They wonder why I clench

I went to see my favorite dentist yesterday. My jaw has reached nuclear pain level and I could not put off seeking help any longer. I actually booked the appointment last week, but could not be seen until yesterday. I should have known that it might get serious when the hygienist/assistant brought in this:




Um, I guess I am going to get schooled on my face. Mark came in and started asking questions about my face. Where does it hurt? Can I press here and it is okay? Hold your mouth this way and let me press here...does that hurt? I think the tears pouring from my eyes gave him some ideas for sure. He made me a little device to try to reprogram my jaw into the right position. It is always impressive to lay in the chair and watch the dentist use fire to fashion a device for your mouth. Here it is:




It is tiny enough to fit in front of my front teeth, just enough to keep the top and bottom from touching. For such a little thing, it has caused some major pain. The next fix is a major piece of orthodontic mess with plastic and metal and it looks very horrifying. So I am trying to make this little piece of plastic work. The girls heard my jaw pop across the room, so I hope that means the storm before the calm. Yipes.

I am sitting and watching the conclusion of middle school soccer practice. My realization is that I have really lost the stomach for watching my child play at all. Just too anxiety producing. So I will just surf and write and pin things and ignore unless I hear the screams for "MRS. COOOOK!!!!!". Then I'll pay better attention.

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