The Dentist

Guess what I learned today? You’re only supposed to have your upper and lower teeth touch when you are chewing, swallowing or talking. Otherwise, your teeth are supposed to be in a resting position; uppers and lowers not touching.

Guess what happens if that is not the case? They might tell you that after all these years you’ve got Bruxing, or grinding and gnashing of the teeth. By the way, the set pictured in this entry are not my own, but are courtesy of the website I linked to above.

It happens during the day if you go around with a clenched jaw. The condition can be attributed to unrelieved anger or stress. What it leads to is sensitive teeth. It leads to your enamel wearing away. It can lead to periodontal disease, locking of the jaw and a tendency to bite the inside of your cheek. It can lead to headaches, jaw aches, neck and shoulder pain, teeth that are chipped or worn down and broken fillings and busted up dental work.

Lovely. The solution is to get a night guard. It solves the problem of unconscious night grinding and can eventually help you to not clench your teeth during the day. Even while I was writing this I caught myself clenched up. Maybe I can wear it during the day too.

The psychic side of all of this? As I was sitting in the dentist's chair this morning I was being amused with scenes of Egypt. It was pretty terrific. Then, they trailed off saying they've never found my burial crypt. Interesting. What a crock you might say. Well, it helped to keep my mind off of what was going on in my mouth ...zzzzzzzttt... whhhoooooossshhhh... zzzzazzzztttt.... sssppppooochcchhhh....

I kept saying bad words silently and then apologizing to the guides... damn.. sorry... Jesus... sorry.... Oh, shit.... sorry. That's when they started with the Egypt stuff. Remind me to tell you about the time I had nitrous oxide and they started cracking the funnies for me. They don't call it laughing gas for nothing.