That's what the dental hygienist called me today at my cleaning. An avid flosser. Looks like the sticker trick is working.

Permanent crown came off without incident. No emergency root canal was necessary. He put a temporary on for the next couple of weeks and I will get my new permanent on October 12. If, if, that goes smoothly, I have my 6 month root canal follow up the following week and then...

and then I'm done. Until March 2010.

But given my luck, I'm not going to actually believe that's true until the day before my March check-up. Right now, I'm just hoping for no dentist visits in November. It'll be the first month without a trip since last February.

And then you won't have to hear about this stuff for six whole months. :-)

(Seriously, I need to start a "Dental Woes" category. In fact, I think I'm going to go do that right now.)

After whining about all my dental issues over the past 6 months, it just wouldn't feel right not updating you on the latest one after complaining about it on yesterday's post.

So. After losing part of my brand new permanent crown while eating a waffle, I went into the dentist AGAIN today. I think I'm up to visit number gagillion for the year now. Too bad they don't have one of those little cards where you punch a hole at each visit... tenth visit free!

Anyway, because it was a(nother) dental emergency, I couldn't bother with trying to schedule it for the first appointment of the morning, so I had to leave work to go to an 11a.m. appointment. He took a look at the crown and the piece of porcelain had just popped right off the back. He determined that the porcelain wasn't properly bonded to the metal* and so now I have to go in and have that crown removed and a new one put on next week. (No charge, of course.) Luckily (HA!), I already had an appointment for a cleaning and x-rays scheduled for next week, so he just piggybacked the crown appointment right after that one. Meaning I am now going to miss an entire morning of work next week... not to mention more time whenever I have to go in and have the permanent one put back on after it comes back from the lab. (And not to mention any possible appointments related to whatever might show up on the new x-rays. Oh god, please let the new $11 after insurance toothpaste be doing it's job.)

To recap (ha! punny!) the issues I've had with this ONE tooth alone:

Last night, when I jumped back on the flossing horse after taking a 4 day hiatus, my PERMANENT crown that I had put on just 7 weeks ago popped off. Yes, PERMANENT. That's what I get for trying to develop a good habit.

So I am off to the dentist AGAIN this morning, for what I believe is something like the thirteenth time since March.

I feel like the universe has something against me.

"They" say that it takes 21 days to create a new habit. Apparently this is not true for boring tasks that you hate doing.

As part of my 101Things in 1001 Days challenge, I said that I would floss every day for a month. I already was an okay flosser... maybe twice a week or so. (Certainly better than TS, who rarely flosses, yet has PERFECT TEETH.) Considering all the troubles with my teeth earlier this year and the fact that I handed over approximately 1/7th of my annual salary to the dentist, flossing would be a very good habit for me to develop. I figured for my teeth's sake, I should probably tackle this goal as soon as possible, so on July 14 (just after getting back from vacation), I started flossing every day for 30 days straight. And I did it. Which meant that my final day of the 30 day goal was last Friday. Check that one off the list!

And then I haven't flossed since last Friday.

Now, I'm sure you don't care at all about my dental habits and the last time that I flossed (perhaps TMI), but I am just saying this to say that there are some habits that just don't stick naturally, not matter how much you want them too. I just see flossing as one more annoying thing to do as part of my bedtime routine that is keeping me from hopping under the covers. Forget the fact that flossing takes about 60 seconds, those are 60 seconds that I could be in bed.

I'm obviously going to need to work on this.

I've mentioned before the fact that I am apparently still 9 years old and easily motivated by collecting stickers. In fact, for my 30 day flossing challenge, I did exactly that... each day I flossed, I got a smiley faced sticker in my planner. And it worked! I collected 30 smiley faces. I got a little thrill opening my planner each day and seeing those colored, foiled circles grinning up at me. So starting today, I'm going to go back to giving myself a sticker for each time I floss and hope that the habit eventually... sticks.

