I’ve been putting this off. I need new teeth. Degenerative bone disease. I hate things that associate themselves as diseases. Makes me feel like its communicable and I should be in quarantine. Or perhaps I forgot deoderant this morning. I ain’t no whiner. I am a guy and I do not take well to pain. I guess that makes me a whiner. I am also a slacker. Rationalizing my predicament today, I say , the last time I saved up for new teeth, my furnace needed an unplanned immediate replacement. In November. So that’s where the money in the coffee can under the mattress went, and it’s taken several years to save up again. We enjoyed several vacations in the interim so the excuse is moot. Of course, today, I develop pain because 2 teeth, one upper L, one lower right want to play tennis volley serves across my tongue, and while the teeth are wiggly/wobbly, they are jutting on some nearby nerves. Hence, it’s all a PITA going straight to my brain.
Truth be told, I never said this here. I have been having teeth drop out after short bursts of looseness and just some assoiciated pain which is relieved as the tooth falls out or I wiggle it around enough to pull it. I can see via dental xrays bone loss over time and essentially quit going to a dentist only for them to say, yep, we need to pull this one or that one. Luckily, I never developed any infections as the teeth got looser. I have always grown a beard/ mustache, so my mouth changes are not necessarily observable to others, unless you are presenting at an office meeting and a tooth spontaneously decides to expel itself while talking. I suppose it’s like guys who do comb overs when they are bald, I just grow a bigger walrus across my upper lip. Learn to smile with your mouth shut and seldom offer the full happy grin you want to give. Over the last five years, I am down to 6 teeth.
Yes, I eat steak, corn on the cobs, I slice it off with a sharp kinife, Ribs, I cook until the ribs are so tender they fall off the bones. I used to like a little give to them, but hey, I guess a little irony & you get what it is in this instance. Are they is or are they isn’t meant to be finger licking good. There is almost nothing I can not eat, or make do. I can up to this point, chew, but I no longer have teeth for cutting , hence a sharp knife and pre cut into very thin slices. Things that have dropped off over time, which I like, Most nuts, Hard salami, raw carrots, celery, pretzels, beef jerky, al dente is a term I avoid in cooking. Surprising things I would not think about until attempts. Cold Chicken (salad) spaghetti noodles unless chopped, fine teeth cutting and the noodles do not know when to stop, other pasta is just fine, pop corn Hulls, tomato skins, cucumber peels, the fat end of asparagus. I compensate, Rationalize? Soft pickles, so what if they didn’t get crisp. Cut a burger into 6ths so it is bite size, rather than in half; Absolutely Mince jalapenos, raw onions, I forget what I suck the flavor out of, and not actually eat the food itself, Happy if a restaurant has Onion Strings/ guitar strings/ whatever rather than Rings to go w/ a burger; too crisp French fries, order the alternative fruit, well there’s a calorie savings unless it’s pineapple. probably quite a few things. Plain M&M’s and guacamole are still pretty much good. One of my favorite summer salads is taco salad, now minus the crisp tortilla. Soft shell tacos, well I like those anyway. I eat more salads without adding lettuce this summer. Sometimes lettuce works and sometimes not, whether crisp or soft such as spinach or butter lettuce. I never know, So I mostly make a salad w/o. In Sept I need to plant a 2nd crop of arugula. That always works.
IF one has an allergy, one should know what to eat or not. I Neffer know if I might be able to eat some things today or not.
THE WORST IS I Seldom can eat BACON. Certainly not crisp, and sometimes not floppy bacons either. ARGHHH. I made a BLT the other day. Sometimes you just gotta suffer thru and then I had some Ice Cream to sooth my gums after. Double scooped. Toot Sweet.
There are several DC threads about eating / soft diets. I’m not exactly looking for food advice. Of course, this is much appreciated too.
What bothers me is – IS THERE really a 6 week wait to heal before they fit you with new teeth. That is, if I have the few remaining teeth pulled. The two teeth playing mumbly peg in my mouth will re-adjust in a day or two. ( I hope.) The soonest appt I could get with my dentist about new teeth is a month from now. This could be a bit of a stretch.