It Could Be Worse....Or, The New Bay Bridge Is Not The Only One With Problems

About ten  minutes before hosting book club at two at my house yesterday I glanced at the calendar and discovered to my exasperation that I had the wrong date----its two weeks away. What was I to do with my freshly brewed herb iced tea, homemade persimmon cookies, fresh fresh strawberries and young green peas from the farm down the road? Everyone in Oakmont is less than ten minutes away, so I called in three new friends, they complied, and we gabbed about local trivia till five. At seven I hosted our writing group and they convenienced me by eating some of the leftovers. This partly explains why I am eating cookies and drinking iced tea for breakfast.
Its no wonder I am more jumbled than usual. Sunday night, eating dinner, a trauma of major proportions occurred. As I bit down, the bridge spanning my four front teeth crashed. That is to say, the two anchor teeth broke off way below the gumline and out fell my pearlies.
As a kid at camp I fell on a rock, killing the two front teeth. (Fascinating how many kids do this, isn't it.) So I have worn some kind of dental apparatus for about seventy years. The new broken bridge was only 18 months old and I expected it to outlive me. A hurried trip to stay with friends in Hayward followed (yes, it was wonderful to see them) but a visit to the old San Leandro dentist provided little
comfort. In one day she was able to provide me with a temporary partial ($915) and the bad news that I needed to see a specialist in reconstruction in Santa Rosa.
Thursday he confirmed my fears. The surgery to remove the broken roots is tricky, but he can do it, and in about eight months and two implants I will have a restored smile and chewing ability. Oh yes, and my pocket book will be $10-15,000 slimmer. Meanwhile, with the temporary, I have a new little lisp and can sometimes create a cute whistle I never had before. I'm not tackling any spareribs or corn on the cob, thats for sure. I wonder what will happen when I go to harmonica class today at 11? Perhaps if I take out my front teeth I will be able to do a riff?