Split like the Great Continental Divide

This photo is one of a dental tool used in the past. I am not so certain today's tools are all that different.

I lost a filling or part of a filling Saturday night leaving a huge hole in my top left molar.  Not unusual really for work that was performed in 1970 or so. I waited for the pain but none came. I cautiously drank my coffee the next morning. No pain. I ate breakfast. The hole filled with food but no pain. I brushed immediately afterwards until I could feel that empty abyss. I made an appointment with my dentist as soon as I could.

The tooth has to come out. It split in two. How I wish the dentist could have seen that when I first began having this issue in August. It would all be over with by now. I was NOT in pain. I chose to remove it in January. He was busy and I certainly did not want to spend the day with a bleeding socket when I have so much to do.

The assistant quipped "Remember the holidays are coming up".  Like I can forget that? What do I look like? I know she meant that they will be closed. The dentist wrote me a prescription for an antibiotic just in case it gets infected.

I can still remember my older sister driving all of us kids to the dentist during my childhood. I am not certain of the specifics (perhaps I will ask her) but I do know this was a welfare case and I am not even sure I was told to brush my teeth when I was little. I must have had ten fillings over those couple of  years. I recall how I dreaded the visits. I hated the Novocaine shot so much, when the dentist said he could fill my teeth with out numbing the gum, I chose that path. Only one time did he hit a nerve and I was not numb. I jumped almost out of the chair and he had another dentist with him. I can remember them laughing (with relief). Water went everywhere. The dental care stopped after a couple of years. I am not certain as to why.

To say I was traumatized is an understatement. I did not return to a dentist until I was nineteen and had to have my wisdom teeth pulled. Dental care was sketchy after that (only when in pain did I go). Until I finally reached this last job that pays for dental insurance and I am finally tethered to one area for more than a couple of years. Care has been nonstop for over 15 years, now. My daughter has had care all her life.

I am luckier than my siblings. Since I am the youngest my dental care started much earlier than theirs. All but two of us have partials or full dentures. Sister 1954 and I.