The Tooth Faerie's a Myth..

Today was a very long day. The alarm went off at five, and we went about traveling to our great capitol city, Indianapolis.. where all the speech prosthedontists seem to live and prosper. Our appointment was at nine, but we arrived by eight just because I knew it was going to be a chore and a half to get to the actual appointment part of our appointment.

It took us twenty minutes just to find the place where we were supposed to get our patient's parking pass, only to find out that the parking pass distributors didn't open until nine, so I had to get one from someone else, somewhere else. We had to find the main lobby, which seemed like it should be easy enough, but old buildings come with complicated layouts and it was tougher than I'd like to recall. I parked Dave in the lobby to get started on registration paperwork while Mom and I parked the van. By the time we'd filled out the forms, taken the pictures to prevent identity theft, and finished with the insurance run-around.. we headed upstairs to find the prosthedontics center.

We finally got to meet Dr. Lalonde who is every bit as nice a guy in person as he has been on the phone these last many months. It's a good thing we liked him since we spent the better part of four hours with him this morning. Things definitely run a little different at a dental school, than they would at a traditional dentist's office. They definitely take their time there in everything they do. The first hour was questions, and medical history alone.

Dr. Lalonde told me that the x-rays we had taken, (and paid good money for), weren't really so great and I would need to get them re-done as soon as possible, (which, won't be free). Dr. Lalonde has decided that Dave needs the thirteen fillings and two extractions that the regular dentist had already recommended, that Dr. Lalonde told us not to do yet.. as well as surgically extracting his two lower wisdom teeth that are impacted. What do Dave's impacted wisdom teeth have to do with getting his prosthesis? Not a thing.. but Dr. Lalonde has been a traditional dentist for twenty-seven years before he got into prosthedontics, and Dave's mouth has to be on the cusp of perfection before he'll do anything with it at all. The dollar sign flares were already starting to miss-fire in my mind by this time, and I'm trying valiantly not to tune out and go to that other place my mind goes when I really start to panic.

Dr. Lalonde noticed some serious tooth grinding going on in Dave's mouth. I admitted that Dave has started that really badly since his accident, (along with the array of other noises we go through in Dave's nighttime symphony). Dr. Lalonde is pretty convinced that Dave has developed sleep apnea since his injury, or from his injury. He asked me if Dave snores. Yes. He asked me if Dave grinds his teeth while he sleeps. Yep. He asked me if Dave is tired all the time. Um, yes, a thousand times over. He gravely stressed to me (and not to Dave, because he's not yet aware that Dave isn't a toddler, or brain dead), just how unsafe it would be to have, or to wear any kind of speech appliance when someone has sleep apnea. Dr. Lalonde refuses to even create a prosthesis for Dave, until we make an appointment with our regular physician to get a sleep study done, and determine if he truly does have sleep apnea. If he does, Dr. Lalonde says we'll also need to get a machine to help him, or, nighttime mouthpieces in their place. More dollar signs. More appointments. More headache and stress. I'm not feeling very well by this time, but my resolve is steady and my smile is willfully pasted in place, so.. we're still good to go.

After all of this, we've eaten up another hour of our morning. We get through the initial examination which goes surprisingly fast, compared to all the other rigmarole we've managed thus far. This is where Dr. Lalonde escapes off elsewhere to call his superior who concludes that a speech appliance wouldn't even help Dave with his speaking, so.. he doesn't recommend one. Here's where Amy launches into a debate on the pros of such a device. The appliance was never meant to help Dave speak better.. but instead, was suggested to help Dave function better while he speaks. Dave's soft palate doesn't close entirely like it should, and while he speaks, air escapes from his nose, which a) causes his voice to sound particularly nasally where it shouldn't, and b) makes him take twice as many breaths as he should need because he's losing air from not only his mouth, but his nasal cavity as well. The latter of which makes every sentence he says harder on him, and takes that much more energy to produce and makes him tired that much faster. Hhmm, I see what you mean, the good doctor says to me. I'm surprised at this point that I'm convincing the guy who makes the device as to why his patient needs one. He leaves to talk to his superior again, and.. they're convinced I might be on to something. They'll agree to make the piece.

Internally, I'm wondering whether the thirteen fillings, and four extractions, the sleep study, and the mouth-guards should have convinced me to keep my big, convincing mouth shut, and let them decide to not make one. A battle broke out in my mind before I knew it, and the side that knew that this could really help Dave.. won out.

Dr. Lalonde spent the next hour making plaster molds of Dave's teeth, so he could make a rudimentary piece for Dave's mouth to see where we go from there. He's now convinced that Dave's teeth might be too short to hold the apparatus in his mouth, and Dave might have to get crowns on ALL of his teeth in order to be able to wear the appliance. I close my eyes, and take a deep breath, and nod. Whatever it takes. Dr. Lalonde hands me a prescription for double concentrated fluoride that Dave has to live off of, pretty much indefinitely. We're pleased as punch to have one more prescription to add to our list.

We hit the four hour mark, and Dr. Lalonde has run the course of our time with him. He shakes our hands, and tells us to drive safe, gets one more electronic signature for the insurance vultures, and hands us a stack of things that need to be hand delivered all across the dental school to "speed things along." I don't know what the hurry is though, really, since it'll take me a month or better to get through the extensive list of things that need to be done before we're even allowed to call him back. It's definitely going to be a fun process, that's a certainty.

The highlight of the day, of course.. was meeting Sam for lunch at Fazoli's. (A THREE HOUR lunch to be more exact), lol. We had a much better time chatting it up with Sam all afternoon, than we did at the dental school all morning though. Sam, thank you for an awesome time.. and we'll most definitely have to do it again soon. *hugs* For real.

The rest of the night has been a blur. Dave and I fell exhausted into a nap for almost three hours. His possible sleep apnea happily met my instantaneous depression from another long list of expensive to do's, and sleep was just the only thing we could manage for ourselves. We didn't wake up until after nine when Mom woke us up and made us eat something. It's definitely been a tiresome day, and we're more than ready to put it to bed. Thank You so much, as always, for joining us this evening, and until next time, Much Love, Many Hugs, and Good Night to You All.