I have also got my first modelling gig. The dentist wants to post before and after photos of my teeth on his website. Ha! I had previously told the guys at work I would be leaving to resume my career as a supermodel as soon as my dental work was finished so thought this was pretty funny.
]]>This is another "then and now" set of pictures also focussing on the teeth as today is my last day with my old discoloured front teeth and my denture! (I promise I will stop banging on about my teeth soon).
This photo was probably taken in 1976 or 1977 which would make me 8 or 9. 1976 was the year I knocked out my front tooth and damaged the other one and it was a few years before I got a denture so just went around looking gappy during late primary school. I still remember this outfit as I thought I looked so cool. The brown jumper you can see in the photo was teamed with brown pinstripe flared pants. (My best friend Karen had navy blue ones the same). The necklace is one I made myself out of offcuts from my grandfather's carpentry workshop. My youngest uncle, who was into photography at the time, took this photo.
This photo is from last week (after my temporary veneer) and is really for my mother who was complaining about all the awful photos I post of myself on this blog! By this time next week, all my teeth will be white!
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Here I am waiting for the dentist to open this morning (I always try and get the 8am appointments as it means no one before me):
This morning I got a temporary veneer put on the very discoloured tooth and had impressions taken for the permanent veneer and the implant tooth. I am going back in two weeks to get the rest done and have already told my colleagues that I will be going off to resume my career as a supermodel after that.
Here is me later on my way to work (this is the view to the city from the end of our street - you can just make out the Sydney skyline through the powerlines to my right):
I bought the ridiculous hat in the NSW town of Gloucester which I think is the hand-knitted beanie capital of the Hunter region (if not the whole of NSW!). It is truly atrocious but much better than an umbrella for protecting my head from the wind and the rain. Of course I took it off and hid it in my pocket once I got closer to work. If you look closely you can also see that one of my teeth is looking much less discoloured in this photo - due to the temporary veneer.
]]>I am in the process of spending an obsene amount of money getting my teeth fixed so thought it would be good to post a 'before' photo here for posterity.
The really discoloured one (top front right in this photo) is one that I damaged as a child (Note to parents: keep your children away from trampolines if you don't want to be forking over huge amounts of money to your dentist!) and has been gradually dying and becoming more discoloured over the years. I am getting a porcelain veneer put onto this one to make it appear whiter. The other option for this one was root canal surgery and colouring from inside but this would have been more intrusive and expensive and the dentist didn't think it was necessary given that this tooth really isn't giving me any trouble despite it being dead.
The one next to it is actually not a real tooth at all but a plastic falsie on a denture (you can just see one of the ugly metal wires from the denture in the left of the picture). I knocked the original tooth out in the same accident. This is where the real expense comes in as I am having this one replaced with a dental implant which is a porcelain tooth anchored in by a screw implanted in my upper jaw. I have already had the surgery to have the screw implanted (this was much more of a big deal than I realised and I had close to a week off work afterwards as it was so painful afterwards) and just went back to the dentist a few days okay to check that everything has healed up okay before moving onto the next stage. Later this week, I will go in again to get some impressions done (you know when they stick those horrible plates full of gunk into your mouth). These will be used to make a replica of my mouth which the technician will refer to in making my new teeth.
All up, this is costing almost AU$10,000.00! I decided to get it done after inheriting some money from my grandfather last year. I also figured that it wasn't going to get any cheaper if I waited and in the meantime, the denture (my 3rd or 4th in about 30 years) is damaging my other teeth and causing gum problems and was due for replacement anyway. The other problem with that if I had started showing any signs of bone density deterioration (had to have a bone scan done to check this), then I could never get it done. This is a real danger for me as osteoporosis is something that runs in the family. The signs of osteoporosis generally start showing around the same age as menopause (estimating this is about 5-10 years away for me).
I will post some 'after' shots once it is all finished. The dentist has also been taking plenty of photos which he said he would email me. Of course, he is quite gleeful about all this. What I am paying him will make quite a nice dent in his kids' private school fees!
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Just to be even more boring, below the yoga picture is my shopping list for today. I usually try and knock it over on my way home from yoga but can't do that this morning as didn't think I could ask anyone to mind little J for me at 7:30am (a lovely friend did offer but thought that might be stretching the friendship a bit).
Also have to go to the dental imaging place as looking at getting implants and other dental work done. Can probably see the awful state of two front teeth in the photo. Going to be a very, very expensive business! Watch this space.
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