Dental Dread

Recently, I was introduced to the potential horrors of mercury based tooth fillings. Little bits of mercury entering your blood stream every time you bite down, potentially causing cancer and Lord knows what else--the 'fraidy cat that I am...this freaked me out. I have SEVEN mercury fillings. I don't even know why I've had so many cavities? Although I've always had a bit of sweet tooth, I've always had good dental hygiene, too. At least I know it's way better than Ben's. Before I started making him, he never brushed his teeth at night! (Ew, I know! His momma taught him better!) And every night while I'm flossing, he's already counting sheep in bed. Yet he has never had a cavity in his life. So not fair. So now that I'm all growed up and have my own dental insurance, (completely paid for by my employer, might I add,) I decided to take advantage of my policy and get a check up. So I had my appointment today. To sum it up, it went bad. As the hygienist is cleaning my teeth, she asks me if I floss. I was hoping it would be obvious that I did, but apparently, it wasn't. I asked her about mercury fillings, and she told me that the biggest risk that they pose is when they are being applied and the mercury hasn't set yet. She also told me insurance covers having them removed. Well then. When she pulled up the xrays of my teeth, she showed me how I have 3 wisdom teeth, and the one on the bottom is turned almost completely horizontal. Something about it being embedded in a nerve. Cool. Then she showed me dark spots on my teeth, which could be cavities. After the cleaning and polishing, the dentist came in and looked at my teeth...she began listing off numbers and codes, ("The D-5 needs an OT," or something like that.) As I counted how many teeth she was listing off, I thought, surely those aren't all cavities? Oh yes, they were. Basically, the mercury fillings I already had were wearing away, creating new cavities around the cavities I already had. GROSS! I'm so mad. So now I'm going to have those dang bio-hazards removed and replaced with nice, pretty, safe white ones. It's interesting to me that when they remove the fillings from my mouth, federal law prohibits them from being thrown in the trash. So, I'm a little relieved to be rid of the fillings, but not looking forward to the process at all. At least they prescribed me a sedative to use on those days. They are going to do one side of my mouth on two different visits. After that's done, I might start thinking about having my wisdom teeth removed. I've never had surgery, and that scares me. Heck, just going to the dentist scares me. I'm such a baby. So now I have that to look forward to.

For now, I'm off to yoga!