To lose a tooth

It was my second vegan chicken wing. The first one went down without a hitch. But the second one. Well, I must commend the makers of the vegan chicken wings for the satisfying likeness. They’re shaped like drumettes and even come with a “bone”, a cute little straw-shaped bamboo stick so you can have a handle for your wing. Experience-wise, first class. As in, the culinary experience. Tooth-wise, it was “the last straw” so to speak lol. I bit down, the tooth split, as in, when you were little and you had a loose tooth and bit into an apple and the tooth just folds back and the disbelief you feel as your lips register the gap between your teeth. What was once there is no longer.

Ahhh impermanence lol. We can all learn to be a little less attached. Even to something as, well, prominent as your front teeth. The lookers. The smilers. The heartbreakers. It all comes down to a set of bones in our mouths, an instrument for eating, yes, but also smiling, talking, laughing, singing, charming, kissing, loving. Our storefront to the world. Our moneymakers.

So, luckily, emergency dentist appointment, got a cast done, got a temp “flipper” for this wonderful little nestling spot, and then on a waitlist for an implant. Exciting stuff.

I think me a few years ago would have thought this was the end of the world. But after covid, nothing really feels like that anymore. We survived the unsurvivable. Isolation. And nothing will ever be quite as bad as that.

And the amount of laughs and jokes that have come from this lol. I just cried from laughter with Noah in his office when I told him, “I’ll have to remove it every night when I go to sleep,” and that, compounded with my sexy night-guard, just sent him into hysterics. Luckily he was sitting down but I was standing and literally fell onto him with sheer muscle atrophy that comes from engaging in such full body raucous laughter. My best friend asked me to send her a voice note so she could hear my lisp. She sent back a voice note of her laughing harder than I’ve heard in months, and that alone makes this humbling experience worth it lol. I sent my family group chat a photo of the damage and my sister replies, “Can you send one of you smiling?” hahahahah so I do and she, between gasps of laughter, replies, “You look like when you were 9!” hahaha which, really, is a soaring compliment and attestation of my youthful good looks ;) and of course, just lots and lots of support from friends saying, “You still look cute!” lol thank you Universe for friends.

And dear tooth, RIP. We’ve been through a lot lol. From being split in two when I fell off my bike at 9, to a root canal, to a crown, to that fateful vegan chicken wing, we’ve been through it. You’ve served me well the last thirty some odd years. I love you. Thank you for being part of me.