Irish Soda Bread Creates Dental Emergency

Well, it was very, very good, that Irish soda bread, tasty and expeditious and all. The day after I made it, I decided to toast it. That newspaper article from which I got the recipe declared that it was simply delicious toasted.

The toaster accepted it easily. It popped up done just right, not to pale, not too dark. I slathered on some butter, which soaked into it perfectly. Smelled great, too. Toasty and all.

The first couple of bites went well. The third bit, however, contained something sharp and hard. Not just hard like the crust, but a different sort of hard like, perhaps a piece of - dear God in heaven, a piece of tooth! Specifically a piece of the last molar on my left lower jaw. It was the back of the molar, which had sort of kind of sheared off. Of course I called the dentist right away. It didn't hurt, so I was able to wait until the next day.

My fear was that he would look at it and say, "That tooth's gonna have to go." To my relief, but not to the relief of my bank account, he decided to put a very expensive crown on it. I have dental insurance, but it sucks big time. He said that everyone's dental insurance sucks. I don't have much choice here, because a person needs teeth if a person is to live on something besides gruel (whatever that is) for the rest of a person's life.

It used to be you could buy a car or a house for what it costs to have major dental work done. In the olden days people used to have all their teeth pulled when they were about 50 years old and wear choppers, and thank goodness we don't have to do that, but geez!

If you make soda bread be very, very careful, especially if you toast it, because most dental insurance sucks and I have my dentist's word on that. And all you dental insurance providers out there, shame on you.