Something to Sink Your Teeth Into: Or Not!

Last Thursday, on a hot, sunny day,  I found myself sitting in a dentist chair, having a biopsy on my gums.  It was the end of a 2 year odyssey to have a single tooth extracted. 

Good teeth and healthy gums do not run in my family.  To summarize, I have a partial plate, roots clipped to fill from the top, several root canals, several crowns, and a bridge.  When I was nine, I had four teeth pulled incorrectly by an inebriated dentist, who later died in a plane crash he was piloting.  He drilled my tongue with his drill and sliced my bottom gum with a scalpel (all without freezing), then slapped my face when I cried.  Later, I wound up in the hospital to control the bleeding.
Within the last few years, another dental specialist pulled the wrong tooth, a perfectly healthy tooth, instead of the decayed one.  He claimed I was his one and only mistake.  Two years ago, my anchor tooth for my bottom bridge fell apart and I lost my bridge and my tooth, leaving another anchor tooth and a wisdom tooth (why do they call them wisdom teeth—nothing smart about them at all)! 
That remaining anchor tooth has caused me nothing but pain for two years!  In this past year I have seen my personal dentist at least 6 times about this tooth.  I was sent to a “specialist” who took x-rays of every tooth and concluded I might have gum disease.  So, thousands of dollars later and 3 dental diagnosticians later, I find myself with so much pain I am taking Tylenol 3’s.  Again, over and over, I am told the tooth is fine, but I may have a gum disease, and if I have the tooth extracted the disease may travel to the next tooth.  Ok…so I must, I must hold onto this tooth.  The pain got worse and I finally insisted my dentist extract the tooth.  I could take the pain no longer.  He was not comfortable doing the extraction so I was set up with a surgeon, in six weeks.  The suggestion by my personal dentist was to have a biopsy done on my gums to determine if I had lichen planus?????  So, Internet here I come:  Research—lichen planus.  My family physician had to orchestrate this biopsy protocol, so off to my family physician I go!  After an examination, my doctor was surprised about the request, but he arranged for me to see an eye, ear, nose and throat specialist, for the biopsy.  So, after 2 years, 6 dental visits, 2 doctor visits, 12 appointments with 4 dental specialists, I wake up to pain beyond anything I have ever experienced.  I reach for the phone and I whine.  I cannot wait another 6 weeks for this extraction.  I am told to call the surgeon directly and Bless receptionists everywhere, she tells me to come in right away.
So I find myself sitting in the surgeon’s chair as he tells me about my tooth.  Now you had to know that God played a part in all this drama.  He never leaves us in pain; He never leaves us without comfort.  For about 4 months I was praying about the pain in my tooth.  I prayed for God to remove the pain; always. I would hear the Lord’s reply:  Get rid of the yeast!  Every time I prayed:  Get the yeast out!  Each thought I had toward a healing:  Throw out the yeast!
When I was sitting in the dentist chair, waiting for the freezing to impact on my jaw line; this amazing surgeon explained to me about the number of reasons why I was enduring so much pain.  I could have lichen planus, but if so, it was a very mild case, or the beginning stages.  I reacted that the Internet said it could lead to oral cancer; he disagreed, explaining in 50+ years he had never seen a case turn to oral cancer.  There certainly were treatments for lichen planus.  He explained he could do the biopsy, instead of waiting for weeks for scrapings, etc.; but he did not see the need for a biopsy.  However, since I requested it, he would perform it.  It was also explained that my dentist had suggested the wrong tooth be removed that day.  I was quite surprised given my history!  I was very glad that, although painful, surgeons hit your tooth with a hammer to determine which one has the painful root.  He also explained I could have bacteria caused by a decayed root, that when it meets the air, it is extremely painful. 
That is when the Lord’s voice came back to me.  I was left alone to think and to freeze and I realized:  bacteria, air, material:  yeast.  The Lord had been telling me for months:  get the yeast out!  What a God!  God knew long before the dentists, doctors and surgeons that I needed the yeast thrown out of my mouth.
I don’t have the results yet, but the surgeon was sure they would be fine!  He removed the tooth; then asked if I wanted it for a souvenir, so I took it.  Several days later, I looked at this 2 year old nemesis and when I removed the cap (it fell off the tooth when I held it) there was black decay straight down the root and nothing but powder under the cap.  I could not believe that tooth had been in my mouth the day before and that I had lived with it for a year!  What are we thinking when we do not listen to the Lord? 
We get confused by doctors, specialists and experts!  It can be quite discerning!  But, God has poured out His protection over me and the Lord will keep me!  The specialists were telling me to hold onto this decay and the Lord was telling me to throw it out!  What a lesson in getting rid of the things that are rotting in our soul and spirit.  Those addictions, those people, those events that rock our lives and can rip it apart.  Trust in the Lord;  He is the Great Physician that can heal. In undisputed cases, I believe God works through the doctors to direct His healing according to His will.  I know common sense has to prevail.  I believe God gives us all that we need and more.  We just have to pay attention and we must be prepared to get rid of the yeast!

Sharon
July, 2007
Mark 2:17


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