Teeth & Marriage

I have two bad teeth.  One is soooo bad it's not there any more.  I am wearing a false tooth affectionately known by professional dentists everywhere  by its technical name  -  "flipper."  The other tooth, a middle molar is broken in half.  Everytime I get a temporary filling for it the thing breaks and I lose it.   I've stopped having the filling done as my dentist and I were having a better and more ongoing relationship than the spouse and I.

 

It comes down to the sympathy one receives when one has a pain in the tooth.  Until about four years ago, I was a  dental visit freak!  I was at the door of the dentist's office every six months like clock work!  NOTHING prevented me from going for those regular check ups and cleanings.  Then, with my life in a minor turmoil, mom dying of cancer, job at the time, up in the air, and Round 1 with the spouse it just all became too much.  It was at this time I had to start wearing a flipper because of tooth problems.  I had been spending a lot of time at the dentist's office which reminded me a lot of the hospital where my mom had been sick, which made me sick in turn.  That and a couple of misplaced needles in the mouth  by said dentist, who happens to be a friend, and I decided I had enough!   For awhile!

 

Now bear with me.  .  As often as I went to the dentist the spouse stayed away until he had serious pain requiring prescription pain killers and major work.   As a good spouse I tried being empathetic, offering sympathy, tea and whatever else a spouse might need from the wife to ensure caring in sickness clause.  This particular spouse was more like a lone wolf and preferred to hide in a corner and deal with his pain and suffering by himself.  I, on the other hand, appreciate all the TLC I can get. 

 

This was another one of those hints that things were not going well in the marriage department.  No sympathy or ANYTHING when I was sick or needing said TLC. 

 

 How, you are probably asking, do teeth have anything to do with the main topic of this blog, staying or going and the marriage? 

Well, it's quite simple really.

 

I came home early from work earlier this week with serious-really- bad-worse-than-natural-childbirth pain from this nasty broken molar.  I had been to the dentist before work, got the pain killers and anti-biotics.  By the time the spouse got home I was working on my fourth Tylenol3 which was completely ineffective.  He recommended whiskey.  sigh... yeah that should work well with the drugs.  Did I get sympathy?  Did I get help on how to deal with the pain aside from the alcoholic suggestion?  Did I get any TLC?  

 

Of course not... what I did get from the man who only graces the dental chair under severe pain - was a diatribe on why I should have dealt with this particular problem at the onset when it first started, how I needed to get back into the dentist's chair and what was my problem and blah blah blah...

 

It was about this time, I could feel the abscess starting to drain... a rather disgusting thing ... and it was all I could do to keep from spitting all that yuck and guk into his eye!