That is what I always tell Nate after returning from the dentist/orthodontist with a laundry list of issues that we have to deal with. I am more than a year into my braces, all three gaps from the extracted teeth are closed. I was able to get away with only looking like a hillbilly for about two weeks and it really wasn't all that bad. I have endured an immense amount of pain from the rigorous movement they have put my teeth through while trying to keep me on schedule. All the while, I have been repeating to myself, "It will be worth it! It will be worth it!" I told myself that once the last gap was closed and that bittersweet romance with my fake snaggle tooth was over, it would all be downhill from there. Just get through the last 9 months of my braces, get my veneers on and voila! Instant beautiful smile! As I mentioned in my post "Vanity" (Jan. 2010) I expressed how I have always been self conscious of my teeth. It has been heightened with the subtraction of the teeth, and the addition of the braces and fake snaggle tooth. Well, about a week ago, I was relishing in the fact that my last gap was completely closed and repeating my "It will be worth it" mantra when I noticed something. Oh NO!!!! Are you kidding me? Please, Please, Please tell me it is just the lighting! Nope, no such luck. One of my teeth was going a nice deep shade of gray. It was dying or already dead. I immediately called my sis Jen who is a dental hygienist to get her take on it. Probably died from the trauma of Orthodontia, better get in for an x-ray to find out. Greeeeeeat. I kept telling myself it would all be downhill from here. I didn't mean for my teeth to go further downhill! So, on Monday, I went in for my regular braces adjustment. It was a great time like usual. They came up with new and inventive ways for me to feel so much pain over the next 5 days that I drop ten pounds like the next Biggest Loser contestant. They lamented that yes, the trauma of the tooth shifting is probably what killed it, but atleast I am on track to get them off at the end of the year. Yeah, great. Once I was done I went across the street, literally, to my dentist for an x-ray. When what to my wondering eye should appear? Not one, but two dead or dying teeth. Are you kidding me!?! If you recall, some of my dental woes are from the injuries my teeth sustained while in a car accident with Nate while we were dating. My front left tooth died immediately and the rest of my top row of teeth were cemented together for the next ten days to keep them from falling out basically. Good times. Well, apparently the front right tooth and the right canine tooth were traumatized enough then that they have slowly been dying ever since. Thirteen years later with the trauma of the braces they gave up the ghost. So, I will be going in for 2 root canals, which will take about 3 months to complete. In the meantime, they will continue to grow darker. Awesome. The best news is that I get to enjoy that beautiful shade of gray/black for over 8 months, til I am ready for my new veneers. Even awesomer. If there is any good news to all of this it is that these two teeth were already slated to receive brand spanking new veneers in January 2011. So, atleast they aren't ones we weren't planning on doing. Also, if you want to really look for a silver lining in all of this, it is that hopefully now the insurance will cover the veneers of these 2 teeth as well as 2 others so that I now only have to pay out of pocket for 2 veneers instead of 6. Whew! Let's cross our fingers. So for all of you people out there with naturally beautiful smiles, COUNT YOUR LUCKY STARS!
So, in the coming months don't be surprised if you see me doing this:
Or this:
Yes, I really am THAT vain. Atleast until I look like this. I can't wait, I have never looked like that before!
