DannyBoyinExile

It started with a bag of tortilla chips. Not just ANY bag of chips, but my very own creation, wherein I added a few lemon/lime electrolytes, some cayenne pepper, and garlic powder. Shake it up really well, and the result is… fantastic. You can immediately taste the sweetness from the electrolytes, then the cayenne and garlic kick in, to give it a little heat!
But I’d chipped one of my very back teeth, where it had already been filled, so there was a slight gap between the filling and the tooth. Like most inmates, I was hesitant to pay the $13.55 co-pay fee – but I should have.
Sometimes when I ate something, a tiny amount of it would get pushed into the space, and I would rinse it out really good afterwards. (Or maybe even brush my teeth, like I was supposed to!) It didn’t hurt, though, so I was in no rush to get it fixed. Because it WOULD hurt, when they started poking, prodding, and drilling on it!
When I commenced to chomping on those tortilla chips and grinded them against the area where the food was already shoved into the crevice, I could feel a sharp CRACK – and about 1/4 of my tooth – along with the filling – broke away and fell into my mouth. After a thorough examination, I could see that I now have no choice but to have the rest of the tooth pulled. (Which automatically made me lose my appetite for tortilla chips, by the way!)
The thing I hate is that, if I were in the free-world, the tooth would be repaired and saved, no problem. Yet here, due to budget concerns, the only dental work they will give us is either fillings or extractions. (I suppose that’s all we can get, for $13.55!) Inmates aren’t even allowed “partials” to replace missing teeth. In fact, I’ve seen them refuse a guy his full dentures because he had ONE TOOTH left in his mouth! Worry not – I selflessly offered to knock it out for him, and for much cheaper than $13.55, but so far he has declined my services.
I suppose it’s my own fault (for my own dental woes, I mean, not his). I should’ve gotten it fixed long before now, so I could avoid the hassle of getting it yanked completely out, instead of simply refilled. In fact, I would’ve taken much better care of ALL my teeth, if I’d had any idea I would live this long!
My advice to all of you is that, when you experience ANY problems with your teeth – get it looked at right away, and don’t wait until it starts to hurt. By then it may be too late to fix the problem – and who wants their next bag of tortilla chips to be their last? It’ll probably be a month or so before I can eat my special recipe again (unless I soak them in water first!), so don’t let this happen to you. I’d rather see you learn from my mistakes, than make the same ones yourself. If you can’t learn a LOT from a dummy, you can at least learn something. So says DannyBoy.