I don't remember if I told you folks about my, embarrassingly minor when compared to the above, dental history. First of all I was blessed with very strong enamel, they told me. That said, about 40 years ago I bit into a McD's Quarter Pounder and one of my molars took a direct hit on a small brass bolt the had found it's way into the patty. It caused a minor crack in the surface that my dentist repaired with some form of resin that was set with the use of a blacklight type thing. Seems odd, but it lasted for over 20 years with no problems. Then one day I took a drink of something cold and discovered that the fix had finally failed.
By that time, the original dentist had either retired or just moved to Australia (don't remember which) and my new dentist determined that a root canal wasn't necessary but that a cap/crown was necessary. For those that don't know... for years they were called caps but that didn't sound expensive enough so the name changed to crown where they could subsequently charge royal amounts of money for one. But I digress! That lasted for about seven years until an abscess developed under that royal crown and the tooth (or what was left of it) was removed. They then generously offered to do a dental implant. Since it was about $1500.00 for one of those and it was in a place where it didn't show plus I still had all the rest of my teeth I wisely decided against it.
Jump ahead less then a year and I was working part time driving shuttle bus for Enterprise car rental at the Raleigh/Durham International Airport. I had brought a couple of granola bars for snacks during my 8 hour shift. Biting into one I heard a weird cracking sound that I just figured was something crispy. As the evening wore on the molar on the direct opposite side of my mouth started to hurt. After a night of pain I went to my dentist and when she looked at it, she discovered that the tooth had split from front to back into two pieces like if you were splitting wood. It was dead on arrival and was immediately pulled out and no dental implant even though they tried to convince me that my teeth will now be free to move around in my mouth. So far they have stay relatively motionless.
So to make a long story longer, after my 74 years of dental ownership my record is as follows. Two cavities (allegedly) when I was in the service. Every dentist I have seen since then has agreed that although treated like a cavity it was more likely a military training mission for a new dentist. Then a few years later another actual cavity caused by one of those first fillings was rubbing against the tooth in front of it. That leaves me with two empty spots that teeth once occupied and four impacted wisdom teeth removed when I was in my late 20's. Although the history is somewhat strange over all, I have been lucky and problems have been few and far between.
As a side note, both of my daughters. now in their late forties, have had only had one cavity, collectively. Not a word of thanks to me for passing along the good fortune. Ingrates!
colormadehappy.com
www.backyardboss.net
