Yesterday…I went to the dentist…not my favorite thing to do…and I’m getting 
more hesitant the older I get…isn’t that supposed to go in the other direction…shouldn’t I be more comfortable going now than when I was a kid…Bertha…says…that the reason is because when I was a kid I didn’t require much real…work…
And…when I think about it…that’s true…my first real memory of the dentist was going to…George Francis Carraway…for…false teeth…I was in the first grade…
What…you are probably asking…
I’ll explain…I had lost my four top front teeth…the front two had grown back but not the two on the side…incisors…I think…anyway…as time went along…my front teeth started to enjoy all that space…and they were separating…forming a nice little gap…Mama took me to George Francis for advice…his recommendation was to put a tiny freezer rubber band…the kind used to secure freezer bags in the day before ziplocks…around my teeth…and because my gums were malleable…this would eventually bring the teeth together…and then he would make me a partial plate…to hold the space until the other teeth came in…
Note…the partial plate would cost $25…versus braces down the road which would have cost upwards of $200…yeah…it’s been quite a few years…
Anyway…bright and early the next morning…Mama put on the rubber band before she went to work…when she came home for lunch…my teeth were touching…everyone was surprised that it worked so quickly…and my false teeth were made…
Now…you can imagine…false teeth to a kid my age were like another toy…and…quite the attention getter…I was pretty good at running them out on my tongue just for shock value…fun times as I recall…
I wore that little partial for the two years it took to grow incisors…why it took so long…I’ll never know…but…I’ve always had straight teeth…never needed braces…never spent all that money…or had all that discomfort…due to the ingenious solution by our hometown dentist…action taken…before it became a major problem…
Bertha…reminds me that it is that way in life…prevention is easier…and usually cheaper than repairs…whether it’s maintaining my teeth…my car…my weight…or a myriad of other things…it’s usually less painless and expensive…and requires less effort…to keep them in good order than to try to get them back that way…she says it in a fancier way…being proactive rather than reactive…
She says she’s been trying to tell me this for years…but I wasn’t listening…as my tongue finds the tender spot from yesterday’s visit…and…I look at the number on the scale…I really wish I had…
Maybe it’s not too late…
Jane
Glad you got through your appointment! Here’s lookin at you kid 🙂
Me, too Christy…and that it wasn’t as bad as I had thought it would be. Now I can continue to flash my pearly whites! Have a great day!