A Decade of Teeth

Today I got a titanium thread implanted in my jaw. This is the first step in the process of replacing a tooth I lost five years ago because of an abscess. I have another visit in four or five months to actually get the implant put in, but in the meantime my gums have to heal. Why the hell am I writing about this? I don’t know exactly, but it struck me is that for 10 years (since I moved from Brooklyn to Fredericksburg) I’ve been slowly getting my teeth back on track after close to 15 years of neglect during my even poorer years in undergraduate and grad school.

Yeah, teeth. I had one of my wisdom teeth pulled (the other three are there and awesome), a root canal, a crown, a couple of cavities, the abscessed tooth pulled, and now an implant. I need one more crown and I will have gotten my teeth (like my taxes), to a point where I’m actually caught up. Maybe that’s why I am blogging about my teeth. 2015 has been a good year for catching up on variety of outstanding work, debts, teeth, etc. After a decade of raising three kids, working an insane amount, staying one step ahead of the bill collectors, and making sure my teeth were perfect, I feel like I’m finally making some progress on at least one of those fronts. As I age, I am starting to realize time is the great equalizer. If you’re able to work at something (or at someplace) for long enough, you are more than likely to break on through. That’s been the case, at least for my teeth, this year. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, and it’s golden bright!