A few Saturdays ago (April 17th) in the evening, while eating a salad, I broke a piece of my upper left bicuspid off.

At first, I was not sure if it was part of the salad or what it was. But after looking at the piece, I realized it was a piece of tooth.

The next thing I did was check to see where it was from in my mouth. Once I found the tooth missing a piece, I was glad I was not feeling any pain or sensitivity.

I finished the rest of my salad with no other problems.

I spent Sunday eating soft things on the other side of my mouth. At the same time, contacting my dentist friend to see if he could get me into his office on Monday. Also, I sent a similar request to his office on their website if he wasn’t checking his personal e-mail.

A few hours later, I heard back from him to contact the office on Monday morning. Then I sent work an e-mail that I needed to go to the dentist on Monday without knowing what was going on with the tooth.

So Monday morning, I called the dentist’s office. They mentioned they had recently sent me an e-mail to tell me they could get me in on Thursday. I asked if they had anything sooner, to which they replied because I had mentioned I was in no pain, they made the appointment for Thursday. I asked if they had anything sooner to make sure I could get it checked before it became a problem.

After that, they informed me they could get me in at noon on Monday. So I said I would take that appointment.

E-mailed work to say I was going to take the appointment and wasn’t sure if I would be back or not.

Now I had to walk to the metro (commuter train) to take the train for the first time in over a year, which was concerning.

Luckily for me, over two weeks before, I had gotten my Johnson and Johnson vaccine. That made me feel a bit safer to take the train and have my mask off at the dentist. Previously, I had walking pneumonia 25+ years ago, and most colds go to my chest.

Before leaving, I remembered that a block from the Foggy Bottom metro was a block from Whole Foods. So I grabbed my backpack to pick up a few things since I hadn’t been in one in a year and a half or more.

I left the house with my cloth-tying mask and then a bandana over the top of that. Along with a pair of winter gloves to use while on the train or in the grocery store.

I walked to the Braddock St. metro, which is a half-mile from the house. Then found out the blue line was not running, which meant having to take the long way into Foggy Bottom metro. So have to take the yellow line to L’Enfant Plaza and then go downstairs to catch an orange or silver line train.

Then I waited for the first train going in the direction I need to get to Foggy Bottom. I got into the first car, which I had to myself for the three or four stops I had to go.

I managed to get out of the Foggy Bottom metro stop and then the two blocks to the dentist.

I got to the dentist’s office after waiting to get in because someone was at the front desk and near the door. After getting in, I had to fill out a two-page form with a ton of questions that most of the answers were “No.”

When it was time to go in my friend, the dentist walked back to the room. After talking some, they asked me to take down my mask so they could see my tooth. After taking my bandana down, they asked if I had another mask under my cloth mask, to which I replied no.

Look at my tooth, then put the mask back over my nose and mouth while I waited for a few x-rays to check how the tooth was. Once the digital x-rays were done, they said the tooth looked solid and could be fixed. The fix would be to get rid of the old filling. Then put a cap/crown with a veneer attached to cover the missing piece.

Once done, went out to make an appointment which because they needed possibly two and a half hours. That meant they couldn’t take me until mid-May in the afternoon. The day they chose was the only day I couldn’t take because I was speaking on a remote conference panel at the time. So they then had one a few days later. But they found one a week earlier in the morning, so I took it.

Before walking out of the dentist, they reminded me to only eat soft foods on the other side of my mouth. To make sure I didn’t cause myself any issues. So no carrots, chewy bread, chips, steak, etc.

After making my appointment, I walked over the Whole Foods to do a bit of shopping. I hadn’t been in one in like two years. Once done, I put my purchases in my backpack and then caught the metro home.

So here’s to things going well for my next dentist appointment to fix my tooth along with getting out more now that I have been fully vaccinated.