Yesterday morning I flipped over my mountain bike’s handlebars about a half mile from my house as I was making a turn to go up a short, steep hill. I was wearing a helmet. No broken bones, just two broken teeth, a sore neck and some scrapes…and a bruised ego. I’m not exactly sure how it happened. The front tire of my bike needs a little air and I felt it wasn’t turning properly as I was rounding the turn so I applied the brakes. I must’ve braked too hard, especially the front brake because as I was braking I went over the handlebars and face-planted into the pavement. I was obviously shook up after I hit the pavement but immediately stood up to make sure no cars were coming. A car did slowly approach and the driver put down his window and asked if I was ok as I stumbled to the side of the road and spit out a couple of broken teeth and a mouthful of blood. I said “I don’t know” which was all he needed to hear in order to feel it was fine to drive off. I picked up my bike which seems fine and walked it home.
When I got home I went right to the bathroom to assess the damage. I was pretty upset when I saw my reflection and noticed the damaged teeth.
It definitely could have been a lot worse; I’m thankful I was wearing a helmet and that I was able to walk home. My wife called my dentist, a friend from church, to ask what to do about my teeth. He was out of town camping with his kids but scheduled an appointment to see me that afternoon. I did not feel it was necessary to go to the hospital because no wounds were deep and I didn’t feel any concussion symptoms, nor did I suspect any broken bones. My wife and dentist disagreed, however, so as a precaution my wife drove me to the hospital. If you’re going to get hurt in Atlanta, apparently Saturday morning is the time to do it. I was seen right away and in and out of the hospital in less than an hour. Everything checked out ok; the PA from the ER prescribed 800mg Ibuprofen and a muscle relaxer to help with my sore neck.
Later in the afternoon a temporary repair was done on my teeth. My four top front teeth are all cracked and in danger of needing root canals. I already had a root canal on one of the teeth earlier this year. For now, I am waiting to see how the nerves respond. I am very fortunate to have such a caring, responsive dentist. The most pain I felt was on the gum next to my front tooth where a nerve was near the surface. Any time air or water touched the area I was in pain. Having it covered made me feel much better. That said, any type of chewing still causes me discomfort so please let me know if you have any good soup/purée recipes as I’m on a super soft food diet for the next few days.
A day later
There are more photos on the photos page
