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Thursday, June 10th, 1999 - Dental Hijinks

This Time Last Year	Eek! I need to update!

	Tuesday I went to the dentist. I was looking forward to it, actually, as I have a very groovy, gentle dentist (she's cute, too, but that's just a side benefit). Plus, this is the first dentist visit I've approached having flossed my teeth almost every single night since my last visit. I was proud of my gums! The woman (Andrea) who cleaned my teeth noticed right away that my gums were better. However, this happy fact was overshadowed by her peering in a concerned manner into my mouth. Andrea: Hm, you're grinding your teeth something awful, especially on the left side. Me: Oh no! Could that be why I get unexplained ear aches in my left ear all the time? Andrea: That's definitely why. You get them more when you've been stressed? Me: Heh. Yeah. (muttering) When am I not stressed these days? Andrea: Here, look, you can see that your left teeth are worn down more than the right. You must do this while you sleep. Me (peering into a mirror): Oh. God. Andrea: I suggest you take up exercise, or go get some biofeedback or something to help you deal with stress - otherwise I'm fitting you with a mouthguard! Me: Oh, great, something else in the future to worry about.

	When I went to sleep that night, I tried to calm down ahead of time. I really did. But I awoke in the middle of the night (I've been waking up in the middle of the night - and not being able to get back to sleep for an hour or two - for weeks now, maybe months) and noticed that my teeth were clenched shut. I tried to open my mouth and had to massage my jaws open! That's a really scary thing, to have your mouth tightly shut in the middle of the night like that. And now I notice that during the day I tend to clench my jaw, especially when I'm worrying over something. Great.

	So, what am I going to do? acupuncture. Ti-Fred recommended a good acupuncturist who cured his carpal tunnel syndrome (he hadn't been able to unscrew toothpaste caps, and now he types all day long w/out pain). It's a little on the pricey side, but hopefully I won't have to go too much or too often. Mom laughed when I told her this was my plan - "Well, I can sure tell you've been living in California!" I guess. But, really, who says that Western medicine has the only answers? And, hell, Oriental (or "Asian", though the business card said Oriental, not Asian) medicine has been around a lot longer.

	And, besides, a main part of my stress has been lifted temporarily. It's like summer vacation from school (although I'd much rather deal with school than my pet stresses). So, it's a good time to try acupuncture and exercise and try to get my life together before I have to deal with "school" again. Maybe next semester I won't flunk :-)!

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