A mouth full of stones. (371 hits)
Category: NoneRating: 1.33 on 3 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by Da MagnificAnt Dyldo <lordofduct.at.gmail.com> (View user info) at 2005-10-18 03:13:37 EDT
I grew up very poor and never had health insurance. For a period of 3 years I did have federally funded health while my mother was on welfare. During this time I had some work done to my teeth including a root canal. My mother got back on her feet and we no longer had the pleasure of having UCONN students work on my teeth. Soon after that I was sent to live with my father and step mother in Florida. I love my father dearly and his wife is OK; the only problem is she is an alcoholic and will put her children at the front of the line no matter what.
During the 4 years I lived with my father I went to the dentist once to have yet another root canal done. The dentist got all the way up to the post and placed a temp in there. The following week my step sister "needed" her teeth worked on and I was tossed to the back of the line while still wearing my 30-day temporary filling.
Growing up I wasn't one to complain. When I was sick I toughed it up and went on with my day. When I was tired I drank caffeine and got out there to work. I didn't feel like bothering with the bitching and hollering and I didn't want to seem like a hassle. I did not ask for lunch money, nor did I say I needed the hospital when I really did. I remember in 8th grade I broke my arm after going off a bike ramp. I didn't tell my mother for days until she noticed my grapefruit sized arm wrapped in an ace bandage. This was not good practice with my step mother though. Being a drunk causes her to have very short term memory and if you don't ask her every day she won't do anything for you. Not that she doesn't care, she just doesn't realize it.
Well I didn't complain about my tooth; I was young and naive and hadn't figured out how my step mother works. I had only lived with her for 3 years now and those 3 years were spent doing a lot of drugs myself. A 4th year rolled by and I graduated; still wearing that year old 30-day temp. After graduating I moved out of my father's home and bills began to pile up. I was working 80 hour work weeks. I started driving truck and jumped that up to 1 day of being home a week. I left that and still was working 60-80 hour work weeks as I slid from job to job. I could barely afford to take 1 class of school per semester let alone a root canal and all the other crap I needed done to my teeth. Finally after years of doing this I am now in a good 40 hour a week job and can afford to live. I have insurance too! Root canals are still about 500 dollars though.
Well today I awoke from only an hour and a half of sleep. I was panting and images of my dream were of my teeth breaking and falling out. I could swear I had lost those teeth for real and I start grabbing in my mouth. I was relieved to notice they all were there, but something was wrong. The temp had crumbled a little over the 5 years it has been in there. OK, it has crumbled a lot! The post is showing and has shifted. My tooth is being jammed against my gums and causing excruciating pain.
I hate being poor!
These are my friend's teeth. I took this picture of them after his surgery years ago. I used an 8X macro lens and blue damper filter.
User Reviews
Submitted by ICO (user info) at 2005-10-18 07:33:55 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
Leaving a temp in indefinitely is terminal.
Submitted by Hookhand (user info) at 2005-10-18 03:34:30 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Don't blame me. I voted for Kerry.
Submitted by joedaddy (user info) at 2005-10-18 03:27:01 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
write it off