Thanks, Dad.  I inherited your tendency to gray and your rotten teeth.  I’m so thrilled to have this legacy from you.

Yes, I’m already finding gray hairs, but that’s the least of my concerns.  I went to the dentist yesterday.  Back in May I had my exam, complete with xrays, digital pictures, etc.  This was the follow-up and cleaning.  The cleaning itself was fine, pretty standard actually.  But the diagnosis was not pretty.  I have teeth that are super-susceptible to decay.  Lucky me!  And I have 15 cavities that need to be taken care of.  And because of the root canal I already had this year, I’ve used up my dental insurance.  Thankfully the dentist is giving me a break on the cost, but it’s still going to be several appoints and lots of money.  Oh, joy.

The good news is, the dentist is a member of our church and a really nice guy.  He and his practice are also very good, which has been a blessing.  In the past, my dentist would just say, “you need to lay off drinking pop” and leave it at that.  I actually got a host of helpful instructions yesterday, all about acidic foods and drinks, when to brush, how to floss, what steps to take to ensure that my dental health gets better.  Many of the steps are ones I’ve already taken, and others are easy to implement.  Hopefully next year when I have my exam things will be better than they are now.  Otherwise we’ll be taking out a second mortage to pay for my teeth!

I am very thankful, though.  I don’t tend to have a lot of health problems.  I’ve never had a surgery (unless you count my wisdom teeth being removed), never had an extended hospital stay.  I don’t remember even having to personally go to the emergency room, although I’ve gone with others plenty of times.  So if this is the medical expense that I have to deal with, so be it.  God has blessed me in lots of other ways.  My husband has had more of the medical issues, so as my friend Becky said last night, I’m taking one for the team.  I can’t really complain (but I probably will when I’m numbed and hearing the drill!).