“The Time I Broke my Tooth”
by Amanda (age 12)
I have never been rushed to the hospital for an injury, but I over the summer I slipped unexpectedly. It was 10:30pm, the night before my family was going to fly out to Orlando, Florida for a vacation. I was brushing my teeth when my brother shouted out a joke he had just heard. This made me laugh so hard that I lost my balance. I slipped forward while my mouth was opened and hit my front tooth on the counter. I had hit my tooth before, so I thought this was another one of those moments. However, when I looked up and smiled into the mirror, I saw that half of my tooth was broken off! I screamed, not knowing what to do. My parents didn’t know what to do either. My mom quickly searched the internet and said I needed immediate dental care.
“Where are we going to find a dentist to fix my tooth at 10:30 at night?” I asked. We called Dr. Jay McCarl, and he spoke with my dad over the phone as I waited nervously beside him. “Okay,” my dad said and then hung up phone. He said that Dr. McCarl would meet us at the Shipley’s Choice Medical Center at 11:00pm. My heart was so relieved that we had found somebody. My parents drove me to the Medical Center, and we found Dr. McCarl standing at the front door. We went into a room, and he numbed my gums. This felt funny, but I had had this done before. He spent a while fixing my tooth, but at this point I didn’t care how long it took. I just wanted my tooth fixed before the trip. Dr. McCarl was finished soon. I smiled into a mirror again, but this time I looked perfectly normal. This is a story I will always remember. I am just thankful that I didn’t have to spend a week in Florida with a painful, broken tooth, because there is a dentist gracious enough to meet my needs even at 11:00 at night.
Tags: Dr. Jay McCarl, Emergency dental treatment, Emergency dentist, McCarl Dental Group at Shipley's Choice
