The Dentist: Learning 7

Today I went back to my dentist for the third time in the last 5 months to have the same filling put back in my tooth. Now, this makes it seem like I have a lazy dentist, so let me back up and say I LOVE my dentist office. I've never been super afraid of dentist offices, and having 4 years of braces in high school/college has left me resigned to letting dentists and orthodontists do whatever they want to my teeth, but I am always rather tense, especially when they bring out the little drill. Everyone at my dentist office (Southern Indiana Smiles, if you're wondering) is always so friendly, they learned my name right away, and do everything they can to make me feel comfortable. And both times I've had to go back to replace the filling after it's fallen out they've done it free of charge and gotten me in for the appointment super quick.

So today I learned a couple new things about what can make a filling come out of your mouth. I always thought it was just eating too much sticky stuff. Now that didn't make sense with this filling for a couple of reasons. Number one, I haven't eaten very much sticky stuff and don't even chew gum. Number two, the filling is on the outside of my tooth on the gumline, not on top where I chew. The dentist wasn't positive what makes this specific filling so tricky (I got 3 other fillings at the same time which have all stayed in just fine). Her hypothesis was that something about my saliva was reacting with the bonding material in a bad way, so they took extra steps to keep my saliva away from the filling this time. I had no idea saliva was that powerful! I knew it was the first step in your digestive process, so obviously it has some dissolving properties, and I knew it was bad for chapped lips, because if you lick your lips when they're chapped they get worse, but I didn't know it could make my filling come loose. Hopefully it's nice and dry this time. The other possibility was that I might grind my teeth without realizing it, because apparently teeth grinding also weakens the gumline, which is where this tricky filling is located. My mom is a teeth grinder, but I have never noticed it myself, and they took a little impression and said it wasn't likely I grind my teeth from what they saw.

So that is what I learned at the dentist office today. Hopefully I will not need to go back until my semi-annual cleaning next month!

Days 28-33

Alright, time for another long overdue blog post. I did take more pictures this past week, I just didn't them on my computer to blog about them. First up, last Sunday I finished scrapbooking all our cruise photos and reorganized some other photos, hence this lovely empty photo envelope:

 

We just had our school book fair and I made a wish list for people to see, not really expecting anything. These were the six books I received as gifts from parents and the pto. Yay free books! So exciting. I have There was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Shamrock, The Little Red Hen and the Passover Matzah, The Quiet Place, I Love Horses and Ponies (great pictures in this book, and I have several horse lovers in my room), Gilbert Goldfish Wants a Pet, and Game On - a step into reading Wreck It Ralph book.

Tuesday I went to the dentist and got 3 cavities filled. Yuck. It actually wasn't too bad. I really like our dentist here. I have bad memories of getting a cavity filled when I was younger and not being completely numb - the drill was fine, but when they blew the air it landed on a nerve and was a sharp pain - so the only bad part was I was tense the whole time they were drilling waiting for that same sharp pain, but it never happened. I was totally and completely numb. I have to go back next month to get one last cavity filled on the other side. I swear I brush my teeth - these cavities were all hiding between my teeth apparently. So I'm trying to be better about flossing. Below is a cool blurry abstract photo of one of my teeth - my breath kept fogging up the lens as I tried to take pictures!

 Friday we had a 2 hour delay due to icy sleety conditions overnight. This is what I walked out to - I expected it to be time consuming to clear off, since it looked like a decent coat of ice, but luckily the last couple hours of weather had been rain and it had warmed just above freezing, so it actually slid right off.

 Saturday when Phyl got off work he suggested we go on a walk before it got dark. I like walking around our neighborhood - we're near downtown and right by a historic district, so there's lots of nice houses. I particularly like the porch swing and trim color on this house.

Sunday I went into school to get some planning done and deliver some desperately needed data to our lit coach. When I walked outside it was so sunny and almost mild I decided to walk - it's only a 20 minute or so walk, about ten blocks, and since one of the things I like so much about where we live is our ability to walk places, I decided to actually take advantage of it. This is another house along the route - I really like the detail and the little balcony.