Healing well!

So I had my follow-up appointment with Dr. Bice, my cool dentist, yesterday. He said I'm healing very well! I was in and out of there in a half hour.

As I sat in the chair waiting to be seen, I studied several wall posters with information about various dental subjects such as tooth deformities, the structure of the teeth and jaws, and so forth. I saw this interesting little image:
So that's what's in my future, I guess: three crowns in one. I asked about it, and the hygienist said you have to sacrifice the teeth on either side of the empty spot in order to anchor the bridge. I already have a crown in back (which is probably what cracked my tooth in the first place; it never did sit right in my mouth and was hurting from the time I got it, just before I left for California). The tooth on the front side is healthy. I guess they could take off that crown (can they do that?) and then put a bridge in. Sounds expensive.

Besides, the tooth in front of my abducted tooth is now becoming my new favorite tooth, as it is also very smooth. I've found myself licking its surface more and more, again as a source of comfort to me when I'm bored, anxious, etc. If they made it into a bridge, my little smooth surface would be gone!

By the way, I think my dentist must shop at this website. He had all that stuff, right down to the model of the rotted teeth!

Imagine: if I were to get a bridge, I'd have a total of FIVE robo-teeth on that side of my mouth (can you tell which side I've chewed on my whole life?). I already have two crowns on the two back teeth on the bottom (one was a filling that fell out in sixth grade and I let it go too long = root canal) and the other tooth I broke while eating CornNuts in my tenth grade English class. Ouch! So anyway, there would be those two robo-teeth (or teefs, as I like to call them) on the bottom, and then the three (two crowns and a fake tooth--a fake tooth!) on top. Wow. As I was telling AB last night, I would be unstoppable! I could chew through anything! I could bite the caps off beer bottles!

Still--that's a good ways off, I'm guessing sometime around the day I get dental insurance again. In the meantime, I'll be healing until I can gum things to death. I can't wait to chew on that side again, but then again--there's kinda nothing there to chew with. No surface for the bottom robo-tooth to masticate against. Will it ever be the same? And imagine chewing something like a tortilla chip--a sharp-edged one like a Nacho Dorito or something--that'll just be asking for a painful poke in the gums!

Hmph.

I miss my tooth.