I suppose I should also mention here that some habits are easier to develop... like taking vitamins every day. I checked off my goal of taking vitamins every day for 30 days straight from the 101 Things in 1001 Days challenge today. I think it helps that my multivitamin is a gummy vitamin that tastes just like gummy bears. I won't let myself take them until I've also taken my B vitamin and flaxseed oil vitamins first, but oh, do I ever want that yummy gummy vitamin! (And then, of course, I also would give myself a silver foil star sticker in my planner.) Apparently I can easily bribe myself with both stickers and candy. Gee, who woulda guesses?

I had (yet another) dentist appointment this morning to have two cavities filled. For those of you keeping track (me), this is my sixth dentist appointment in less than two months. SIX! After getting these two cavities filled, I just needed to have a crown put on one tooth (two more visits) and then I'd be DONE until October. That still didn't stop me from whining about having to go to the dentist, YET AGAIN, this morning, but still... the end was getting nearer. Today, then two more appointments, then hopefully the fancy $11-after-copay toothpaste would do its trick and I'd only need 6 month cleanings and checkups.

(Can you guess where this is going?)

(If you guessed "SURPRISE! ROOT CANAL!" -- ding! ding! ding!)

8:30 a.m. -- The dentist is going along, drilling out the old filling when he realized that there had been some previous work done on this tooth that basically left the nerve exposed under the filling, meaning I needed a root canal and quick.

8:50 a.m. -- On the phone with the root canal dentist chick (who I would HIGHLY recommend to anyone in the DC area, in the event you ever need a root canal), she has an available appointment at 10:30.

9:00 a.m. -- Walk back to metro to get to work.

9:30 a.m. -- Get to work. Check a few emails, take care of a few things that need to be done this morning.

10:00 a.m. -- Hop in a cab.

10:30 a.m. -- Root canal. ("Woot canaw!")

12:30 p.m. -- Back at work.

Yeah... so now TWO MORE appointments IN ADDITION TO the other two appointments I already needed. Plus, another $3K+.

I guess this is my punishment for whining all last night and this morning about having YET ANOTHER dentist appointment. Karma... she is a bitch.

It took the dental profession 29 years to figure out that if someone who (1) brushes two times a day, (2) flosses regularly, (3) doesn't drink soda or juice, (4) doesn't suck on hard candy, and (5) doesn't chew gum still has as many freaking cavities as I do that maybe, JUST MAYBE, it isn't something that I am doing wrong, and that it's just goddamn genetics and I need intense fluoride treatments... stat.

Seriously, I feel failed by the system. Lack of dental insurance leading me to have two years between appointments is only partly to blame, because I've had cavities my whole damn life. Not to mention, this dentist is pretty sure that my last dentist from two years ago missed stuff, because some of these issues are too advanced.

I am thankful I finally found a good dentist who actually took the time to try to figure out what my problems were, instead of just blowing me off. ("Sure, you don't chew gum, uh-huh, right. Floss, too? Yeah, I bet you do." HATE!) Maybe it was my frustrated, desperate tone, but I think it's more the fact that he actually spent several minutes closely examining both x-rays AND my actual mouth, AND then talking and listening to me.

I am not, however, thankful for these freaking soft as hell teeth, the impending root canals, filling replacements, and crowns, and the lack of dental insurance. I hate writing checks with commas. And there will be many of them over the next few weeks.

I am also not thankful for the incredibly achy mouth I have right now and the fact that I can't open it wide enough to take advil.

Sob.

Woohoo... no root canal!

Updated: Okay, it's starting to ache a bit, but that's pretty normal. I just popped a couple Advil, but I'm waiting for the numbness to completely wear off. Apparently, even though the nerve wasn't exposed at all when he cleaned it out, it's possible that in the whole filling process it ended up exposed and he couldn't see it anymore behind all the silver filling stuff. So I have to check to make sure that I don't have lasting pain and sensitivity to cold. Short-term sensitivity = okay. Prolonged pain = bad, call dentist immediately to go in for root canal. Please, please, please let it just stay at short-term sensitivity once the novacaine is fully worn off. It's gone so well thus far.

