a trip to the dentist

a few weeks back, i broke a tooth. one of my molars shed a large chunk of itself. it was really quite traumatic. oddly, it did not hurt.

so i waited a few days. hmmm. no pain. but darn it, i said i was going to the dentist to fix it. but a few days turned into a few weeks.

then another piece of it broke off, this time a nice, sharp dagger-like chunk. i could not put it off any more. today i went to see the dentist.

when i was 8, 9, and 10 years old, i had a flurry of really awful dental visits. i still have all of the silver in my mouth from those visits. big, nasty hunks of silver for fillings. the dentist explained to me that those silver fillings are really stiff, while the tooth is flexible, and over time the tooth can pull away from the filling and decay can start in spots around the edges. and mine did.

lucky for me, after much drilling and building, i have a somewhat normal molar again. i'll have to go back next week for a crown, but i'm glad i avoided a root canal.

damn. it sucks getting old.