one of things to take care of when I got home.

A few nights since getting back, I've woken myself up by biting something hard, but not finding anything in my mouth. I thought it might be parts of a tooth. This week, I realized I had a dull ache on the left side of my face (same side I thought I'd cracked), and when it started getting worse yesterday I called my dentist.

OK, so I went to the dentist this morning prepared for the worst. I was thinking cracked tooth, exposed root, and root canal time! I brought two books and my mini-disc player just in case (no, I haven't gotten an iPod--I love my outdated years ago Christmas present of a mini-disc player even though it's today's equivalent to Betamax). During the x-rays, we found a surprise--a wisdom tooth!

Three years ago, I had full mouth x-rays that showed I had no wisdom teeth. I also found out I still have two baby teeth (and if I lose those, the Tooth Fairy better pay me handsomely for 30 years of care without cavities!). Anyway, the wisdom teeth must have been too far up to see, since today, I could clearly see one against my molar, coming up and in at an angle and pressing against the root of the molar as it makes its way above the surface of the gum. Turns out the pain I'm feeling is the attempted eruption.

Curious, we took some more x-rays, and found two more wisdom teeth in similar positions, about to erupt. The soreness in my right bottom gum, which I thought was from chewing too much on that side, is the from the gum trying to open to let the tooth through.

31 years old, and I'm teething! I'm way too old for this!

The good news is that my molar is just fine, no crack, no worries. And since I had my cleaning done, my dentist was able to identify a minor gum infection along my front crown work from three years ago. I say minor, but I have referrals to an endodontrist and periodontist to check all that out to make sure if doesn't get worse and I don't lose the crowns. And also, I'm going to get fitted occlusion guards to wear at night--that way, if I grind my teeth, I won't cause any more wear than I've already done. I had a root canal seven years ago after breaking a molar from grinding in my sleep--I don't want to go through that again.

And an unrelated note, I got my car back this week. The warranty company approved all the repair and I picked my car up this Wednesday morning. I can feel the difference in the steering and I kick myself for not noticing it before. But, now it's fixed and I should have another good year of driving, barring any unforeseen problems. I think if something else goes wrong, it may be time for a trade in.

On another note, because I'm proud of the work we did--this Tuesday I participated in a delivery project to give students at an impoverished school all the supplies they need for the year. My company does this every year, and this was the first time I got to see the students' reactions. Oh, my, what fun! So many smiles and thank yous, and the efforts from my company were outstanding! Thanks to our school supply drive, we provided enough supplies for 5000 students! We were able to cover two schools here in the Valley, and the rest went to the Governor's back to school program to be distributed throughout the state to similar poor schools.

Last year, we helped over 2000 students, including children who came to Phoenix after Hurricane Katrina, setting a record. This year, we broke that record. I can't wait to see what we're able to do next year!