Day Seven

So I’ve had someone else’s bone in my mouth for about a month or two. Oh, come on, or at least compose yourself before you read the rest.

When I sleep, I grind my teeth so hard they break, and Gisele, my German shepherd, ate my night guard that prevents this type of thing. I never replaced it. One molar shattered so badly it became infected, and because of the abscess, I had to have it removed. There wasn’t enough good stuff left to work with. Sexy, I know.

I could have had a partial put in, where two surrounding teeth anchor an artificial tooth with metal wires like willow trees would a flimsy hammock. I decided to have an implant put in which is a longer process but it would be more permanent than the hammock tooth. In order to do that, there had to be something to screw it into after the old tooth was removed. (I know, gross.)

The dentist yanked my bad tooth after some time on antibiotics. (Shout out to Southland Dental for dealing with my anxiety.) After the tooth was extracted and all the goods cleaned out, she had to stuff it with some material so the partial would have a place to dive into. That’s when I heard the word cadaver.

“I’m having cadaver bone put into my mouth?” I asked her.

“Yes, it’s a really cool thing,” she replied. She then showed me a small glass vile with white dust in it, another human’s bone. (Don’t Google it.)

She mixed the grainy dust with a liquid into a paste, then used a Q-tip to cram it into the hole. I felt nothing. Then she topped it with a dollop of collagen and sewed me up real nice.

I’m almost healed enough to have the new tooth put in, but in the meantime, I have moments when I think about this cadaver bone.

It’s all funny and we can joke about the millions of puns that come out of this post so far, but in all reality, this person was mourned by people, and even if not, their life mattered.

When an organ donor passes and someone receives their heart, the family may have a chance to thank them. I’ve seen the videos of parents listening to their late child’s heart in a stranger’s chest, beating. My gosh it makes me cry to watch those, but there’s no pomp and circumstance when a small, seemingly insignificant body part is donated.

So that’s all this post is about today, some words of thanks for the person whose bone is in my mouth.

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