Toothless Wonder

My nickname in high school: toothless wonder.  I loved wonder bread and made bread balls from them (rip off the crust, roll into a ball and eat).  Yum...  And I am missing two of my top teeth.  So on the left side of my mouth, the teeth were all pushed forward and on the right side, there is a wide gap where a false tooth was placed.  Before the tooth was semi-permanent, the tooth was contained inside my retainer.  Every time I ate, the tooth would come out with the retained and therefore I was toothless.

That nickname is now current once again.  At least, in my mind.  Thankfully no one has called me that yet; though Riley did say "Goodnight Toothy!" and giggled.

My false tooth has been glued to the sides of the two teeth on either side of it for 17 years.  The dentist said that it would last up to five years so it has definitely done its job.  During lunch today, I bit into my apple and felt the whole false tooth crunched up and moved.  I put my fingers on it and just took it right off.  No need to wiggle or pull hard.  It literally just decided to fall off.

Not great timing.  Though it could be worse.

I'm preparing all the grade levels to perform for the "Thankful Eagle Lunch" the next two days. Grades K,2,4 are performing tomorrow and 1,3,5 are performing on Wednesday.  We always have an amazing turnout of parents/relatives/friends for the students.

There were still four classes I needed to have a final rehearsal with today and there was no way on earth I was going to miss it.  Not to mention having over 40 choir students after school today to rehearse.  So I taught - toothless.  As much as I tried to not worry about it, it has been all I could think about as it feels like a giant hole in the front of my mouth and I keep trying to feel for something there.

I explained to the kindergartners that I lost my tooth in my apple at lunch today.  They were very excited that we could relate to one another.  I heard things like "Wow!  I didn't know adults lose teeth too!" and "I lost my first tooth yesterday too" (didn't tell them this isn't my first tooth to lose) and "We both have missing teeth, Mrs. Grant!  See mine!"  The kids were really great about it.  Though some of my choir students had a hard time not staring at it.  Don't blame them!  It's quite easy to see that it's missing.

I sent a text to Jeremy with two pics of myself smiling with a caption that read "Love ya Baby!"  He felt bad for me, but was so loving about it and said I still look beautiful.  He knew exactly the right thing to say!!

The dentist was out today at a funeral and so he is jam packed tomorrow.  The earliest they can see me is on Wednesday.  She said it will take at least an hour to either put it back or figure out another alternative.

Until then, I remain toothless.  I'll direct toothless.  Teach toothless.  Speak to the parents toothless.  Sing toothless.

I figure it's better that I be honest and real about it and continue on than to hide out at home until another tooth can be put in.  Though honestly, I really can't wait until Wednesday to get it back in.

Riley is super excited to perform tomorrow.  She has her dress picked out and since Grandpa is coming to hear her sing, she specifically chose his favorite dress (a navy blue sailor dress with white buttons).  She's going to be so happy to see him there to hear her sing.  My mom is out of town so she can't come.   Madi has her performances on Wednesday.  I totally forgot to call Poppi and Grammy to ask them if either of them could come as my dad will be at work and my mom is on a business trip in MI.  I really dropped the ball on that one.  At least I will be able to eat with Madi and that's something we never get to do together at school.  Looking forward to that!


Comments

Popular Posts