A souvenir from my recent vacation decapitated me!
Before beginning the procedure Deb, the dental technician initiated some preliminary chit-chat. "What brings you here today?" she asked. Offering up my porcelain crown I said, "It came off."
"Crowns don't just come off," she replied.
• • •
One of the unspoken rules traditions of a summer beach trip is to bring back a box of salt water taffy for your cube mates. For those sequestered in the office while you were sunbathing it's a sweet reminder of the pleasures of a leisurely sojourn to the shore (and after your fourth piece the sugar high makes that three hour meeting go so much faster).
While this confection isn't high on my personal list of favorites (I'm a closeted chocoholic) I always enjoy a good chew. So when I returned to the office after a week in Wildwood, New Jersey a one pound box of James' Salt Water Taffy accompanied me on my morning commute.
After regaling my coworkers with the salient details of my trip I pulled the box from my backpack. I was rewarded with a collective "Oooo" of anticipation. I had fulfilled my duty and this would be a better-than-normal Monday for all. And as the initiator of our office bliss I took the ceremonial first pick of the box: a light green "cut to fit the mouth" taffy --that's what it says on the box-- that turned out to be mint rather than the lime I had hoped for.
I returned to my desk to read my backlog of emails while rolling the mint slab around my mouth. You have to toss it a bit to soften it up before you start chewing. But as I did suddenly I felt an addition to my little minty morsel: my #19 molar's porcelain cap. Skillfully retrieving it from my mouth I examined it closely for any damage. The last time this happened it came out in pieces. That was an expensive mistake. But this time I was lucky. It was totally intact. A simple reattachment was all I'd require. I immediately made an appointment with my dentist for the next afternoon.
When I got home that night I carefully removed the crown from its special CD jewel case (it was the only enclosure I could find at my desk). My children were most interested in seeing "the tooth" close up. They were mesmerized by its translucent bluish color (from the metal under casing). But they nixed any notion I had that I was now eligible for the tooth fairy.
