Things I hate: my mouth, this year

Did any of my teeth fall out naturally as a kid? No. Either my parents or dentist pulled them all.

Have I had any cavities? My teeth were riddled with them as a kid, and I have a few small fillings in my adult teeth as well.

Did I have braces? Yes. For 3 years.

Do I have my wisdom teeth? No. Those came out over Christmas break of my Freshman year of college.

Have I had any other oral surgeries? Yes. Yes I have.

By junior high I still had my baby canine teeth... they weren't going anywhere, which was a problem because my adult canines wanted to come down. The fix? Pull two molars to make room for the grown up canines, cut the roof of my mouth open, attach brackets with chains to the impacted canines, attach the other end of the chain to the wire on my braces, close up the roof of my mouth....and then every month go to the orthodontist so they could pull the chain down 1mm and sloooowly and incredibly painfully guide the teeth into place. It. was. awful.

If you're curious to see what this looks like, do a Google search of "surgical exposure of impacted canine" and check out the images. I did not post it here because I know some of you (myself included) get sick looking at that kind of stuff.

So why the history lesson of my mouth? Because today I went to the dentist for the first time in 11 years. I know I know... but for most of those years I haven't had dental insurance, and I haven't had a dentist, and I just didn't really want to go because I knew I had a problem and I didn't want them to make it official. Well, now it's official.

Referral to a periodontist :-(

The gum line on one tooth (apparently it's tooth #25) has really receded, and my referral is to talk about options for a skin graft on my gums. I knew that was going to have to happen at some point, but COME ON! I just had knee surgery... now oral surgery too? And haven't I paid my dues in the dental department with all the stuff I've already gone through? Now I have to do more???

I hate my mouth. I hate 2013.

I feel totally crushed, but in my miserable attempt to try to be positive here's what I'm grasping to...
- I didn't have any cavities. After 11 years, I feel like that's amazing.
- When my mouth is packed full of bloody gauze and I can't eat because the roof of my mouth is raw from where they'll harvest the tissue, I might finally lose weight.
- .... .... ..... that's all I've got.

WHHHYYYYYYY?!!???!?!?!?!