Try the Latest and Greatest...Dental Diet!

So, as you can read in my previous posts, I had some dental work done. I had a bridge put in after having some teeth pulled. While not horrific at all, I am suffering a side effect of weight loss. It could be just the pain of my gums and the swelling which hasn't healed, but that's not the only thing making food less appealing. So, first on the list is pain, but there are three other impediments to food enjoyment playing a role.

Interestingly enough, when my mouth changed and my new bridgework was added, it became more of a focus while eating than taste. The senses used to be busy savoring flavors and rolling textures around in my mouth, are now busy being perturbed by this new appliance in there, its clunkiness, its own taste, its cumbersome shape that gets in the way while I am eating ANYTHING.

I alluded to the second problem in that last sentence above. Because the appliance gets in the way of everything, I am forced to slow my eating WAY, WAY down. I have to keep all food well away from it, or if I decide to entangle it, spend a lot of tongue and lip attention to make sure I keep it clean. It's a major food trap. Eating slowly was something I had put on my list to work on this year. I am pleased with this outcome of the surgery and dental work. I only wish I wasn't feeling like a bridled mustang, or a Ferrari following a Sunday driving pair of blue hairs in a Cadillac. I am slower, but I feel annoyed and intentionally slower. In fact, all in all, I am having to eat with WAY more intention than I ever did before. (I am actually having to relearn speaking some sounds with WAY more intention as well, but that's another blog).

Lastly, the dentist put me on a periodental rinse since I was having some gum bleeding and pain. This stuff makes my mouth border on numb and makes everything taste bitter. EVEN AFTER AN EIGHT HOUR SLEEP!!! My coffee this morning tasted like I had stirred horseradish into it. My toast had a background flavor of ear wax. It reminds of that Bitter Apple stuff we used to put on my sister's thumb to get her to stop sucking it.

Oh well. Five pounds down. Can't complain. I wonder if people would ever start having teeth pulled or swishing with horrible mouth wash to lose weight? It's less invasive than a gastric bypass.