I am feeling so grateful right now for God's grace when I definitely don't deserve it. I just ended a LONG time period of not going to the dentist. Why? Well, first I didn't have dental insurance through most of college, and when I did get it, I was plain old chicken. You see, I had the GREATEST dentist growing up, we called him Dr. Steve. I never had to have more than a couple fillings, went to all my check-ups, had celants, did flouride, etc. I almost always had perfect check-ups even through high school when I knew I was not brushing as much as I should...and floss? Forget about it. Fast forward many years.
Last year as I was giving a test to my students and while walking around the room I felt a tiny piece of my tooth come off. Mind you, by this time we had dental insurance through Tim's work, and had for like TWO YEARS. I thought it was a little odd that a little piece of tooth would break off but not weird enough to call a dentist. Who would I call? Our insurance wouldn't allow me to go to Dr. Steve, and we didn't have a lot of money to be able to go see him without it, and NO ONE else was allowed in my mouth...according to me of course. Fast forward several months.
At the beginning of the summer, and very pregnant, I was sitting on the couch and all of a sudden another piece fell off. A big piece. I ran to the bathroom, very afraid to even guess what I would see. I saw a good size piece of one of my molars broken off. My tongue made it feel like it was the size of the Grand Canyon! I was freaking out... I made the call to my insurance...where do I go? They sent me to Access Dental center that Friday. I went all alone, just 3 weeks away from having Charlotte. They did a quick x-ray and the dentist came in to see me and SO non-chalantly says, "You need a root canal". A WHAT!!?? I was crushed. They sent me out with an estimate and strong urging to make an appointment that day. I knew I needed to wait and check with my Dr. with how long he thought I should wait after the c-section to have the procedure done so I didn't make the appointment. Thank the LORD.
Meanwhile, a couple weeks later, Tim's mom was having a cleaning and I took Gracie in to see what the dentist is like. Tim's family has always gone to the same dentist, and even though the dentist is retired and there's a new one, the office staff and hygeinist is still the same. Keoko has known Tim since he was really little. However, this was not a place we could go for dentistry either. We were able to all go one morning and Gracie did great. I know she has great teeth, good spacing, and is a champ at brushing...so I wasn't worried. While I was there Tim mentioned my situation. Keoko, as a friend, looked in my mouth, asked me about pain (which I had NONE) and strongly urged me to get a second opinion. Long story short, I was in there the next day for an exam, and happy to pay out of pocket for the second opinion. Dr. Knudsen didn't say they were wrong (darn!) but said they would schedule the root canal and if he got in and didn't have to do it he wouldn't. I was able to talk to insurance, make a change, and get myself in to see Dr. Knutsen for my appointment knowing that we would have to pay more, but not ALL out of pocket.
Fast forward a few weeks. All this time, the dentist at Access Dental told me not to wait (she wanted me to have it done before baby) and that it would get worse very quickly. My appointment was yesterday with Dr. Knutsen. Tim had the day off to drive me there (I told you I was a baby when it came to the dentist!) and he kept the girls and came back to drive me home. I told everyone there that I have had two c-sections and I would rather have another one than be there. I was pretty serious... :) It's the unknown that makes me so nervous, and at this point I was planning on a root canal. I don't know what I am going to feel, what's going to happen, what I will hear. I learned a long time ago when Dr. Steve made me close my eyes for that first filling in 5th grade that it's how I prefer to go through any dentist appt. From that day when I was 11, every appointment was eyes closed from the beginning. I can open them as long as there's nothing in my mouth. You should try it sometime...yesterday Dr. Knutsen was doing something and asked how I was doing (I loved that about him...so gentle and asked me many times how I was doing) and I said, good...what did you do? He said, "I gave you a shot". I didn't even feel it! He got to work. After a little while he had good news for now. No root canal. I would go on to have three fillings (one being the big one) and left knowing that with God's grace and if no toothache developed that I may never have to have one. Also, I will be much more careful about what I eat, cutting out many carbs, because nothing scares me into eating better more than the thought of a root canal! I am sitting here feeling so incredibly blessed and excited about my new dentist. Dr. Steve had HUGE shoes to fill, and Dr. Knutsen did just that.
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