Broken Tooth

Yesterday I had an apple for lunch. It was crunchy and delicious. But afterwards I kept feeling like I had some peel stuck between my top right front tooth and the incisor beside it (7 and 8 in the chart). I absentmindedly picked at it the rest of the day until I just couldn't stand it anymore. So last night out came the floss and I went to work.

I thought the peel would slide right out but there seemed to be something in the way so I tried again; the floss strands separated and I felt something loosen. Uh-oh. Quickly I grabbed my mirror and sure enough the corner of my tooth was coming off. There was no apple peel after all. The tooth had cracked and my flossing had only made it worse.

My usual dentist recently left my health plan and I haven't tried finding a new one. Today I had to. I did a search for those near my office and called one whose office is in the same building as my old dentist. I didn't want to have to go wandering around. They had an opening at 3:45; I would have to try to keep that corner attached at least until then.

I carefully ate breakfast and then lunch and the corner was still hanging on. I walked up to the dentist's office, filled out the paperwork, sat patiently through the X-ray and then the dentist came to chat. He told me the various options, completely leaving it up to me to decide. How was I supposed to know what was best? composite resin? porcelain veneer? crown? He gave me some papers to read about the options and left.

When they asked me to sign saying I understood the options and fee schedules I said I had some questions. The receptionist (dental translation technician?) came in and was talking about how veneers are rather fragile and can break and you need to cut up your food and never bite into apples ever again. I was shocked. I needed something more durable than that, I thought.

So I signed up for a crown and will be getting one on Monday. I have to wait with the corner of my tooth hanging off in the meantime mourning the loss of my natural tooth. Even with a crown, they tell me, I may not be biting into many crunchy apples in the future.