[Rick Lee]

To be fair, the pain and tenderness were subsiding as of yesterday morning, but I went ahead back to the dentist, since I had an appt. already. They didn't charge me for yesterday. I'm not eating jawbreakers or anything real hard, but just had lunch and chewing was no problem at all. I think I might have been premature on going back to the dentist and, to his credit, he did say it could be a few more weeks before all is back to normal. I am blessed with very good teeth and until two weeks ago, had not had anything other than regular cleanings done in the last 27 yrs. So I think I've been pretty lucky so far. I just don't want to exhaust my flexible spenidng account, which is $600 for 2009, in the first few mos. of the year and/or have things done unnecessarily. I actually like the pain of going to the dentist. Somehow I feel that much cleaner when it hurts. Though it never really hurts because I brush and floss religiously and always have.