September 29, 2017
Dear Everyone:
Errata: Last week’s Letter
stated that “From now until the middle of next March, the days will grow
shorter and the nights will grow longer.”
This was incorrect.
It only seems that way. In
fact, the days grow shorter, etc., until December 21st.
After that, the days will grow longer and the nights shorter.
Mea culpa.
(Did anyone even notice?)
This is why they don’t let me publish any
almanacs.
In the meantime, I finally got my new tooth this week.
You may recall, or not, that about a year ago, during a routine dental
checkup, the dentist proclaimed that a lower molar
crown
needed to be replaced. This
did not surprise me since a year before that I had undergone an
emergency
root canal on the same tooth, which required drilling through, then
paving over the aforementioned crown.
Then, as the dentist began to prepare for a new crown, she discovered
that there just wasn’t enough tooth left to hold one.
She even offered to yank what was left of the molar right then
and there. Until she
realized that, like a lot of people my age, I take a
blood-thinning medication every day.
Whereupon she promptly referred me to a specialist.
The kindly
oral surgeon extracted what was left of the tooth, then we waited
for the bone to grow back, with a little help from some extra implanted
bone material. About a
half-year later, it was time to place a metal implant, not unlike a
threaded screw, into the lower jaw bone.
Followed by more months of waiting for the bone to grow around
the screw.
Then it was time to get started, again, on the replacement crown.
Earlier this week, the dentist mounted the new crown on the metal
implant. There was no need
for any anesthetic, since the screw has no feelings.
Although, I did get a little nervous when the dentist produced a
tiny ratchet-like
tool and, literally, began tightening the crown into place.
Some fine-tuning and presto!
I now have a tooth where there used to be a flat plastic thing called
“an
abutment”. And my mouth
is wondering “why is there suddenly a boulder in here?”
Certain lower teeth are feeling a little crowded, but that will
settle out in the next few weeks.
So, when you see one of those commercials on TV that promise they can
provide you with all new implanted teeth “in as little as 24 hours,”
don’t believe them. It
actually takes almost a year.
And a lot of money.
As the saying goes, “It all comes out in the wash.”
Love, as always,
Pete
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