My dentist (Dr. Leon Wachtel) is an artiste. I went to see him today because I (thought I) had broken off a crown Saturday night biting through some very tough crust on a microwaved leftover pizza. At least that's what it looked like to me when I gazed in the mirror at the scrubby little stub where my tooth had once been.
I called his office first thing this morning and asked for an ASAP appointment. I was told he could see me at 2:20 this afternoon. So I went, with some misgivings. Those concerned the price of a new crown. (I apparently had swallowed and . . . digested . . . the old one and it was nowhere . . . to . . . be . . . found.)
After some chat he looked in my mouth and said "Oh, that wasn't a crown, it was just a composite. I'm going to just build you a new tooth."
I said "you mean I don't need a crown?" (Idiot!)
He said "well, you can have one if you want one."
I quickly said "no, no, no, that's okay."
I had told him I needed it quickly because I was expecting a call any time from Michael McConaughey's people asking me to double for him in his next movie. I tried out my "all right . . . all right . . . all right" line but no one seemed impressed.
To make a long story short, he built me a composite tooth which looks and feels just like the old one and I am good to go.
It's great to have a good dentist, even if he doesn't get my humor sometimes.
Oh, he said my mouth is full of tartar and I need to schedule a cleaning. That's now set for September.
Rain update: it's been raining hard all around us today but only a few light sprinkles here.
