Beneath the Wraps

                 In my last post I mentioned a nasty mouthwash that the dentist gave me to rinse my mouth three times a day – I guess until it’s gone.   I am supposed to swish for 45 seconds and not eat or drink for 20-30 minutes after I spit.   It isn’t terrible swishing it in my mouth, but once I spit it does leave a horrible after taste – and then my teeth hurt.           I have learned to take the pain killers before I swish.   I am glad I waited on the “one-day” dosage of pain killers.   Thus far I have taken three.   The mar above my lip and cheek that I posted five days ago has faded but I seem to have a small bruise close to my left chin.   (Well there's an grammatically incorrect sentence that Would hurt an English grade)  What is up with that?   All the teeth that were extracted were on top.         ...

  I have always had a low pain threshold.   I have also been a drama queen exaggerating the results of my pain thus I didn’t always get the sympathy that I sought.   On Tuesday I had three teeth extracted from my mouth.   I was certain I would have to have surgery with at least one – being lost in the gum line and have to be removed in pieces.   That is how it was for my mom.   But then again that was over 60 years ago.   Technology has made things so much easier since then.              All three teeth were removed within half an hour.   I thought I would be in the dentist chair for at least two hours – or close to it anyway.   I don’t hurt nearly as much as I had expected.   In fact, it only hurts on one side – mostly in the cheek area on my left side.   In time the pain will go away and I will be back to eating solid foods. But as of right now it’s been mashed potatoes, pudding and Jell-o. ...

             Richard had a 9:00 appointment with his doctor this morning and I had a dentist appointment at 11:00.   With only one car we drove to Roseburg together in the pouring rain.   The rivers and creeks are always feast and famine. The rain has made them really high to overflowing.   I smile when I look at the murky brown color as I think of Jaime comparing it to chocolate milk.                     I haven’t been to the dentist for over a year and now have an abscessed tooth which will need to be removed.   I set up three dentist appointments for myself.   One in March and two in April.   Ugggh . . .

            It feels like a Saturday.   I suspect most of the days this week will feel like Saturdays.   On the 21 st my post gives a little detail about my dental experience.   The Novocain wore off eventually – long after the dentist was closed.   I don’t know when I first noticed that my teeth were not feeling right.   Well, two in particular.   Was it the tooth he just worked on?   The bite on the right side of my mouth made contact before anything on my left.   It didn’t hurt but was quite annoying.             I remember the dentist and his assistant having me bite on a paper and saw off some more.   Wait a minute!   I don’t think I am finished.   Something is sticking up that’s not supposed to.             That was Wednesday.   I allowed myself t...

          I went to the dentist yesterday so that he could fill/replace my tooth.   I was loaded up on Novocain – I think it affected my mental state.   I remember going to another dentist many years ago.   He was my very first dentist when I lived in Midvale.   He would ask patients if they wanted gas to help them relax or the walkman and maybe something else.   I wanted it all. How the right side of my mouth felt each time I tried to eat           I don’t know why when my mouth is getting worked on, I somehow feel so relaxed in the dentist chair.   I’m really not.   I could sense my body tension as I sat in the dentist chair yesterday, but in my mind, I thought I was relaxed.   Somehow my mind detaches from my physical body when I am in the dentist chair.           They had given me sunglasses to...

                I don’t know how many months I have lived with this incredible pain on the bottom right side of my mouth.   I wasn’t even sure which tooth was causing the pain.   The last time I was at the dentist earlier this year, I pointed into my mouth at where I thought it was – somewhere between my wisdom tooth and front teeth.   But when the dentist touched each tooth and moved toward the front, the pain became more severe.   I made an appointment to have my teeth looked at by a dentist I had never been to before (one who is in our insurance network whereas the other is not) not realizing that Monday was a holiday and both Roland and Jenna would be off for Veteran’s Day.           In Salt Lake, Veteran’s Day seemed like just another excuse to take time off, whereas in Oregon, they really go all out to honor those who served our countr...

          Our swim instructor retired from teaching in public education but has agreed to substitute on occasion.   She happened to be subbing for one of Jenna's teachers and had mentioned to me how Jenna is well liked by so many of her peers.   She is admired because she is herself.   She hangs on to the things she likes and disregards things she doesn't like and refuses to play games of "following the leader" unless she's the leader.           There are several times that I've called Jenna "crazy" or "weird" referring to her personality differences and not necessarily with Jenna herself.   There have been a few concerned about "labeling" - but my family understands what I am saying and in many cases will agree with me.           Take today for instance: Jenna has an opportunity, along with several other honor students, to go to the cinema in ...

            Jenna left the house at 5:15 on Wednesday.  I told her she could stay out for an hour and gave her my phone so that she would have it when the alarm went off.              She returned home at 5:30 and I told her she could continue to play for 15 more minutes.  Not even two minutes passed before I heard her wailing. Had we been prepared for disaster, both of us would have made certain she had stayed in.             It happened so quickly, she's uncertain of just how it happened.  evidently she took some kind of fall on her bike in which her mouth was gruffly introduced to the asphalt at high speed.  She came in the house with her mouth bleeding.  Roland and I both thought that the tooth had broken.           ...

            While on vacation, I noticed a pain in lower left side of my mouth.   I was guessing a cavity – but I didn’t know what tooth.  After we returned home and I’d wake up with a sore mouth, I broke down and made an appointment with the dentist that I’ve been taking Jenna too.             It has been a while since I’ve been to a dentist.   I know I should go twice a year, but we haven’t always been able to afford it.   Not to mention I am an incredible wimp. (If you look “wimp” up in the pictorial dictionary, you should know what I look like)             I did not send Jenna in as a guinea pig to find my dentist.   Jenna LOVES to go to the dentist whereas I can't even admit to tolerating the dentist.   And it's nothing against the dentist himself.  I have a high...

As I have mentioned in this post  Jenna LOVES to go to the dentist.   Seriously.   Often times when she says she really has to go to the dentist, I treat it much like “the Little Boy who Cried Wolf” I never really know whether she needs to go.  Usually I dismiss that she does not. When the dentist office called me, I made an appointment for the semi-annual cleaning.   Her dentist had told me that she had perfect teeth and that there were still nine baby teeth.   Really?   I was certain that she had already lost them all.   Guess not. The cleaning that she had in November – or was it December? – revealed a small cavity.   In April the office called again so that they could fill the cavity.   But apparently it was NOT a permanent tooth and so the dentist didn’t want to fill it. She had lost three teeth from when we were told there were nine.   But her dentist said he would need to pull the remaining six. They...

My dentist was a good man.   I have always known that.   But the very idea of his profession made me cringe.   He would do his very best to keep gentle.   But no matter how he tried, it was always a painful experience for me.   The word “dentist” to me means “torture of the mouth” There were two dentists at that particular location.   Mom had picked the location due to convenience of short distance – she could walk there really.   The two dentists were father and son who shared the same receptionist.   When my mom said she was there to see Dr. Rigdon, the receptionist asked which one. Now here’s a unique way for selecting your dentist – both had uncommon first names – neither of which mom cared for – but chose the name she liked better of the two.   He actually turned out to be the better pick of the two – but not because he had a better name.   He was the son who used the latest in modern equipment, while the father seemed to...