Priority Use

My health is about the only thing I'm really good at. So, I'm a pretty good student (though I work really hard at that, it certainly doesn't come naturally!) and I can run a fair distance. But, being healthy? Well, that's one thing that I don't usually get wrong. And, I must admit, I take some pride in being a fairly physically healthy person. I'm glad to be able to say that I have never had major surgery or broken any major bones. It even brings me great satisfaction to miss the flu/cold rounds each year at school. I've always been a pretty healthy person and I'd like to keep it that way.

So, naturally, when I found out that I had a cavity yesterday it about put me to tears. Me? A cavity??! Oh no!

I dread the part of the check up where my dentists sticks his little pokey tool into each tooth and I feel a little tug back like it's getting stuck. I cringe each time it feels slightly stuck for fear that the decay has grabbed hold of the pointy sucker. Yet, I'm usually alright. So, this time around, he took out this crazy laser thing and started poking around in my teeth. Apparently this thing registers decay at a much more precise level than any human can. And, sure enough, it caught some in #30. Damn. I wasn't sure if I was supposed to be embarrassed or sad or mad. Was it those frozen m&m's I just can't seem to shake? Or, because I've sort of fell off the flossing band-wagon ever since Greece? It's hard to tell.

After I made my appointment to get the decay removed I asked my hygienist if I wasn't brushing correctly and she assured me that, no, that wasn't the case. She told me not to beat myself up over it. My "home care" looks good. *Sigh.* At that point, the whole thing seemed kinda ridiculous to me and I sort of had to laugh. My "home care" seemed good? Okay.

Last night there was a Peter Jennings' special (his wife produced it after he died) about the rising cost of health care. I just caught the end, but the point was made that better access to medical care is actually making people sicker. People get all these tests and check-ups only to keep getting sick. At the same time, I can't help but wonder if all of the new fangled medical contraptions are what's making us sicker. I mean, if my dentist hadn't have used the laser-o-dent, or whatever that stupid thing was called, to scan my dental crevices than, well, I wouldn't have a cavity. Right? I guess this brings up the age-old "tree-falling" issue. If my #30 is decaying, but no pokey thing is there to see it, then is it really decaying? I honestly can't say for sure.