Periodontal Dis-ease

A Dentist's Night'mare'
Originally uploaded by :: R(c) Photography ::

So, I am trying very hard to keep all of my teeth. In my family, we all have deep pockets; and I'm not referring to our generous natures... No, in my lineage the word pockets is always referring to that space around the roots of our teeth which shouldn't be there - that space that dentists and periodontists call Gingivitis.

To ward off its effects and to keep my own teeth for as long as I'm able I go to exhausting and terrifying lengths. First, I go to the periodontist every 3 months for a deep cleaning. Those always involve gas, numbing (read: shots in le mouth), and an hour's worth of scraping and torture. My periodontist's hygienist actually sharpens her tools many times over as she works on my plaque.

Then, every so often, as I did yesterday, I get a DEEP cleaning. This involves total numbing (not just partial) and the shots are in the worst part of my mouth - like the roof of my mouth. But yesterday, the lower jaw would not get numb - no matter how many shots she gave me.

I also floss, stimulate, brush, and use all sorts of instruments designated for home dental care to ward off the formation of these hard and calcified spots under my gums which really, really want to grow on the roots of my teeth.

All this is to say: I do a lot of work on my teeth. A lot.

Meanwhile there's Doug.

My husband brushes once a day. He rarely flosses, he has sweet breath (except for how much he loves raw onions) and he may make it to the dentist once a year. Sometimes he skips a year. But when he goes? When he does go to the dentist, guess what they say! "Doug, just perfect, as always!" No pockets, no gingivitis, no periodontal disease.

If that's not unfair, I don't know what is.

Cartoon History of the Universe

Cartoon History of the Universe
Originally uploaded by Michael Vance1

Emery's favorite book

Reinvention

I was just talking with some friends about how I reinvented myself when I left Texas and moved to Ohio for graduate school. Looking back on it I realized that although I had been a fairly unconventional Texan when I lived in the Lone Star State, once I left the constraints of its borders I became a walking example to Ohioans of all that a Texan is. I became someone who always wore make-up, always wore an 'outfit' (so much so that people often asked me where I was going, sure that I couldn't have arrived at my final destination when I was clearly so overdressed for where we were and what we were doing). I was a girl who always had her hair done - and done big (the higher the hair, the closer to God), favoring a high ponytail accessorized with a bow. I relished my Texas accent, used the phrase 'fixin' to' as often as possible and stuck a "y'all" in whenever appropriate.

I extolled the virtues of the Texas landscape, her people, her cultural institutions and culinary gifts - missed the Texas Two-Step and Country music; even though I'd been a fan of none of these things while growing up...

The opportunity to be a stranger in a strange land offered up the chance to be a curiosity and I loved it. I got to shed the things I'd carried around with me that I didn't like and take on new characteristics that were off-limits to me when I might run into someone I'd known since the third grade. On the Ohio University campus I was never going to run into someone who'd known me my entire life -- no one was going to say, "Wow, what happened to you?" It was a freedom that is lost to me now. Now I'm part of a community: at church, school and work. That's why it is so important to do it while you're young - and I hope my boys do that too. They should go away to college, to the East Coast or the Mid-West. Maybe when I retire we could run away again, Doug and me. Maybe we'll find that freedom again. Sometimes you wanna go where nobody knows your name...