Maxillofacial Interloper

I'm back.

Back with tooth decay and an involuntary addiction to pain killers. Do dentists let you keep the tooth they pull from your head?


This seems to be the official worry of my week as I hazily stumble toward a Friday morning extraction. Well, that and the thought of dry socket - yeeeech. What do you mean I can't drink through a straw or spit? And how will I stop my tongue from probing that empty, fleshy gum bowl?

Nonetheless it is time to make peace with my tooth. Though it wouldn't cooperate through a month long root canal plus penicillin and steroids, and though it gives me unrelenting pain that shoots from my ear to my chin, the big guy was always there for me; my first car, the first tongue in my mouth, college. I will certainly miss you, #31, when I am eating Stonewall's Jerquee or when my top back tooth starts to shift and lower without you to keep it in line. Can you believe a replacement tooth costs five THOUSAND dollars, not covered by insurance? See how hard you are to replace, #31? Do you really have to leave me? I can't fathom ever having $5000 to spare. A tooth or a year's worth of rent?


And finally, constipation caused by the daily intake of hydrocodone really sucks.