The Crumbling Crown Who knew that playing high school basketball would indirectly cause me so much discomfort later in life?

During a scrimmage against a local men’s rec team, one of the tallest lummoxes I’d ever seen set a moving pick on me and planted his elbow firmly into my face. I went to the hospital immediately and got four stitches on the inside of my lip, which caused it to be swollen for the good portion of two weeks. (This was when people affectionately began to nickname me ‘Lippy’.) The next morning, I went to the dentist and got an emergency root canal done on the tooth that was knocked backwards 90 degrees. Days later, I got a crown put on that never quite fit properly and I was always self-conscious about.

In the last few years, I’ve began to notice the deterioration of that tooth. Bits of it were falling off and it felt brittle. I went to the dentist last night (should’ve done that long ago) and discovered that my tooth is, as I speculated, rotting inside and possibly infected. This may explain why I’ve been feeling so nauseous lately. Fortunately, I had a bit of foresight when we got a new health care plan at work and chose the plan with the most dental coverage. Unfortunately, it’s still going to be a wee bit expensive, the plan doesn't cover everything, and I may be missing a front tooth for a while.

There is no underlying message or moral of this story. Except, maybe, go to a good dentist the first time around.  ¶ 8:01 PM