Don't read this...

What on earth could it be?? Well, you asked. And don't say I didn't warn you.

I was flossing the other day when I felt something fall onto my tongue. What I fished out what is you see in the picture. Just a filling with a cool handle. This would be what resided in place of my right-hand second maxillary premolar; that fourth-last tooth on the top right; or "one-five" as one's dentist may call it out to the assistant filling out the way-too-full cavity chart. Okay, so I'm far too familiar with what goes on in the dentist's office.

This was not a big surprise, since it had been loose for a couple of months now. I was pretty sure it was just held in with a post (as seen in the pic) so I didn't know what was keeping it in place. Guess I didn't pull hard enough. Those barbs seem to do their job.

The molar that once existed had a big cavity right in the middle, so the dentist had put the filling (the one attached to the rebar above) in and secured that with a post. So basically there was the inner third of a tooth, then a big blob of filling, and then an outer third of tooth. The problem was that there was so little original tooth left that there wasn't much strength left. I was munching on a chicken drumstick one day when I bit onto something hard -- that was one piece of the original tooth gone. I'm not sure when the other piece broke off, but after that I simply couldn't chew with that side of my mouth.

Given my wonderful dental history, I'm used to favouring one side of my mouth or the other when chewing, knowing that a temporary resolution is only an unpleasant dentist visit away. Now I can finally chew normally (and eat faster!) again while I await some good dental coverage. I'm not in a big hurry -- there's no pain, and although there's now a big gap the root (or some semblance thereof) is still there and I don't expect my face to cave in overnight due to the structural loss.

Oh dental implants, how I yearn for about 28 of thee! (I don't expect I'll need fake wisdom teeth.)