My new replacement tooth is finally, finally, finally in place. The implant is healed; the crown is on; it is over.

The procedure to install the crown was a little icky and unpleasant, but endurable. I would have enjoyed a tranquilizer or vodka tonic first, but it was okay without. First the dentist unscrewed the little screw in the center of the implant (the implant, if you remember, is the part under the gums); that little screw was only there while the implant was healing, and could now be removed. In its place the dentist screwed in the abutment, which if I’m following this correctly is the piece that sticks out from the gums and is for the crown (the part that looks like a tooth) to attach to. In between removing the screw and putting in the abutment, they disinfected the center of the implant, and there was the unpleasant taste of whatever they used for that. After the abutment was in, they took an x-ray to make sure it was in there correctly.

The abutment has to be locked permanently into place, and this was one of my least favorite parts: the dentist has to screw it in until it snaps twice, which means it’s locked. So there was a lot of weird intense pressure (no pain, but it wasn’t comfortable) that felt really clearly like it was Inside the Bones of My Face (it didn’t hurt in a GUMS way at all), and then I had to anticipate a SNAP, which was indeed startling when it arrived but I’m sure glad the dentist mentioned it ahead of time or I would have thought something had broken. Then we repeated the pressure/anticipation/snap. He gave me a mirror and I could see a teensy metal paddle-thing sticking out where my fake tooth was going to be. I looked very odd, like a James Bond villain.

The dentist and assistant spent some time making sure the crown would fit, was the right color, etc. Ahead of time the assistant told me that it does occasionally happen that a crown arrives and it won’t fit or it’s the wrong color, so I was not getting my hopes entirely up that things would go well, but they did: everything fit right and looked nice. The dentist had to press HARD on the crown to make sure it fit right; this was gums-painful, exactly as you’d expect if someone pressed something hard against your gums. He also used one of those pointy little metal tools to trace all the way around the crown to make sure the gums weren’t getting pinched underneath, and this was painful enough that I think he should have warned about it, but maybe he didn’t know. It was like when they use the pointy thing that measures the depth of your gum pockets, except it was sliding along the gum instead of just poking down and back out.

Then there was some messing around with whatever adhesive they needed to use. Then the dentist put the crown in place for real, and there was a repeat of the pressing-hard-on-gums pain and also the tracing-around-with-pointy-thing pain, twice, plus sharp picking sensations as, I suspect, he was removing traces of extra adhesive. Really, it was quite uncomfortable, but I was bolstered by the knowledge that we were WRAPPING THIS UP and the whole lengthy process would soon be complete.

He gave me a mirror, and I had a TOOTH. The gums around the tooth were startlingly white; he said that would fade very soon and it did. He said it might be slightly sore for a day or so and it was, but nothing that really bothered me or was a problem for eating—more like An Awareness of the area. I still have an Awareness feeling even a week later, but less.

Then the part I wasn’t expecting: the assistant had me bite down on that paper stuff that shows them how accurate your bite is, and then the dentist had to spend some time drilling to make my bite fit right again. He took some off my front BOTTOM teeth, which surprised me. He also took some off the new crown. It didn’t hurt, but if you hate even non-painful drilling then you know what it was like, and it was a particularly screamy drill, and then I had to keep re-biting the paper, and my mouth was trembling enough to make this difficult, and I was not having a good time.

But then it was done! It was done and I walked out without having to make any more appointments!

The tooth felt very weird in my mouth for awhile, and still feels a little weird nearly a week later. My tongue keeps exploring it as a foreign object, but each day it feels a little less foreign. I am not used to biting with it, since I’ve been biting without it for nine months; when I do bite with it, it feels weird, like there is something in between my tooth and what I’m biting—but it is feeling less weird each day. It feels odd to brush it, and a little unpleasant—again, like I’m brushing something in between my tooth and the toothbrush. I hate flossing it: the floss has to go much further up under the gumline than usual. But I will get used to that.

I had a little lisp/whistle the first few days, but Paul said no one could hear it but me. I’d gotten used to talking without the tooth or with a flipper (the temporary/removable fake tooth) that has a section covering part of the roof of my mouth, so talking with regular teeth again was strange. When I go out somewhere, I keep thinking “Oh no! I forgot my tooth!”—and then realizing the “forgot my tooth” feeling (from having nothing against the roof of my mouth) is now invalid.

I am very happy it’s done, and I’m glad I had it done, but is there no way technology could advance in this area? That took a REALLY LONG TIME. I had the tooth pulled LAST SEPTEMBER. It is now JUNE. That’s a whole SCHOOL YEAR.