Tooth nightmares

So I have this recurring nightmare: I'm eating something really really soft, like a peanut butter sandwich on Wonder bread... it's so soft the bread is sticking to the back of my front teeth... when all of a sudden, my teeth start to just fall out. And I'm trying desperately to get them to stay in - like when you lost a tooth as a child but you could kind of stick it up in the hole and suction would hold it for awhile... but they just keep coming out, and then I notice that they're all terribly loose in my mouth and I just know they're all going to fall out. The terrifying thing is, in my dream, I almost always "wake up" and I'm feeling my teeth in bed and they truly are all loose and falling out. But that's part of the dream too - and I only realize it in the morning after I really have woken up and I remember that I had the dream. It's so freaky, and I guess I must have some sort of tooth pride... the dream must be evidence of some deep seeded vanity and it's punishment for always feeling good about my never-braced dental beauties...

All that to tell you about what happened to me in the middle of "Herbie - Fully Loaded" today. I took the kids because Thursday is "outing day" and I found gift certificates for the theatre that I never even knew we had. I figured it would be a tolerable movie and it would at least be cool in the theatre.

I brought along snacks for the kids and a Powerbar for me - I didn't eat lunch before we left and I thought that would get my through the afternoon. So I'm chomping away on my very chewy vanilla crisp treat, when I bite into something VERY hard. At first I think it's a nutshell... but no - it's WAY too hard, even for that. It's of course, totally dark when you're at the movies, but I'm convinced that the company is going to have to send me a pretty big box of Powerbars, because THERE IS A FREAKING ROCK INSIDE MY VANILLA CRISP POWERBAR!!! I carefully and calmly take it out of my mouth and slip it into my pocket, because I'm sure they'll want to see the evidence.

I continue chewing the remainder of the offending bite and swallow. Then I notice something stuck in my tooth. My tongue goes over to investigate. Dang - it's really sharp... must be more gravel or something... but no - it's actually more of an indentation with very sharp edges when it hits me "I HAVE JUST PUT PART OF MY TOOTH IN MY POCKET!!!"

My teeth ARE falling out.

And now I have to find time to get to the dentist here in the next couple of days, before the whole thing falls out and I truly do have to suction it up in the hole... At this point, nothing hurts, for which I am thankful, but I'm totally freaked out and can't believe my pearly whites might need something like a crown. Only people who haven't taken good care of their teeth or weren't blessed with strong, healthy teeth or are very old need crowns, right? Yikes. And the worst part of it is - this is a tooth I was scheduled to have filled last year and I had to cancel the appointment and I never got around to rescheduling - so it's totally my own fault.

I'm always preaching at Asia, "You only get one set of teeth, you need to take good care of them..."

Hmmm. I really should have gotten that work done, eh?

Phooey.