Christmas Presence

Showing up — even with a cracked tooth — is everything.

On Thursday, the endodontist declared my tooth a goner. This wasn’t particularly surprising, considering what I was looking at. I was staring up at a frightful photo of the underside of my #3 tooth, enlarged on a screen big enough to watch the Super Bowl. As the doctor pointed the mouse, I could see the hairline fracture crossing from one side of the tooth to the other like an earthquake fault line. Sadly, the crack appeared to jump over to tooth #2, if only for a short visit.

Had I been chomping on something, she and her assistant wanted to know? What, I’m thinking, like dog biscuits or hard tack or bullet-proof boules? Not that I remember. Do I grind my teeth? I don’t think so. Possibly, it was decided, I do clench. Clench. How does one stop clenching?

It’s also possible the old filling just kept wedging its way into the tooth until the tooth gave into the pressure and started splitting.

Next, the doctor said, pointing to a grey area above the roof of my mouth in one of a zillion different scans we were clicking through, “I see you have congestion here. Do you have chronic sinus problems?”

Apparently these high-tech head scans show more than just your teeth. The doctor recommended I go to an Ear, Nose, and Throat specialist to find out why that congestion is hanging out there.

I have allergies. I often wake up with a mild sinus headache. But it never occurred to me that these things might be doctor-visit-worthy. It’s just my normal.

Then she turned to me and said, “And what’s the diagnosis on your face?”

Oh, god. My face. Before we get into this, I’ll just say that right about then I was starting to feel like a wellness failure. Was I turning into one of those people who don’t take care of their health? But that would be a little unfair to me, as I do all the regular visits. I get mammograms and ultrasounds and cholesterol checks. And teeth cleanings! I’ve even had the dreaded colonoscopy (an off-Island all-day adventure).