Ginger Without Borders

Today, I had the wonderful honor of sitting in a dental chair for 2 hours having holes drilled into my teeth and fillings put in to cover said holes. Why, you ask? Easy – because I grind my teeth when I’m stressed out (which, like most people nowadays, happens a lot).

It all started six months ago. I went to the dentist for a routine check up, only to have the doctor discover a glaring crack straight through the middle of my back molar. As any good dentist would, he immediately fixed the problem, ultimately giving me my second filling ever (coincidentally, right next to my first.) He also advised me to get a night mouth-guard, as it was highly likely that the crack was caused by grinding my teeth in my sleep. However, me – in my infinite wisdom – chose not to deal with the hassle of getting fitted for such a guard and went on my merry way. I’m only 25, after all. I couldn’t possibly crack another tooth any time soon.

Oh how wrong I was.

Flash forward to yesterday morning. I walk into my office, ready to work on an important document that my boss needs as soon as possible. As I am sitting down at my desk, though, I realize there is a crunch coming from one of my back teeth. Like somehow I have a small pebble stuck in between my teeth. Super weird, right? I should go investigate, right? Off to the bathroom to look in the mirror.

WELL. It turns out that crunching was the little pieces of my recent filling breaking off from my tooth. As far as I can tell, I grinded my teeth so badly that night that I literally broke off part of the original filling. And because of how it broke, I needed to go to the doctor ASAP to make sure my tooth doesn’t get infected. One problem – my regular dentist is still in North Carolina

If I sound bitter, thats because I am. My teeth are hurting, my work is still not done, and I’m kicking myself for not going to the doctor in January when I first realized this might be a problem.

Proof it takes more muscles to frown than to smile (numb side is the smiling side). And yes, I’m wearing a blanket scarf, because life and I are not compatible this week.