Displaying one’s wealth

In ancient times - and maybe even today -- women in some parts of the world displayed their wealth in the form coins made into necklaces and other jewelry or sewn as decorations onto the hems of their clothes and other apparel, head coverings and masks.

I have modest tastes in jewelry, which is good because I carry my wealth around in my mouth. Over the years, I have accumulated 7 gold crowns and a porcelain crown (which cost just as much). For us, this mounts up to a fairly hefty chunk of change, even though I realize it may very much be "small change" compared with the work some people have had done in their mouths; one man I worked with spent $25,000 on dental work.

Whoops. Lets amend that to 6 gold crowns and a gaping hole.

I take fanatical care of my teeth, but I have weak teeth. As I was flossing my teeth at 10 p.m. Friday night, one of my gold crowns flew out of my mouth and landed in the trash can, which was empty of anything else, thank goodness.

So, here it is, for everyone to see -- yeah, yeah, I know nobody wants to see it -- about $600 worth of my wealth.




It wasn't only until Saturday morning, after I got back from the drug store with my little kit of do-it-yourself dental glue - knowing after making calls to two local dentists that on Saturday morning of a 4-day holiday weekend there was a snowball's chance in "a very hot place" that I would be sitting in a dental chair - that I got out the magnifying glass and saw, to my dismay, that my crown just hadn't come off.


The crown was firmly attached to a broken chunk of tooth.

Now, great inroads have been made rural areas such as where we live with urgent care clinics that offer medical care after normal doctor hours and on weekends to people who aren't really sick enough for the emergency room, and at a fraction of the cost. But there are no urgent care dental clinics. I was not able to use the dental glue to put the crown back on as a temporary fix. Fortunately, that tooth also had a root canal in addition to the crown. I shudder to think what the last four days would have been like otherwise.

I have horrible nightmares about my teeth falling out. In my case, these dreams do not have some deeper meaning. I am really horrified about having my teeth fall out, I guess because I was told over and over again by my parents when I was young that it was a terrible indictment to neglect one's teeth so that they had to be pulled.

Take care of your teeth!

I was warned on more than one occasion. About 10 years ago I had to have a tooth pulled because it was fractured in so many places it could not be repaired. And even though it was not my fault, and I cried for hours and hours.

I assume early tomorrow the office staff at my dentist will arrive and listen to my frantic message on the phone and that I will get call back.

And friends and neighbors, I have a bad feeling about what he is going to say. A very bad feeling. I am steeling myself for the worst.

Actually, I did do something fun today, which I will write about.... tomorrow.... maybe.