It is now Tuesday and it has been another crazy day. It is now nearly 10 o'clock and time for bed and apologies again for "nothing of substance" so far this week. Besides having Matthew home we have also had a visitor, Margie from Port Elizabeth. Margie is Margaret Fricker's niece. Margaret is the 87 year old friend of Mike's mom who we have over for lunch some Sunday's and who I visit every week after doing some shopping for her. I met Margie (the niece) for the first time in March after hearing much about her from Margaret. She is another of those people who you meet once and know instinctively that you could be good friends. Besides that fact that she too comes from that girls school in Queenstown from where I already have many great friends and she is also great. In our chats it is quite amazing how many connections we have. So this time she has stayed with us and it has been awesome getting to know her better, drinking wine and laughing. She is a tonic. We had supper at home last night and tonight we have just returned from a lovely supper at the Barn.
Tomorrow morning I am up at sparrows to head for the hospital. Last week I went to see my maxillo facial specialist to find out if the implant, which I had done in May (remember?), had taken properly and whether I can now have the tooth crowned. Well, there was good news and bad. Good news was that the implant is perfect and I can now proceed to the next level but the bad news is that the panoramic jaw X-ray shows that I have another problem and needed ANOTHER root canal treatment and then some more surgery. So off I went to the dentist on Friday for the root canal. This latest root canal was on the only molar in my mouth that did not have a filling (seems a bit daft to me) but the bone below the tooth is infected and the bone is degenerating. No pain at all but I have had a bit of a chipmunk lopsided look of late. 8.30 Friday appointment for root canal is not good way to start your weekend. It was not too bad and I needed a follow-up on Monday morning. So that is all done and sorted so off to the hospital tomorrow.
The very charming surgeon showed me real pictures on his computer of how he is going to make "window" in my gum, flap it down, remove the infected area and clean out the bone below 2 of my back molars. He will then pack it up with bone (which he will remove from the excess at the back of my jaw), flap it back and stitch it up. Click here to see the picture. I know that Gill will freak out if I had to paste any gruesome pictures (so don't click Gill).
Tooth and Mouth Trivia
Every person has a unique tongue print.
It takes 17 muscles to smile --- 43 to frown.
Jaw muscles can provide about 200 pounds of force to bring the back teeth together for chewing.
One in every 2000 babies is born with a tooth.
The average human produces 25,000 quarts of spit in a lifetime, enough to fill two swimming pools.
The only bone in the human body not connected to another is the hyoid, a V-shaped bone located at the base of the tongue between the mandible and the voice box. Its function is to support the tongue and its muscles.
A squirrels teeth grow continuously. Their incisor's will grow six inches per year, but stay short due to the constant wear they receive.
Cats have 30 teeth while dogs have 42.
A crocodile replaces its teeth over forty times in a lifetime.
Mammals have only two sets of teeth, the first set they get soon after birth, often called the 'milk teeth' and a larger set they acquire as an adult. The larger set has both more and larger teeth to fill the larger jawbones.
In all other toothed vertebrates teeth just keep coming, no matter how many you lose there is always another one ready to take its place. In other words fish amphibians, reptiles and birds either have no teeth or numerous sets.
Teeth do not last forever, like everything they wear out. How fast they wear out depends on what the animal eats. Herbivore teeth in particular tend to wear out at a specific rate. This is very useful for biologists as it allows them to age an animal by looking at its teeth. Therefore even a skull of a long dead animal can supply useful information by faithfully retaining the information on how old the animal was when it died.
On land we find only two groups of animals that experience tooth decay: human beings (and their domestic pets), and bears. Bears eat gallons of honey at a time, which is why they get cavities.
In over 22 countries, humans consume more than 120 pounds of sugar per person per year.
Dogs and cats in the wild never get a cavity; but when you feed them human food, they can get cavities.
So jelly and ice cream for me tomorrow - Yeah!!
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