My New Tooth!

Today, April 27, 2012, will be one of those days that I will celebrate for the rest of my life. A new anniversary date! This goes with all of the other special anniversary days in my life. Yearly, I celebrate the first time Mary and I spoke on the phone, the first time we met, the date I purchased my house, the date of my last divorce from ex-husband #3, the last emergency surgery for Fast Eddie and on and on. Be aware that I also name possessions: Sami the Refrigerator, Curtis the Stove, Adie the Dishwasher, Jamie the Bike and of course Pixie, my car! Go figure. But today I received my new front tooth implant. And she looks awesome but she will not be named! Some things just shouldn’t be named…if you know what I mean. Oh yeah, back to my tooth. I was told in January 2006, that my front tooth had to be removed. After two failed root canals, there wasn’t any other option but to pull it. Let me tell you, I fought that idea of losing my front tooth! But in December of 2010, the pain was so bad that I had no choice. So on December 23, 2010, two days before my 57th birthday, I had it pulled. The original plan was that I would take a Valium a hour before the extraction and then get Novacaine. “Novacaine is an anesthetic from the cocaine family (N17 H21 NO4). It goes to the neurotransmitters of the body and blocks the synapses between nerve endings. That makes it impossible for the pain signal to be transported via the nerve.” Well, those plans quickly changed, I walked in and saw the tray of tools that were going to be used to remove my tooth. So for a not so meager price of $375, I was knocked out. Because it was a front tooth, I had to have a bone graph during the procedure which takes six months to heal. I was given a flapper (temporary tooth that comes out nightly). The next step was to drill into the jaw and put a “drum.” It takes about six months to heal and then a special screw is installed inside the tube. That takes about a month or two and then the new tooth is installed. So with some hiccups along the way and there were several, 16 months and 4 days later I am the proud owner of a new tooth! The diva in me is so thrilled; this is definitely a date worth celebrating every year!