Praise then darkness, and creation unfinished

I just got back from having the dentist place my dental implants and bridge. The main aftercare instructions are about flossing--I'll need to go a little deeper at the edges of the implant, and to make a C shape with the floss to be sure I clean next to the implant. He also told me not to chew on bones or shells, but added that I shouldn't do that with the natural teeth either. I will try to remember this, in case I ever get a whole lobster again, because I have generally used my teeth to get bits of meat out of the lobster's legs.

The dentist is in Watertown Square, so I stopped off on the way home at Arax Bakery and Market to get good oregano. Since I was there anyway, I got a package of pita bread, kalamata olives, some little cucumbers, and four Moroccan mandarins, which I like a lot better than the clementines we can get at the supermarket. I wasn't expecting to get fruit or vegetables, but the produce was right there in front of me, and the shopkeeper clearly knows he has customers who will pay extra to get that kind of mandarin orange.

I also stopped at Flour Bakery for a slice of lime cream pie, having looked online to see what kinds of pastry have right now. If I hadn't been planning that stop, I'd have either bought a few more mandarins, or looked at things like baklava.

tl;dr I will need two more teeth pulled, then implants where those were, and then they can build the bridge.

I went to the dentist this morning; I'd had an afternoon appointment, but they called yesterday asking to change it. Given the current heat wave, I said yes. (It was 22 C/72 F when I left the house, and 32 C/89 F when I was done, and I got to sit in the shade reading while waiting for a bus.)

I expected to be discussing how to replace the teeth the dentist pulled a few weeks ago. But it turned out that the teeth next to the ones he already pulled will also need to come out, for similar reasons. I suspect that if I'd asked for just a removable "partial" we could have postponed some of that, but he said it wouldn't make sense to do implants given that the adjoining teeth will have to come out in a year or two.

The only advantage of waiting for the next steps would have been to get insurance to pay for part of it, but there's no medical/dental reason to wait, and the older you get, the more slowly you heal.

In the meantime, I will be getting a partial, which I'll need for a few months even if all goes well. They did various uncomfortable things to take panoramic X-rays, and make molds of my teeth for the partial; I don't go to the dentist expecting my neck and shoulder to hurt from what they're doing.

Sometime after July 4th, when the partial is ready, they will call me, and I will make an appointment with the dental surgeon, and also come in to get the partial. The surgeon will do the extractions and implants during the same visit.

I had periodontal work (a.k.a. deep cleaning) last Wednesday and today (the hygienist did one side of my mouth on each day). Topical anesthesia only, at the hygienist's suggestion, which I accepted because that wears off quickly rather than lasting hours. Today's was a bit more difficult than last week's, but doable.

The ENT recommended an over-the-counter night guard to protect me from clenching my teeth/jaw in my sleep. I got one a few days ago, tried following the instructions on how to shape it, and found that it was uncomfortable enough that I couldn't fall asleep.

So, yesterday I tried reforming it, and seem to have gotten a better fit. It's still distracting, but less so:; I fell asleep with it on, woke in the middle of the night, took it out, and went back to sleep. I hope that even wearing it for part of the night will do some good, although so far it's not preventing the odd feeling in my ear that was the symptom that got me to the ENT in the first place.

The instructions say to put it in an hour before going to sleep. Whoever wrote that presumably sleeps alone, because having the thing in interferes with talking. My tentative plan is to put it on a few minutes before turning the light out, and see how it goes.