Bridge

One day in 1977, I went to a civilian dentist for a check up and cleaning.  When the dentist looked in my mouth, he told me to go the Army hospital on Fort Hood and have someone look at the roof of my mouth.  I had noticed a small indentation on the right side and what felt something that is hard to describe.  It felt like the end of a piece of nylon string.  I guess I didn’t think too much about it.  I thought maybe I had scratched my mouth on a potato chip or something.

I made an appointment as soon as possible.  They took x-rays of my upper teeth.  I had a cyst that had eaten the root of one tooth and maybe three other teeth.  They couldn’t tell from the x-rays.  I had a very nice oral surgeon who explained it all to me.  I needed to have surgery to remove the cyst.  During the surgery, he could determine if any other teeth were damaged and removed them along with the one he knew he would definitely have to be removed.  I had to be put under and wasn’t too crazy about that.

The surgery went just fine; there were no problems.  One thing happened that embarrassed me later.  I blame it on just coming out of the anesthesia.  The doctor was talking to me, and I said something like, “You look cute in your scrubs.”  Oh, my!

I lost only one tooth, for which I was very thankful.  At that time, it was the policy for military family members to have bridge work done by civilian doctors; the Army would not pay.  However, because I didn’t have any fillings and they said my mouth looked so nice, they made an exception and gave me a permanent bridge—for free!

They did a great job, and I didn’t have any problems with it.  I had that bridge until the mid-90s.  The x-rays showed that the root of the tooth in front of the one that I had lost in the 70s was deteriorating.  This time I didn’t have to be put under.  Whew!  It was all done in the oral surgeon’s office.  I’m so glad that medical technology of all kinds has improved over the years.

Now I have another bridge, which is doing its job.  (When I went to a new dentist yesterday, he said that it was a good bridge.  I need work done on my teeth--old fillings fixed, two new fillings, a crown on a back tooth, and a tooth in the bottom front build up.  It will cost me around $2,000.  Why can't dental plans pay more?!)

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“For I know the plans I have for you,”
declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you
and not to harm you,
plans to give you hope and a future.”
Jeremiah 29:11