Gnawing Problem

Somehow I broke a tooth in my sleep last night. A back molar, and one of the key workhorses of my mouth. When I went to bed, the whole tooth was there. When I woke up, a third of it was gone, with a ragged and very sharp edge where it broke. It's cutting my tongue. There ws no sign of the tooth in my bed, so apparently I swallowed it. That's just wonderful.

It takes a lot to make me feel old, but anything having to do with tooth decline does the trick. In the animal world, one only lives as long as one's teeth, and to have a tooth break without obvious cause is a sharp reminder of mortality and the eventual crumble our bodies. I can work out at the gym 'til the cows come home, but there's no workout for teeth.

Compounded by the fact that my dental insurance only covers 25% of whatever must be done to fix the tooth, I am most unhappy and have a piece of sugar-free gum pressed over the tooth to protect my poor tongue. I have a friend staying in Mexico who just had his entire mouth refurbished and reworked for only a few hundred dollars -- work that would have cost in the neighborhood of $5,000 here in the States. I'm now wondering if I could do the same in Canada.

What I Do At Work (other than LJ-ing)

My focus for the next couple of week at work is writing bios of assorted people of accomplishment and laurels for a AP high school textbook on student success. These are meant to inspire the promising youngsters to value education over crystal meth.

I did the first one today. It's short, so tell me if it makes the bile rise in your throats or any other side adverse side affects. I haven't done much writing for teens:

( Whut I Writed Today )