Call me Snaggletooth.

Today I got a call from my dentist's office, asking me if I wanted to come for an appointment. I had originally planned to go on April 24, so I jumped at the chance to go sooner. My jaw has been bothering me lately, and I have a chip in my front tooth. Plus, due to my fear of having my wisdom teeth tampered with, I hadn't been to the dentist in *cough* five years *cough*, so I figured the sooner the better.

I knew something was up when the hygienist looked at me funny after she gave me the dental x-rays. She was sort of avoiding eye contact with me, and she kept disappearing. Finally, the dentist came in and had a look at my mouth.

Then he showed my teeth in a mirror.

"See these brown marks?" he said, pointing to the multiple speckles on my molars. "They're cavities."

"Oh?" I replied shakily.

"Yes. Watch this."

Then he proceeded to demonstrate how spongy a cavity is by stabbing his pick-like instrument into my teeth and wiggling it back and forth.

"Yeah," he said. "You have four cavities. This one (more poking) is really bad. It might need a root canal. And I'm sending you to the oral surgeon, because I think one of your wisdom teeth needs to come out."

Now, let me put this in perspective. Up until my self-imposed dentist exile, I had really good teeth. I had annual fluoride treatments at the dental clinic at Glen Stewart, I had caps put on my molars when I was 12 to prevent decay, and once I had a cracked tooth filled. No x-rays, no fillings, and certainly no root canals. And have I ever mentioned that I have recurring nightmares about my teeth falling out??

So as the hygienist proceeded to scrape five year's worth of plaque from my teeth, I began to beat myself up for not taking care of my teeth. Because really, I have no one else to blame but myself. I'm all grown up. I should know better. How could I let myself avoid the dentist for five years? Stupid Lynda.

My teeth still hurt from all the scraping and polishing and flossing today.

Imma go brush my teeth again.