Straws, Thanksgiving Dinner and Dental Work...

I have a whole new appreciation for those unfortunate souls with jaws wired shut for a period of time. Tonight, I practically sucked my supper through a straw. Clearly, I wasn't thinking straight when I scheduled my dental appointment on a Wednesday afternoon. (Generally Wednesday afternoons are a time of reflection...reflection upon the yumminess that IS Crystal's church supper cooking, served at 5pm.)
The whole dental experience itself was as wonderful as a dental experience could ever be. I mean, barring sado-masochists, you'd be hard pressed to find patients who look forward to needles and drills. The problem was my tooth, or rather, lack of one. The tooth already had a filling (actually, it's second filling from a zillion years ago), but pieces were breaking off. (Word to the wise: bits of tooth and metal breaking off in your mouth...not a good thing.) In lieu of a third filling, my choices were: crown or potential extraction of the molar by an oral surgeon. I chose in favor of the crown - which I envisioned to be a shiny (perhaps gold?) ornament that would be placed on my tooth. Very royal, very princesslike...I knew the girls would get a kick out of it!
My dentist was impressed that I didn't flinch with the shots. He said his women patients always did better with the pain. (Well, duh...after delivering 2 children sans epidurals...a little shot of Novocaine is like a day at the spa.) An hour of drilling later (OK, maybe not quite an hour...) the old filling was removed, and the tooth was whittled down to allow for the temporary crown.
Thankfully, the dental technician offered me her Walk-Man so that I could listen to tunes while the drills churned and metal shrapnel from the previous filling exploded in my mouth. The crown was nothing like I expected, no gold, no jewels, nothing shiny. In fact, it looked very much like a costume for a small tooth dressing as a grown-up tooth.
I was still completely numb once I reached the church, but thankfully there was a long line for supper. There is always a long line for Wednesday night supper when the menu is Thanksgiving Dinner! (Well, that's my name for this particular menu selection...) Turkey and stuffing with gravy, mashed potatoes, green beans, corn casserole, seven layer salad and pecan pie! The line was so long that my numbness subsided by the time I reached for my tray. I was ready to dig in! I grabbed my fork and got a smattering of everything. I put the fork to my mouth, and my mouth would NOT open all the way. I tilted my head sideways and shoved in the forkful of food and took a bite. Had I been able to open my mouth, I would have screamed out in pain. Apparently you are NOT supposed to chew on your new tooth immediately. Good to know. I mushed up the rest of my dinner with a fork. I took spoonfuls and slid them through the tiny opening of my lips to the far left hand side of my mouth and slurped it down. (The only straw I could find was a coffee stir and I couldn't suck up the stuffing through it...)
When we got home, I did take a straw to the bottle of Children's Motrin. I have high hopes for a night of painless sleep...