Well, I really like the dentist I picked. He did the cleaning himself. I'm not sure if it was because I was a new patient or what. I didn't notice a hygenist, but maybe he shares one with his partner or maybe it was her day off. Either way, he was very nice and friendly and chatty, but not in an annoying way. No surprise, I have a few cavities. Like I said, my teeth are very prone to cavities and it's been almost 3 years since I've last been. Unfortunately, one of them is so deep that it's possible when he is clearing it out to put in a filling that I'll end up needing an emergency root canal. Ugh. I've read up on it and it doesn't sound any more painful than getting a filling done, especially since it would be more of a preventative measure than anything. Apparently, it's once the root canal gets infected that things get all ugly and painful, but it's possible that in the clearing out for the cavity, my tooth will be weakened to the point that infection is basically inevitable, so doing the root canal at that time instead saves me an extra procedure and quite possibly lots of pain down the road. Anyway, my appointment is next Tuesday and hopefully it all goes well. I'm not as afraid of the root canal possibility now that I've read up on what it actually is, and if we have to do it next week it'll probably just save me the hassle in the future. Plus, then I can go around saying things like:

"Pwease be vewy cawefuw. Twy vewy, vewy hawd not to destwoy us."

and: "You wewe vague, you wewe howstiwe, you wewe bewwigewant!"

and: "A secwet pwan to fight infwation!"

(teehee! one of the funniest scenes, ever.)

I'm about to leave for the dentist in a few minutes. I haven't been to the dentist in about 2.5 years, so I'm kinda nervous that I'm going to get yelled at. I just have genetically bad teeth. I brush, I floss (okay, not as much as I should, but I do it more than most people I know), I listerine. But no matter what, I almost always have cavities. There was a three or four year period in high school and college where I was completely cavity free and I was all excited because I thought I'd outgrown my soft-teethedness (totally a word), but alas that was not the case. I know I'll have cavities this time. I'm pretty sure I can even see one and I think I feel another way in the back. But they don't ever hurt and I haven't had dental insurance in over two years, so I guess maybe that won't sound so bad when I tell the dentist why it's been so long since my last appointment. This will be my first time going to this guy so I have no idea what to expect. I've only been to one dentist ever in my life and I really liked him and his hygenist. Except that they always had the freaking The View on when I'd go in and I'd have to watch that while they cleaned my teeth. Ick.

Anyway, I finally got dental insurance at the start of the new year and I need to go get a cleaning and any problems taken care of before this job is over at the end of next month. Who knows if the next place I work at will have dental insurance and I certainly shouldn't wait another two years. What do people without dental insurance do? Pay for it out-of-pocket all the time? That sounds ridiculously, insanely expensive.

Although, I guess I shouldn't feel too bad about long it's been. When I called to set up the appointment, they asked when my last appointment was and gave me the following options: 6 months, 1 year, 5 years, 10 years, or longer. TEN YEARS? Seriously, if it had been ten years since my last appointment, would I have any teeth for you to clean? Then again, there are all those people out there who never, ever floss and have never had a cavity in their life. Like my boyfriend. Who's dad is a dentist so it would have been free for him anyway. So unfair.

Went to the dentist for a check-up and cleaning this morning and grrr... two cavities. Not that it is a real surprise, b/c I keep getting cavities ever since I turned 18. It's just real annoying to have to schedule a trip to come home just to go get cavities filled when I take as good of care as my teeth as anyone. I mean, I brush at least the requisite twice a day (I have even been told by the dentist I brush too much... back when I hated to leave the house without brushing them first... seriously, who does that?), and I'm much better about flossing my teeth and using Listerine and all than I was back when I was younger, but still. So I've come to the conclusion that I just need more flouride to toughen up those pearly whites.

Anyway, enough about my oral hygiene.

I also went to the drugstore today for some fun purchases - a pretty, sparkly (but subtly so) lipstick, Holiday Collection Lip Smackers, and some semi-permanent hair dye. I'm not sure when I'm going to dye my hair - I'm debating between doing it just after Christmas before I leave for Washington or when I get back before school starts. For some reason, I am nervous about dying it before I meet the parents, lest they think I am some kind of punk-ass freak. (Not that it is a crazy color or anything, just a darker red than it already is, but I've already got the tattoo going against me.) But I'm bringing goodies, so at least I am a career-oriented, yet home-makery, punk-ass freak...