Teeth, Part 2

I'm many, many miles away from my dentist, so of course I'm having a mouth issue. Anywhere thousands of miles away from your dentist is apparently the prime location for developing mouth issues. I remember, with a distinct lack of fondness, getting my wisdom teeth taken out over winter break during my junior year, recovering wonderfully for a week, and then getting on the plane to go back to school and promptly getting dry socket infections. Stunning.

So far, this problem is not quite as bad. But the gum over my right top canine has been a little sore for a week or so. I barely noticed until this morning, when I looked in the mirror and noticed that my gum is receding from my tooth. This is a Bad Sign of epic proportions. First, because I am prone to periodontal disease (thanks, Mom) that probably means the bone is dissolving away as I sit here typing, and second, because I do not have a dentist here in England. I have free health care. But, from what I understand, most dentists have completely full practices and are not accepting new patients, so to get seen I would have to join a private practice, one I am not covered for, which is obscenely, ruinously expensive on my current budget (think something along the lines of $700 for a visit, roughly converted.) Dude, that is a month's worth of food and supplies and miscellaneous expenses and probably some of my housing, right there.

Of course, I told my parents about this, and both of them freaked out. My mother was rather hysterical, actually. It had nothing whatsoever to do with the money, even though I kept bringing that up over and over again. I mentioned in my last Teeth entry that they have huge obsessions with teeth, right? Yeah. They have good reason to have them. You see, my dad has the normal amount of cavities for someone who grew up before fluoride treatments, but my mother has probably the worst teeth in the western world, and periodontal disease along with them. You can't tell from looking at her, because if there's one thing my parents will spend money on it's teeth, but she has lovely porcelain crowns and has had several root canals and has sand packed into the dissolved bone under her gums from advanced periodontal disease. I have already been to the periodontist several times because my orthodontist thought I was having an issue with bone dissolving as my teeth moved, and my dentist keeps up a morbid and rather excruciating examination of the bone between my back molars every time I come in.

Anyway. They freaked the hell out. I mean, I know gums receding are a very, very bad thing, especially on someone like me, but by golly I must go to the health center TOMORROW and if they can't help I must get to a private practice dentist the VERY NEXT DAY and in the meantime I must rinse with Listerine every thirty seconds and possibly dance and chant and burn incense as a preventative measure, too. Because they know from painful experience that if I have a minor infection and they have to give me $700 to get some antibiotics to fix it, they are getting off cheap and easy compared to what it will turn into if I don't fix it right now. Dental problems never go away, they just get worse until you give in and pay to fix them, the problem area falls right out of your head, or the resulting abscesses eat through your skull and kill you (have a look at a paleopathology textbook sometime.)

So, to sum up: My gum is receding. I have to get it looked at, and I don't know where to go to do that. I am not going to have a fun week. And I love my parents.