Grill work...

So when I was in 6th grade and young and stupid (as opposed to now being old and stupid) I was rollerskating at the Mexico Rec Center and decided that jumping off of the stage at the end of the roller rink was a good idea. And it was at first, and the second time, and the third time, and the fourth time, but the fifth time was the charm, as in, when I fell and busted my 2 front teeth. I didn't knock them completely out mind you, but snapped the 2 front teeth out in an almost perfect V shape. Mom was not happy, and my father who happened to be working at the roller skating rink at the time took me home shaking his head the entire way. Up until this point, I had had some extensive dental work with orthodontics and other incidents in the past, so the Mom was none too happy of course. Down we went to Dr. Kivus' office in Lewiston Maine (also home of Tony Atlas) for those wrasslin' fans amongst you). Dr. Kivus had this young minx working there named Dr. Schneider. Tall, German, blonde, and in my 6th grade memory, very hot. She fixed me up, and sent me home after bonding some new extensions to the old grill. I think Dr. Kivus and Dr. Schneider got married somewhere along the way.

Anyway, fast forward to junior year of college. I was at St. Michael's college hanging out with my friend Kathy MacDougall and her roommates, and it was St. Patrick's Day weekend, which of course at an Irish Catholic school meant drinking, and lots of it. I was startled awake that morning with a beer by Brian Ritchie I believe his name was (another friend of Kathy's). And so the drinking ensued, all day long, and well into the night. Well, I was at this bar on campus somewhere around 2 in the morning, and I was walking around with a beer bottle stuck to my mouth drinking like a fish, and someone slammed into me, knocking said bottle into my formerly repaired teeth, and knocking the 2 composite pieces out, and down my throat with the slug of beer I was taking in at the moment. I awoke the following morning to people laughing at me because they thought I had originally done that damage that night, they didn't know about the roller skating incident, so I had to tell the above story to them to get them to stop heckling me. Another trip to Lewiston, this time from Orono Maine (near Bangor where Stephen King lives), and another trip to Dr. Schneider (yeah, she was still working there at that time), and another repair. I'm happy to report that the Dr. Schneider of my junior year of college was still as hot as I remembered the Dr. Schneider of 6th grade, so at least the old memory hadn't failed along the way.

Fast forward one more time to my living room. Last night. 22-Feb-06. Me, a box of sea salted pita chips, and some roasted red pepper hummus, a good snack you might say. I was crunching away, and then heard an extremely loud crunch, and felt that yes indeed, one of my fake teeth was missing from the front of my grill. It had fallen out, and I had tried to chew it, twice. I spit out the offending hummus and chips, and did a little search for my missing tooth piece, and indeed, there it was, in pieces laying on the napkin in front of me, and a gap now existed where there wasn't one before. Damn. Not again. When is my luck going to change for the better? A few things ran through my head, most of which was, "How much is getting this fixed going to cost me?" (more on that later). A trip over to the SO's house, and of course her friends were there last evening doing some knitting and talking, and hanging out, which is all good, except they got to see the snaggle toothed me, which of course is slightly embarrassing, but still kind of funny (I am writing this after all aren't I?). And then to work this morning, where I actually only showed a couple of people my newest injury. Luckily though, the SO sent me the name of her dentist, and I gave her a call, and she fit me into her schedule, on her lunch hour no less. Score!

I got the dentist's office right around the time of my appointment, which was noon, and the SO was waiting for me there having already filled out most of my paperwork, but getting my birthday wrong, but only by one day. That was very nice of her to be there, ready and willing to hang out with me should I get shot up with some good drugs for the procedure, and not be able to drive myself homeward afterwards. Just one of the many reasons why I love that woman. Anyway, they ushered me into the room, sat me down, and took a look at what lay ahead of them. The Doc's hygienist took some x-rays of the mouth, and they got to work. From the time that I sat down, to the time that I was all done and finished, it was only about 30 minutes, and like I said before, she fit me in on her lunch hour no doubt, and she did some outstanding work. I of course immediately made a follow up appointment to have a full exam and cleaning after that, and I would recommend her to anyone and everyone in the greater Durham, Chapel Hill, or even Raleigh area. She appears to be a rather good dentist, and seems to really care about her patients, and takes the time to talk things over with you, and work out solutions, and see what's best. She is good, we'll just leave it at that. Her name is Doctor Alicia Ramos (click on her name for her website). And if you don't have a dentist, or hell, even if you do, go there and see her. You won't be disappointed methinks. Outstanding customer service, and she did a hell of a job restoring the chicklet that was dislodged from my grill by the most offensive pita chips. Since all 3 or 4 of my friends read this blog, I figured I would refer you guys over to her, obviously the SO already goes there, as she referred me to them, but for others, go there.

But of course, to top off the bad and subsequent good luck that I had today, I got a call from one of my managers at the good old workplace, and it appears that they need me to roll in there around 2AM this morning. Now, it's off to bed with me. I hope they appreciate this bullshinto.