Project Smile Is Back on Track!

For those of you who have been following along on my dental adventure, I finally made it in for the next round of work.

Yesterday it was six fillings. Four of them were small (front and eye teeth), one was a temp filling until I get my crown, and one was a tooth that the dentist couldn’t get to until I had my extractions.

After the extractions healed, I tried to make two appointments but was sick or in a pain flare each time. I did get a cleaning in.

I have to take a pre-med (2000 mg amoxicillin one hour before an appointment) because of my knee replacement surgery. Normally you only need to do this for a couple of years; however, because of my crappy immune system, my GP, orthopedic surgeon and dentist agreed I should continue it with all dental procedures. They also want me to wait two weeks after taking any antibiotic (whether the pre-med or for any infection).

This proved to be tricky as I had the flu a couple of times after the cleaning and a horrible sinus infection which took 10 days of Amoxil to cure and then came back again. I had to cancel appointments and put off making new ones…until a couple of weeks ago.

I phoned my favorite receptionist (She Gets Me) and mentioned that this was hubby’s week off. He needed an appointment for his regular check-up as well. She made the two appointments for late morning and, like I have been doing for other outings, I planned ahead. I made sure I got enough rest, took medications on time and had the right things to eat. I took an extra sinus pill to make sure I wasn’t plugged, sniffling or dealing with a sinus headache. Two is within the limits – I normal overlap them through the day but this works better for outings.

The appointment went on with no problems. Once I raised my hand meaning I needed to sit up but I knew they were at a point they were changing from top to bottom teeth anyway. After it was all done and was talking with the dental tech. She said I did very well and I said, “well one positive thing I can get out of chronic pain is sometimes you don’t sweat the small stuff because you are used to much worse.” She thought about it for a second and said it made some sense.

When we were finished we had promised to take Tony’s parents out to lunch. We went to a local Thai Pho restaurant. I didn’t think the long rice noodles of the traditional soup would be easy for me to eat with a frozen mouth, so I ordered a plate of assorted tempura. I was in heaven!

Once we got home I hit the pillow and was out for a few hours.

It was 8 pm when we had dinner and watched the 50th Country Music Association Awards. All I could think of was how much my Dad would have loved to see it. They had all the winners of Male/Female singers of the year and other legends still with us. For those who have gone there were musical and pictorial tributes throughout the night. And while co-host Brad Paisley kept referring to him as Mr. Trisha Yearwood, Garth Brooks made his absence from country music a blip on a timeline by winning Entertainer Of The Year his second year back!

Well back to my teeth. We have some important thinking to do. Next, comes 4 – 5 crowns, two of which (back top) will have to be fitted for my upper partial plate to fit into. Then the plate is made for the top and we decide if I will get a bridge on the bottom for the two missing teeth there, or find another solution.

Hubby and I really have to think this out. Even with our dental plan we have to put out a lot of money for the crowns and plates. And my teeth are in lousy condition to begin with. I keep thinking that going with full dentures will be the best in the long run…

Lydia!