I guess it could be considered cosmetic since I don't actually have to use that incisor to rip apart meat to survive, but I was convinced by the idea that NOT filling that space could lead to future problems.
Last year, while I was in Homer, Alaska for three months the tooth was definitely getting looser. I'd had a cyst in the gum removed, a root canal in the past, etc., etc. I decided to just wait until I got home to Prescott. The dentist sent me to an oral surgeon to have the tooth extracted....
Here's where I have to sing the praises of modern dentistry...wow! I don't even want to think about what life was like before anesthesia.
After the extraction, I had to wait four months for the bone to heal and grow back enough before they could attach the little post that will hold the "faux tooth." Fortunately, everything worked...no bone grafts, etc. Hunh? Might have changed my mind there...
So today I got to go in for my "carpentry project." First, the drilling (I love it when he says you're going to feel vibration...since I went to my Happy Place in my mind -- where I go for things like Childbirth, Kidney Stones, Dentistry...I didn't have to focus on what was REALLY happening). Then I guess he took a little tiny hammer and tapped in the post (probably would be better if an oral surgeon didn't say "Oooops" during this process...maybe he almost hit his thumb with the little tiny hammer), the best part, and I really did love this, was he explained that he would be using a little tiny wrench to tighten the post down...(Maybe like a little tiny allen wrench...is that how you spell that?) A couple of "squrinch, squirench" turns with the little tiny wrench and we were all done.
Now I guess we have to let THAT heal up before we can work on the New Tooth...
