At 11:47am on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, my 2nd lower left molar fell out. It happened right after I bit into a small Godiva Ganache Heart dark chocolate. That particular tooth has been problematic for years so the falling out didn’t come as a real surprise.
Even so, it triggered a fair amount of anxiety because it happened at the worst possible time. My dentist Wendy Lu is closed on Wednesdays and out for the Thanksgiving holidays, so I would have to sit through a large turkey dinner without a fix.
The first test came an hour later, when my dad bought two large Tomatina pizzas. (They had a BOGO free deal; we went for a large Carne Combo and a Pear + Prosciutto.) Carefully I bit into the pizzas, only to find that the missing molar did not make much of a difference. Not being able to grind on my left side felt unbalanced and the wide gap allowed more unfiltered chunks to go through.
I finally got ahold of Dr Lu on Monday and saw her at 3:15pm. Her analysis was that more of the core tooth had fallen out this time round. My choices were to:
- Put the crown back and eat softer foods.
- Leave the crown out and chew more on the right side.
- Get a dental implant replacement tooth surgery.
I went for 3, the most expensive option. The other options felt too limiting. Not to mention, both are more prone to half chewed food, which is especially dangerous for me due to my weak esophagus / throat.
