Ouch

Ouch.

This has been me lately. Around the first of April I had a cracked tooth extracted. Pretty emotional for me, really. I work really hard on good health, and loosing a tooth was a tough blow. It hurt me for over a year - had I gone in for a look much sooner, I may have only had a crown. I waited long enough that it cracked clear down to the root.

Had that tooth pulled on a Wednesday and ran a 10k on Saturday. It wasn't that bad, really. Pretty sore for a few days, and I didn't really want to get any cereal or granola back there for a bout a month or so.

One. Clear in the back. No big deal.

Well...now it seems there are a more. It's never a good sign when Doc takes a look and says "Oh...yeah...THAT'S a cracked tooth." An x-ray proved it, and it sounded like a ton of money coming from that doctor. Since the new one is in the middle, you can't just pull it without doing damage to the others around it.

So I asked -

"What if I just have it pulled? Maybe have one of those implants put in? Wouldn't that be more cost effective - in the long run - than a root canal, a pulpectomy and a crown!?"

Surprised at my suggestion - the doctor admitted, "Yes. Cracked teeth are the hardest thing to deal with. You could have endless procedures and still end up with an extraction."

Sold.

Pull it.

That's my logical mind speaking. My heart is crushed. I feel so badly to be losing my teeth. When I stopped smoking, 6 years ago, I started taking much better care of my teeth. I had gingivitis and endured surgical procedures and frequent visits to a Periodontist over the years. I even FLOSS!

Boo.

Oh well.