Take care of your teeth Boys and Girls!

Wednesday morning I had a dentist appointment to prep my for bridge placement. Why do I need a dental bridge?
Because I have a nasty habit of chewing Ricola cough drops. Strange, I know but it goes all the way back to when I was in college for my Biological Science degree and was taking all sorts of dissection classes. My skin reacted horribly to placing Vick's under my nose like some of the other students were doing so I tried cough drops and they worked. Because I am a type A person, I have the tendency to chew them when stressed to this day. Over the years I have gravitated to Ricola because I like their flavor (and strangely enough, their texture) the best.
Before I knew I was pregnant, I was chomping away one day at my second job (a horrible nursing home in Boulder, Co) when suddenly I felt a pop and the next thing I knew, I was spitting out a crown with my tooth in it! I had broken off the crown and tooth inside at the gum line. I went to the dentist that afternoon and was told that what remained of the tooth would have to be extracted before either an implant or a bridge could be done but if I didn't think I would be doing either right away, I should have it filled and wait for the extraction till I was ready to have either the bridge or implant done because the remaining teeth would shift. Stupid me told them to pull it then and there. I remember thinking, "Heck, I have dental insurance, I work 2 jobs and husband works, why shouldn't we be able to afford to do it right away."
While we were waiting for the extraction to heal so we could place the post for the implant that I wanted, I got knocked up. I was advised that I couldn't have any major dental work while pregnant or breastfeeding. So now, almost 4 years later, I am getting a bridge. You should never assume life isn't going to throw you a curve ball!
Now even with dental insurance this bridge is gonna cost me $2000.00. Yep. I said two thousand dollars! Because I was stupid and let them extract the stub of tooth that remained, the teeth have shifted. Luckily, this was the second to the last tooth (on the upper right hand side, if you must know) so you really couldn't even see that it was missing but because the teeth were shifting, food was starting to get caught between the two teeth in front of the space. I also want to be able to scuba dive, on our hopefully up coming beach vacation, and when I tried the masks, it was heck of awkward with my already small mouth and the gap only made it worse.
I have been planning this all year, so we have been depositing into our health care spending account for it. What I didn't plan was being in the dentist chair from 8:30 am till after 1:30pm that afternoon. They had to cut the porcelain crown off one of the "support" teeth for the bridge and prep the other "support" tooth by grinding it into the shape they wanted so it would "accept" a crown for the bridge. I had to be numbed 3 times. The last time I knew the Novocaine was wearing off but I kept thinking, "surely, they must be almost done. I can make it". I must have looked like I was going to rip the arms off of the dentist chair because the dental assistant (Bless her!) asked me to raise my left hand if I was feeling pain. I practically knocked the instrument tray over, I waved so hard. After that was over with and a temporary bridge was placed, I got the lecture about not chewing cough drops anymore (because I was honest and admitted how the original tooth and crown had broken off) and was told that was probably why I needed the 3 crowns I have in the first place (chewing hard candy and chewy candy is very bad for your teeth, I get it). I was also scheduled for the "rest" of the prep for exactly one week later and was told it would again take all morning. Then I got the additional joy of getting to pay my $400 copay! Lovely huh! I think my cough drop chewing habit is over now at least. The one positive I can come up with out of all of this, this might actually result in weight loss 1. from the not being able to eat anything of substance for days at a time after each appointment and 2. depending on brand and flavor, cough drops can be up to 20 calories each! For one bag (yes, I can chew one whole bag over the course of a bad day) it can be over 300 calories!
So long story short, take care of your teeth! Don't chew hard or sticky candy, even if it is sugar free!