SOME STRONG CHILI

Ruth is not the only one having dental adventures. Last night I was eating a bowl of chili when suddenly I thought, "That's strange--I don't remember adding any rocks to this." I fished the hard little object out of my mouth and, sure enough, it was a hunk of tooth. This has to be one of life's most dismal feelings. My tongue got busy inventorying all my teeth and reported back, "upper right bicuspid."

Oh, no! One of my favorite chompers. And, as I realized with sorrow, one of my OLD teeth. I no sooner announced this than I realized how absurd it was--ALL my teeth are over 50 years old. But somehow this one seems much older, to have sprouted when I was a pigtailed kid with scabby knees. An elderly, vulnerable tooth. Not some more recently arrived third molar, that is still young and vigorous and--the big thing--repairable.

I called my dentist, Dr. Riddle, first thing this morning. He is a big sweetheart. He is the one who repaired my mother's upper plate after the dog chewed on it. His "girl" said to come in at 10:00 and he would see what he could do. Dear, dear Dr. Riddle. None of this "come in two weeks from next Thursday."

As his name suggests, Dr. Riddle is a big kidder. He got off some good zingers about my chili--it must be really strong if you can break a tooth with it, etc. But then after some poking and tsk-ing and oops-ing, he announced he could crown it and make it as good as new. Did I want a gold crown with a diamond inset, or just plain old boring white? (He has a number of People of Color in his practice.) We settled on white-people white, and then he matched samples from a chart, just like matching paint chips, so it would be sure to match the other teeth. Discussing it all the time with his assistant--"No, not that one, her teeth aren't THAT yellow, try a shade whiter."

So, he did all the gringing and futzing around and making impressions, and I left with a temporary crown and an appointment to come back in two weeks for the Real Deal. Other than having a numb skull the rest of the day, it wasn't so bad.