June 15 – “Beware the caramel”

Well, I plodded through another Monday, filing all the Sunday stuff from the day before and beginning to look at next week.  I did some housekeeping stuff for the church website, worked on preparing the Bible Study for home group on Thursday night, made some phone calls to set up a sprinkler inspection at church.  Then we started the errands.  Returning the lawn mower to Nathan, making a bank deposit, dropping off some dry cleaning, and picking up a prescription (the correct one this time).  We even had some time to have lunch with Cailyn mixed in there as well.  Oh, and I forgot the real highlight of the morning … going to WalMart for some light bulbs, a padded mailing envelope, and, of course, some Cheetos.

I’m nursing another chipped tooth.  This one is from the caramel popcorn Chris made the other night.  Guess that will never be on my menu again.  That’s the third tooth I’ve managed to chip just this past year.  They were not all from popcorn, though, so I can’t give it a completely bad rap.  So I was off to see the dentist yesterday to see which one looks to need a crown the worst.  See, our insurance only covers one crown every 60 months.  One every five years.  So maybe by the time I’m 75 or 80 I’ll have all three taken care of. 

Sure enough there were officially three teeth that are having problems.  None of them are sensitive in any way, so the doc started in on her exam.  Amazingly, she said none of them needed crowns … yet.  The one she has been watching for a while was still the same.  Leave it alone.  The other two were a little more tricky, but she decided she could tackle them and get them more under control.  That meant adding a little bit of filling material around each and then filing them down so that  I don’t chomp on them continually, which would place them at greater risk of being broken again.  All of that with no hint of deadening juice at all.  Didn’t need it.  My only complaint was the assistant sure could have stuck that saliva sucking machine into my mouth a little more often.  Everything is done for this trip, and my insurance even appears to have covered some of the cost.  That’s a big first.  All in all that was a pretty good experience, I’d say. 

Thank you once again to my very first pain-free dentist ever, Blair Jones up in Mansfield, Texas.  You made it possible for me to not fear the dentist. 

Romans 10:12-13 says, “For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile — the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’”

Father, thank you for Blair and his no-pain techniques.  Amen.