It�s been five months since my cavity pain turned unbearable, and, I have to admit, I�m feeling a lot better now. Lying in a chair for three hours isn�t so bad, though novicaine needles and not being able to close your mouth for long periods of time can suck. I�m over 21 so my MediCal ran out, and it turns out the other insurance only pays for 80%, so I�ve barely gotten by the last couple appointments. Also, apparently the way the fillings work is that my teeth will get fucked up really fast if I skip a few days of brushing. I�m still getting used to that. Somehow they fucked up the billing so there�s this huge $420 �balance� that I have no idea how I�m going to take care of. MediCal sent me some mail having to do with extending the insurance until age 25, so I sent them the fourty-eight dollar premium for it and it turns out the dental school I�m going to doesn�t take that insurance. So today I could�ve had six fillings done but I only had two done cuz I couldn�t afford all the copayments at once. But at least the crown is finally on. Hopefully I�ll be able to stay on top of the brushing this time. It�s amazing how much cavities can hurt! I still remember how the pain went all the way up into my ear, and how it sends these really uncomfortable shockwaves through your body. On some teeth, the decay was so close to the center that they couldn�t get rid of all of it, and just sealed over it with a composite so that the bacteria would run out of nutrients; if I don�t brush those like constantly I�ll have to come in for another root canal. Every time they did a restoration, my bite would be all messed up for a while. I�m glad it wasn�t permanent, though. It feels fine now and I can still beatbox. I sure was worried about that!

I guess I�m pretty lucky to have enough of my teeth left that they could fix �em up. If I had messed with speed for long enough I could have lost all of my teeth. My next appointment will be in �07, and the start of the new calendar year means the start of a new chunk of insurance money on a per-year limit. So even if I can come up with copayments, the insurance might run out before the work is all finished. From what I felt during the couple of surgeries where I wasn�t completely numb, it seems like brushing will be pretty important. I can�t imagine having a constant ache like the one I had before but in other spots, too. Probably the top front teeth would make my nose hurt and weird shit like that. Hopefully when my wisdom teeth come in there�ll be room for them. If there isn�t, I hope the messed up teeth fall out to make room for them, cuz it would be really lame if they had to remove four perfectly healthy teeth that haven�t been decayed into yet. Turns out it was worth it to make all of those phone calls and fill out all that paperwork. Maybe now that my smile isn�t quite as fucked up I can make my way into waiting tables. It�s too bad I didn�t decide on dental school, though. Those kids are making bank and they�re not even out of school yet.!