Tooth Troubles

About five years ago, I was eating cereal, and I chomped down and, "Oh, what just happened?" I had evidently cracked/broken a molar. I went to the dentist, and thankfully it in now way affected the root so I wouldn't have to have a crown or anything, just a filling to approximate the back of the tooth that was falling off. (Not thankfully, it was the repair work on that tooth that somehow caused the gray tooth I now have. Boooo...)

Well, a couple of weeks ago I was chomping on some ice (yes, I realize this can be a sign of iron deficiency) and suddenly my tooth felt funny. Same tooth. I kept forgetting to ask my OB about going to see the dentist and what all that would entail, but I finally remembered to ask him on Friday and got the go-ahead.

I dug out my dental insurance card, went online and found a list of dental providers in my area. Really, at this point, it was eeny-meeny-miny-moe, because the dentist everyone kept recommending to me is not a provider for my insurance, and I'm looking for as-free-as-possible. I chose the dentist closest to my house--200 feet closer than choice #2. Also, it helped that he had a website for his practice, and none of the others did, that I could find. And he's been operating in Opelika since I was 9 years old, so that had to say something about his chairside manner.

Now, I will say that as a teacher, the one thing I think about when choosing medical/dental providers is the age their kids are. For some reason, I just really do not like the prospect of teaching the children of people with whom I'm involved in this somewhat personal manner. In Tuscaloosa, the first word's out of my OB's mouth when he introduced himself were, "Maybe you'll have my daughter. She'll be in sixth grade next year." I narrowly escaped this situation. And then, I ended up being in a musical with my general practitioner's daughter, and it was strangely awkward as her mother sat in the audience during rehearsals. (Why? It just was.)

Now, it did work out in my favor when a student almost broke my nose a couple of days before I ran my marathon and I had to made an emergency mid-day visit to the ENT doctor whose son I had taught the year before (arranged for me, believe it or not, by the assistant principal with whom I still sorta' carry a grudge, but I'm making peace now that I own property on a street that shares her last name, the constant reminder...). That worked out well, and my nose was not broken. Thank goodness.

Last year, I very well could have taught Elsie's pediatrician's son, and actually wouldn't have minded since he's a good kid from a GREAT FAMILY (wink, wink), but it still would have been a *little* weird for me. In the end, he was on the team down the hall, which was great because he would say hi to me and he came and wiped a piece of bread on my desk to encourage mold growth for a science project. (That turned out to be the grossest looking piece of bread of the lot. The science teacher came down and told me that I needed to come look at how disgusting it was. Why I did that, I will never know. I about puked, even with the other ziploc bags of moldy bread all around...haha.)

This year, I have a 1 in 3 chance of teaching the son of the pulmonologist that I went to during my pregnancy with Elsie, but who I stopped seeing when I realized that he wasn't actually doing anything, but I was being charged the co-pay anyway. This will be awkward, should it come to fruition. Oi.

And wouldn't you know that the first thing this dentist said to me today (it's like playing the roulette wheel, isn't it?) was, "Maybe you'll have my son next year. He's going to be in seventh grade." Great. Looking forward to it. Now will you just fix my tooth?

And so, tomorrow, I have an appointment to have my tooth fixed. And maybe on his lunch break the dentist will call over to OMS and request that his son NOT have me since he knows that I will have a sub for the first seven weeks of school, and no parent wants that on purpose, right? Hmmm...

Cheers.