Wednesday, October 8

Canines

Have you ever had the dream that your teeth were falling out? I feel them crunch, and spit them into my hand, one by one, then two or three at a time, until my hand is full of broken teeth bits.

When we were first married, Zach said he could hear my teeth squeak as I ground my jaws together while I slept. I had no idea.

I stopped for a while, I think.

But a few weeks ago, I was looking at my teeth and noticed the points of my top canine teeth were gone. Gone! They are flat now! They were there less than a year ago- I'm positive.

And then came the pain.

I called the dentist and they got me in quick. This morning I went for my new-patient appointment. The dentist said "You have beautiful teeth. No cavities." I was shocked. I thought I must have a hole the size of... well... a cavity at least.

What was causing the pain?

Me. My clenched jaw. Inflamed the nerve in that tooth.

He said 99.9 percent of the time, the cause of this in adults is stress. He said, "So try to look at what is stressful in your life and limit it." I made it look like I was getting up to leave, and said, "Alrighty- be seein' ya!" They got the joke. Later, the assistant was flossing me and asked if I had kids. When he found out their ages he called the dentist back and said "Hey- I know what her stress has been over!" and told him. It was kind of cute.

But really. It's not like having kids is going to get any easier, is it? I guess things like moving eight times in six years, changing states, and certain unmentionables have definitely added to the levels of AAaaaaaaAaahhhhhh! in my life. Maybe things will get better. I just hate to look at life that way. I want to be able to say things are okay the way thay are. I can handle this. But to tell the absolute truth, I am at a point where I have to rely on a hope of a better future to keep my sanity. There's no way I could live my whole life like this.

A part of me thinks there is something inherently wrong with that reasoning. But another part of me knows there's a reason we age, and we grow, and things change. Because we're not wired to stay in the exact same situation forever.

Here's where my thoughts went.

'Night! *squeak squeak squeak squeak*

7 comments:

Breezi@ Not Your Average Fairytale said...

Good Blog. I enjoyed reading it. I just posted my horrendous day on my blog...
this is what I needed to level out.
Thanks. :o)

Blog Stalker said...

I hope everyone follows your link.......pretty good advice for life.

Good luck with the teeth eating dreams and limiting the stress in your life.

Why is it the best things in your life can sometimes be the biggest stresses? Something to think about.

Have a great day!

Sahara said...

I really like your honesty. My sister has three kids ages 3, 2 and 1. (They were adopted.) She shares a lot of the same thoughts as you do. Someone said that change is the only constant. That brings me comfort! lol Think you are great.

Britney said...

Ouch. My teeth started aching while I read your post. Motherhood is wonderful, but it does take a toll.

You have my respect, Summer. 100%.

The Waits Gate said...

Summer! I love you! It will get "easier" and "harder" but mostly more fun. Life's about the direction and that we get through it and nor give up. Try using a mouth guard at night it helps a ton for jaw pain.

Summer said...

They took impressions of my teeth for a night guard! Cool. It was funny- the gal who did it was fresh out of school. Accidentally put too much of the paste stuff the first time, and it creeped out the top and started flowing down my tongue. I pointed to it, and she was like "Oops! Sorry. We're going to get a nice impression of your tongue..." So I started laughing while she was holding the tray in my mouth.

Then she started out with too large a tray for the bottom teeth, and took it out before the stuff solidified. I was sitting there spitting out that disgusting mold paste and picking it out of my teeth for the next five minutes while she disappeared to get another tray. And, probably, to laugh into her hands.

Ally said...

Thanks for that link. I could use some talkin' to like that.

I hear ya, on this one.

Just about every day, I end (somewhere in the middle of my day, before the 'actual' end even arrives) thinking to myself - this is so freakin' exhausting, how on EARTH am I supposed to keep doing this year after year after year, let alone day after day after day...

I thought I was the only pansy out there! Hahahaha!

Just kidding. You're not a pansy. You're tougher than I am, cuz your kids are closer together than mine are.

Should I stop talking now.....??