Dental Denial

Two years ago I developed TMJ and spent a whole lot of time with the TMJ specialist regaining the ability to open my mouth. The last event in a series of events that caused the TMJ was a trip to the dentist to get a filling replaced so I have avoided the dentist ever since then...until my teeth took matters into their own hands. After chewing on one side of my mouth for four months, I finally sucked it up, admitted something was wrong and headed to the dentist where he found not one but two silver fillings that had cracked and needed to be replaced. Ugh. It took three visits, lots of numbing agents, countless rest breaks to give my jaw a break, and the fillings were finally replaced. Thanks to the extreme care and caution of my dentist, so far there are no signs of a TMJ recurrence. Whew. Now back to avoiding the dentist at all costs.