Million Dollar Mouth

I admit, a million dollars is a bit of an exaggeration, but we seriously have probably spent (between what insurance has covered and what we have paid out of pocket) at least $15,000.00 on my teeth in the last 12 years. From that admission, you probably picture me as a rehabilitated snaggle-tooth. Not quite! I am, to my mom's credit, a night time teeth-grinder.

After my dentist appointment today, I now have not one, but two, "bionic" prosthetic molars of sorts. You see, we were faced with a bit of a dilema. Considering the fact that I had ground down and worn away the majority of the surface area and enamel on two of my back teeth, I was in need of a crown on each one. The problem was that in order for them to hold up for any amount of time, I would need metal crowns, but they would be in a spot that you could potentially see the metal when I smile. We didn't want that. If we used just plain porcelain, I would eventually wear through them and we would sort of just be creating a long-term temporary fix. So, the dentist came up with a rather clever solution. He had the lab create crowns that are porcelain on the outside half (that can be seen) and metal on the inner half.

I am so fascinated by these crowns that I had to take a picture for anyone who in interested in seeing how "bionic" thay look. Unfortunately, I didn't have a camera with me before the dentist put them on. I decided to go out on a limb for all of you and I took a picture of the inside of my mouth. It's not pretty, but I just had to share.! If you get grossed out by this kind of stuff just don't look. If you do want to take a look, notice the 1/2 and 1/2 tooth, that's the one I'm talking about. I'm sorry I'm not savvy enough to be able to crop the picture so all you can see is the tooth, but if you really want to see it, I'm sure you'll get over it.

Pretty cool, huh! I thought it was pretty ingenious. I have a matching one on the other side.