traumatized

There I was, minding my own business, tidying up and chewing a very delicious piece of DubbleBubble bubble gum when suddenly I heard and simultaneously felt, a sand-papery crunch in my mouth!  I knew that gum should not be crunchy so I immediately STOPPED chewing and then I *just* knew....I opened my mouth in fear, to spit out my gum and the chunks of crunch that came with it...along with bloody saliva.

I called out to my husband and he rushed to my aid as I began sobbing.

My tooth BROKE! Just like that! No warning, no pain, nothing to give me an indication that it was weak.  Not only did my farthest back molar break, but the wisdom tooth next to it.  I suspect that the pressure from the wisdom tooth, all these years, was finally too much.

I don't care why it happened, I'm simply mortified that it did. I was sobbing, I was so upset.  My husband was very tender and caring toward me about it and reassured me it would be ok. I don't know.

I love my teeth, I've had them for decades, they are a part of me and now I'm losing parts of me, one tiny chunk at a time. Seriously. Nice teeth were on my *list* of things to look for in a mate.  For reals.

All I could imagine as I followed my husband's instructions and rinsed with salt water, was myself with a bunch of missing teeth.  For some reason, in this imagination of my mind, I was also very old and wrinkly? weird.

I am afraid to eat because of how easy it is for food to get stuck between my two broken teeth and the large empty space that is now between them. I am taking meticulous care of them until I can go have them repaired or 'extracted', I guess. Oh the fear that puts in me--you have no idea.  Tiny bits are breaking off randomly with out provocation. Obviously, I am not chewing any more gum! Today I was just sitting in the car & I moved my tongue over the jagged tooth of betrayal and suddenly there was an extra tiny chunk in my mouth! Are you kidding me!?!  Then tonight, as I was rinsing with Listerine...another chunk!  This is so demoralizing. 

My husband used to make fun of me for the way I adored my teeth and the care I took of them...They weren't super straight or pearly white but they were mine, ALL mine!!!!  He made fun of how long I took to brush my teeth daily. Really. And for what? It's not like I was eating hard candy or a carrot or something.  It was just a piece of chewing gum! Curses DubbleBubble! Curses!