Yesterday morning I got a nice electronic-mail message from my No. 1 son. Thoughtfully put together, it was a joy to read. “Your health?” he asked at some point. “I worry,” he added. Among other things, I wrote back that I was in great health. “My teeth are the only worry,” I admitted breezily. After a major restoration, I was fine with my teeth until a few days ago, when a strange pain appeared in the reconstructed area, where I would least expect it. It came and went several times. But it struck for real last night. The pain was unbearable. This morning I got in touch with my dentist, but the throbbing pain is still there in spite of the heavy painkillers and antibiotics I am now taking. Debilitated, I hope everything will be back to normal in a few days, but I am still bewildered by the excruciating pain less than a day after I reassured my son about my health. Only teeth are involved, too. My soft spot. The worst bit is that the misery is likely to keep popping up until the end. My teeth may be the only worry, but it is far from a small one.

Addendum (March 1, 2011)

Less than two months later, I am on antibiotics again. The pain was unbearable last night, and this morning I took the first pill to quell the spreading inflammation. Luckily, I had a spare box of antibiotics from the last attack. I am all puffed up just like I was before. The worrying bit is that it is in the same area as the last time. I am not sure which tooth is in trouble right now, for a couple of them hurt, but the whole reconstructed area seems to be affected one more time. My dentist removed a dying nerve from one of the teeth the last time around. God knows what he will do tomorrow, when I hope to get an urgent appointment. Is this another dying nerve? More important, is the whole area infected by a bug that will not go away without some serious intervention? As I said, the teeth are my soft spot for true.