So you know that scene where the woman has a nightmare that all her teeth are crumbling and falling out?  Yeah…, I kinda felt like that for a minute yesterday when my tooth sorta fell apart while I was standing in the middle of Dillard’s. No lie. I wondered how uncouth it would be to ask around the designer purse section for a napkin to put the pieces into.

I laughed in Dillard’s and then cried on the way home. Battling fear. Scared that the pain would hit me hard when it finally did. Worried that this might just be the beginning of a life full of teeth problems. Anxious about how long before I could see the dentist, wondering how to live with this odd half-a-tooth and eating and brushing…. I basically worried about anything that came to mind.

Oh, the Enemy likes to play with our heads. So I turned to prayer instead of thinking. Here are two of the blessings I came up with immediately.

1) It was the problem tooth. The dentist discovered last Saturday that the filling is leaking and chipping so that was getting replaced anyway; now it’ll be easier for him to investigate. In 10 days.  Which is kind of a long time to wait, but I’ll take it. Since we knew this tooth had issues, this is probably not a sign of things to come for the rest of my teeth.

2) It doesn’t hurt.  Unbelievably. Even when I swished with warm salt water. Even when I brushed gently across it. It’s basically a whole quarter of my tooth that is now missing all the way to the gum; I can see a cross-section of my tooth and the filling. How is this not hurting??? I am in awe of God’s hand on me. This tooth has given me so much trouble. We’re assuming it’s been a major–yet invisible–player in my increasing pain and sometimes sinus problems that began last August. Yet here it is with the most sensitive parts exposed and the only pain I feel is in my jaw when my tongue spends too long messing with this freaky tooth. (I’m training it to play with the teeth on the other side for balance.)

God has been so many things to me through this. My Provider and Sustainer, my Comfort, my Shelter…and now my Healer.

Folks, if you have teeth that bite things for you and don’t wake you up in the middle of the night throwing a tantrum, appreciate them. Thank God for them. Whole teeth are wonderful things.

And for those of you who like weird and gross things as much as I sometimes do, I might take a picture….