Lost Crown

Yesterday, while eating a peanut butter and marshmallow Fluff sandwich, the gold crown on my back left molar fell off. Luckily, I felt it on my tongue and retrieved it before I swallowed it.

Inside the crown was a dark, hard substance staining the gold. I looked in the bathroom mirror, opened my mouth very wide, and shone a flashlight inside. The same dark substance was on the top of my molar.

"I hope that's not decay," I said, looking at it with some alarm. "Do you think it's decay?" I asked Tab, turning toward him.

"How should I know? I never got up to 'decay' when I went to dentist school. We covered abscesses and bicuspids, but when we got to cavities, I bailed."

Oh yeah, it's fun being married to an amateur comedian.

My tooth seemed fine, except that it was sensitive to cold. I also found it hard to chew on that side because the tooth was much smaller than the other molars.

Tab left a message with the dentist, whose receptionist called me back tonight while I was making dinner.

"Can you come in this Thursday at 4 p.m.?"

"No, not really. I pick up my son at school then."

"Well, how about next Thursday morning at 8?"

"Sure, but is it OK to wait that long?" I asked.

She put me on hold while she checked with the dentist. "Dr. Jones wants to see you as soon as possible. Can you come right now?"

So I left Tab to take the homemade pizza out of the oven and feed the boys while I drove to the dentist. Dr. Jones told me he didn't want to wait more than a day or so because the mouth starts shifting to fill in the gap where the crown used to be. The gum starts growing up around the molar and the top molar above even begins to extrude to meet its mate.

And that black stuff I was worried about? Simply the old cement.

So $75 later my crown is back in place. That was one expensive Fluffernutter.

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